| Today's Top Story |  |  | | - Price controls, shorter patent term could hurt biotech
 Proposals to impose price controls on Medicare's prescription drug program and to shorten the patent-protection period for biologics could stifle innovation and make biotech firms hesitant to spend money on drug discovery and development, writes Scott Eldridge of Florida-based contract chemistry lab Global Pharma Analytics. Controlling the prices Medicare pays for drugs would "reduce manufacturers' incentives to invest in R&D on products that would be expected to have significant Medicare sales," according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Baltimore Sun (7/4)       | Health Care & Policy | | | | - EU expands approval of Novartis' eye drug Lucentis
Novartis International won approval from the European Commission to market Lucentis as a treatment for visual impairment due to choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia. The drug had previously been approved for three eye-related indications in the European Union. Reuters (7/5) - Biogen-Sobi's hemophilia A drug performs well in trial
A single injection of Biogen Idec and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum's Eloctate controlled more than 87% of acute bleeding episodes in patients with hemophilia A while up to two shots controlled over 97% of bleeds, a late-stage study showed. Data from the trial "support the potential of ELOCTATE to enable longer intervals between prophylactic (preventative) injections compared to the current standard of care," a Biogen official said. Eloctate, a long-lasting recombinant factor VIII candidate, is under regulatory review in the U.S. and Australia. PharmaTimes (U.K.) (7/4), Pharmaceutical Business Review Online (7/8) | Company & Financial News | | | | | Food & Agriculture | | | | | Hot Topics | | | | Top five news stories selected by BIO SmartBrief readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
| Industrial & Environmental | | | | - Finnish researchers produce biofuel from forest residues
Scientists from VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland say biofuels can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass, mainly bark and forest residues, for a price of less than about $5 per gallon. Technology based on pressurized fluidized-bed gasification allows the transfer of more than 50% of the energy of raw wood materials to the end products, including methanol, dimethyl ether and synthetic gasoline. The technology is considered ready for commercial-scale production and can be used to produce liquid transportation fuel, researchers said. TG Daily (7/5) | News from BIO | | | | - Join us Nov. 11-13 at the BIO Convention in China in Beijing!
The BIO Convention in China brings together executives from biotechnology, pharmaceutical companies and investment firms from North America, Europe and Asia to meet and explore business opportunities with China's emerging biotech sector. BIO is renowned for its successful business development, partnering and investor meetings in North America, Europe and Asia. Partnering at this conference will be powered by BIO One-on-One Partnering, an interactive environment to intelligently search, contact and schedule private meetings with potential partners and investors. Learn more and register today.
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Skin cells reprogrammed as pluripotent stem cells have been used to create functioning human liver cells. Researchers at Japan's Yokohama City University combined the cells with chemicals to create liver precursors and incorporated other types of cells as well to make very small, rudimentary livers. 
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