- Big-name tech investors pour millions into marijuana — both medicinal and not (statnews.com)
The storied Silicon Valley venture firm Benchmark Capital has launched a slew of tech companies: Twitter, Uber, Snapchat, Instagram. Now its search for the next big thing has led it to…pot...Benchmark recently invested $8 million in Hound Labs, a startup here in Oakland that’s developing a device for drivers — and law enforcement — to test whether they’re too buzzed to take the wheel...Wealthy investors are pouring tens of millions into the cannabis industry in a bid to capitalize on the gold rush that’s expected when California legalizes recreational marijuana on Jan. 1. They’re backing development of new medicinal products, such as cannabis-infused skin patches; new methods for vaporizing and inhaling; and “budtender” apps like PotBot, which promises to scour 750 strains of cannabis and use lab research, including DNA analysis of each strain, to help customers find the perfect match...Among the noted investors: tech and biotech mogul Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and made a fortune with the cancer drug startup Stemcentrx. Thiel contributed $300,000 to the California ballot campaign that paved the way for legalization. And in the first public endorsement of the industry from a major biotech investor, Thiel’s Founders Fund has sent millions to Privateer Holdings, a Seattle private equity firm that backs research into medical marijuana products, among other cannabis-related ventures...
- FDA unveils precision medicine platform (healthcareitnews.com)Advancing precision medicine by enabling a collaborative informatics community (blogs.fda.gov)
Food and Drug Administration…revealed that it is working to build a software platform for precision medicine and an informatics community around it… contracted with DNAnexus, to create open source cloud-based software for sharing genomic information…will help..advance the science around the accuracy and reproducibility of next generation sequencing-based tests,..
- TruTag, WuXi PharmaTech successfully test edible, on-dose authentication
Testing on an edible on-dose authentication technology developed by TruTag Technologies is showing promising results for its use in combating counterfeit drugs…TruTech partnered with WuXi PharmaTech,…technology that can store a drug’s provenance information on individual tablets. The silica, dust particle-sized TruTags act like bar codes that can provide information about where a drug was manufactured and its dosage, as well as supply chain details like lot or batch number...
- NYC Legionnaires’ disease death toll hits double-digits as officials order inspection of all cooling towers, threaten penalties (washingtonpost.com)
New York City officials have launched aggressive measures to stop the spread of Legionnaires' disease,...death toll in the outbreak, which has been concentrated in the South Bronx, has now hit double-digits, with 10 dead and 100 confirmed sick. Of those, 53 have been treated and released from hospitals..."We are doing everything that we can,"....