On Wednesday, Shares of bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ:BLUE), gained 0.19% to $80.78.
bluebird bio, declared that Marina Cavazzana, M.D., Ph.D., professor of hematology and director of the Department of Biotherapy at Hospital Necker, University Paris Descartes and lead investigator for the HGB-205 clinical study, presented a review of the clinical study experience with lentiviral-based gene therapies for beta-thalassemia at the 10th Annual Cooley’s Anemia Foundation Symposium in Chicago recently.
Professor Cavazzana summarized results from HGB-205, an ongoing clinical study using LentiGlobin® BB305 for the treatment of beta-thalassemia major and severe sickle cell disease, which were presented earlier this year at the Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association. She also offered an update on subject 1003, a patient with beta-thalassemia major treated by Professor Cavazzana in 2007 in the LG001 study using the first-generation HPV569 lentiviral vector. Following about seven years of transfusion independence, subject 1003 has recently required two blood transfusions after experiencing clinical symptoms of anemia. Importantly, both the expression of HbAT87Q and the vector copy number in peripheral blood leukocytes, a measure of the persistence of the gene therapy, have remained largely unchanged. The safety profile for both vectors is comprising with autologous transplantation, with no gene-therapy related serious adverse events.
Development of bluebird bio’s approach to treating hemoglobinopathies was guided by the data collected from the LG001 study, a pioneering clinical study that served to highlight both the potential for gene therapy as an intervention in beta-thalassemia in addition to the need for an improved lentiviral vector. To this end, Professor Cavazzana also talked about the advances in the design of lentiviral vectors for hemoglobinopathy gene therapies — specifically the evolution from the first-generation HPV569 lentiviral vector to bluebird bio’s current lentiviral vector, BB305, which results in substantially improved vector copy number and HbAT87Q expression.
bluebird bio, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing transformative gene therapies for severe genetic and rare diseases. Its advanced product candidate is Lenti-D, which is in phase II/III clinical studies for the treatment of childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare, hereditary neurological disorder affecting young boys; and LentiGlobin that is in phase I/II clinical studies for the treatment of beta-thalassemia major and severe sickle cell disease (SCD) in France, in addition to a phase I study in the United States for the treatment of severe SCD.
Shares of Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE), inclined 0.08% to $129.14, during its last trading session.
Expedia, Inc., one of the world’s leading travel companies, introduced several new flight products and services designed to assist improve the air travel experience for both customers and industry partners worldwide. The company is investing in tools to enable customers to compare and understand flight components in a transparent way, by making vast improvements to its global air products to address traveler fees and service expectations, and to assist create a better overall shopping experience for travelers by making it easier to compare similar options across different carriers. These enhancements are part of a broader investment to build a comprehensive comparison marketplace for flights.
Poised to provide huge benefits to customers looking for better air options and suppliers who want to reach more travelers around the globe, Expedia® is rolling out the following new product features and enhancements to surface more valuable information and better connect people to the increasing number of choices available during all phases of the flight planning, searching and booking process:
- Upgrade Options: The company declared GDS partnerships last year to support airlines’ branded fare families, and at the end of June officially upgraded the flight experience to start offering customers the ability to search for and purchase a broader range of fare choices from select carriers. With this new technology, called Upgrade Options, travelers have more transparency into exactly what’s comprised in certain flight prices at the time of purchase, thus enabling travelers to book flights with the specific attributes and on-board services that matter most to them. The company plans to continue expanding the number of fare options available to customers as new suppliers and partners are integrated into the Expedia+ global air technology platform that runs air ticketing and packaging for its brands around the world.
- Baggage Calculator: As a result of the company’s recent partnership with ATPCO’s Baggage Calculator, Expedia provides travel shoppers with more robust access to baggage fees and pricing information for the majority of airlines available to book through its sites. Customers will now have easier access to accurate baggage policies for specific flights, the number one ancillary service for airlines.
- Paid seating options: These offerings will be integrated into Expedia sites so that customers can easily identify, select and purchase these premium seating options via the online seat map. Expedia presently has agreements in place and anticipates to launch this product in late 2015. In addition, the company is working to relay a traveler’s frequent flier number to the airline so if the traveler has status, the Expedia seat map will seamlessly display the appropriate status-eligible seats during the booking process.
Expedia, Inc., together with its auxiliaries, operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Leisure and Egencia.
Finally, Shares of Exar Corporation (NYSE:EXAR), ended its last trade with -3.64% loss, and closed at $5.30.
Exar Corporation, declared that its Board of Directors has designated Chairman of the Board, Richard L. Leza, as interim President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Leza’s appointment follows a mutual agreement by the Company’s Board of Directors and Louis DiNardo that he will step down as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors.
As interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Leza will work closely with Exar’s executive team and Board of Directors to oversee the Company’s ongoing operations and planned initiatives. The Board will right away commence a search for a permanent replacement for the President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Leza will continue to serve as a member of the Board of Directors.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Lou for his many contributions to Exar and wish him the best,” said Richard Leza.
Exar Corporation, a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets high performance analog mixed-signal integrated circuits and sub-system solutions for the industrial and embedded systems, high-end consumer, and infrastructure markets.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is published by www.wsnewspublishers.com. The Content included in this article is just for informational purposes only. All information used in this article is believed to be from reliable sources, but we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, or reliability with respect to this article.
All visitors are advised to conduct their own independent research into individual stocks before making a purchase decision.
Information contained in this article contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, counting statements regarding the predictable continual growth of the market for the corporation’s products, the corporation’s ability to fund its capital requirement in the near term and in the long term; pricing pressures; etc.
Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, aims, assumptions, or future events or performance may be forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on expectations, estimates, and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those presently anticipated. Forward looking statements may be identified with such words as expects, will, anticipates, estimates, believes, or by statements indicating certain actions may, could, should/might occur.