Enzon sells specialty drug business for $300M (AP) – Nov 9, 2009 BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday it is selling most of its business to Italian drugmaker sigma-tau Group and will focus on its experimental cancer drugs and technologies. Enzon will get $300 million upfront, along with milestone payments of as much as $27 million. Sigma-tau could also pay Enzon royalties on Enzon’s four approved drugs through 2014. Sigma-tau is also acquiring a manufacturing facil... Read Full Story

Bubble Boy Comes from Family of Bubble Boys   DALLAS, TX – Six-week-old Brady Stewart is one in a million. He’s also one of about 100 kids a year in the United States diagnosed with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome, or SCID. It’s probably better know as ‘bubble boy disease.’ Brady was born without an immune system, he’s not in a bubble. His mother Jeanie says doctors and nurses who wear scrubs and masks are among the few who get to be near hi... Read Full Story

SCID’s The Worst of Primary Immune Deficiency Disease or The Bubble Boy Disease SCID Kids Leading Healthy, Normal Lives 25 Years After ‘Bubble Boy’   Oct 12, 2009 – 1:00:27 PM (HealthNewsDigest.com) – DURHAM, N.C. – Mention the words “bubble boy” and many will recall David Vetter, the kid with big eyes and a thick thatch of dark hair who died 25 years ago after spending almost the entire 12 years of his life in a germ-free, plastic bubble. David was born with severe co... Read Full Story

Edgar toddler first ‘bubble boy’ survivor State-mandated test at birth identified fatal disease By Megan Loiselle Wausau Daily Herald EDGAR — A 1-year-old Edgar boy has become the first child in the world to be saved from a fatal immunodeficiency disease, just months after Wisconsin became the only state to test for it at birth. Dawson Bornheimer’s family on Sept. 25 celebrated the first anniversary of a lifesaving bone marrow transplant that treated his Severe Combine... Read Full Story

‘Olivia’s Fund’ gets barbecue boost The Silliker family and supporters are grateful to the community for its support. As a result of that support, Olivia Silliker’s (small photo) future is considerably brighter following a bone marrow transplant courtesy of her four-year-old sister Mackenzie. Community support Family and friends of Olivia Silliker are overwhelmed by the community spirit and generosity displayed at a fund-raising barbecue outside Chrissy’s Variety Store. The recent barbecue r... Read Full Story

Scientists Identify Genetic Cause of Previously Undefined Primary Immune Deficiency Disease Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified a genetic mutation that accounts for a perplexing condition found in people with an inherited immunodeficiency. The disorder, called combined immunodeficiency, is characterized by a constellation of severe health problems, including persistent bacterial and viral skin infections, severe eczema, acute allergies and asthma, and cancer.... Read Full Story

… To advise in parallel with Mr. Shakespeare, to that there is a question.  But the teacher assigned the homework, so I’ll give it a go. Hamlet’s on the syllabus for Ben’s senior year. The students are going to study Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes.  Hamlet, Act I, Scene iii, Lines 59-80. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. (Lines 59-60) Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.  (Line 61) This above all: to thine ownself be... Read Full Story

… To advise in parallel with Mr. Shakespeare, to that there is a question.  But the teacher assigned the homework, so I’ll give it a go. Hamlet’s on the syllabus for Ben’s senior year. The students are going to study Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes.  Hamlet, Act I, Scene iii, Lines 59-80. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. (Lines 59-60) Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.  (Line 61) This above all: to thine ownself be... Read Full Story

The Second Coming of Gene Therapy 09.02.2009 For years, gene therapy produced tons of hype but no results. Recently, though, new approaches have yielded its first successes: breakthrough treatments for blindness, cancer, and the deadly bubble boy disease. by Jill Neimark “For the first two years of her life, my daughter, Katlyn, was knocking on heaven’s door every day,” says Daisy Demerchant, a 26-year-old mom living in Centreville, New Brunswick, just north of Maine. “Two months after she wa... Read Full Story

Campers aid area toddler The Jeffery family is giving thanks to their newfound friends, many of whom they’ve never met. Indeed, most of the Jefferys’ supporters are members of the Bluewater Campers’ Association, which recently presented the St. Joseph’s family with a $7,200 donation, the second of such gifts since the club first heard of the family’s plight three years ago. “I can’t tell you what this means for our family,” says Dennis Jeffery. “This will help a lot.” And help is what the... Read Full Story