Pacific Edge Biotechnology (PEB) announces that it has signed a collaborative research agreement with the international Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. PEB, an Otago University start-up, said it was developing a number of novel tools and methods for the early detection and management of cancer. The agreement follows promising early results for a melanoma test, which were recently presented at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. PEB had been working with the Institutes’s Centre for Clinical Sciences in Melbourne on a prognostic tool for identifying patients with invasive melanoma. PEB’s collaboration with the institute aims to overcome the difficulty identifying patients with aggressive disease using gene profiles that help distinguish between patients with likely good and bad outcomes. PEB said early results of the collaboration had been impressive, with a predictive accuracy of 90 percent. A provisional patent has been filed. The Ludwig Institute is a non-profit, global cancer research body conducting long-term basic and clinical research programs with about 800 scientists, clinicians, and support staff.

PRA International, a clinical research organization, today announced the appointment of Linda Baddour as executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO). Ms. Baddour replaces Matt Bond, who resigned to pursue other opportunities. Baddour joins PRA International from Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), where she most recently served as CFO.

Charles River Laboratories (CRL) will begin operating in China, establishing a joint venture with Shanghai BioExplorer, a Shanghai company that provides pre-clinical contract research organization (CRO) services. The partnership will be known as Charles River Laboratories Preclinical Services–China. Charles River, which will be the majority owner, will build a 50,000-square foot preclinical service facility in Shanghai. The new plant is scheduled to open in mid-2008. China-based CROs are hoping to exceed U.S.-level quality and ethics requirements. The new facilities in Shanghai will support good laboratory practices (GLP) and non-GLP toxicology studies, which will meet the FDA standards and Charles River’s own animal welfare policies. Charles River will also use its standard animal research models and standard operating procedures in China.

Buzzword of the month: “digital wind,” loosely defined as the unintended dissemination of sensitive documents through peer-to-peer file sharing, email attachments and other network gaps. Here’s a story on the digital wind from the AP news wire. The Wall Street Journal noted that one computer security firm scanned the digital wind and located 500,000 documents that included the names of major banks. One way such documents are widely distributed is through teenagers who unwittingly expose their parents’ employers’ secrets by sharing music and, unwittingly, other files on the same computers. Tiversa is a Pittsburgh firm that offers software and services to analyze the potential risks of the “digital wind” for corporations.

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