Science in the Triangle

Bayer CropScience wants to buy a neighbor in Research Triangle Park to boost its research and development of genetically modified crop seeds, a Canadian study gets GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug Avandia back into the news and the Triangle gets a nod for its nanotech research.

Buying a better seed

Bayer CropScience announced it wants to buy Athenix, an RTP neighbor that has developed in its labs genetic traits to allow corn and soybean seeds to grow into plants able to withstand Roundup, a weed killer popular on farms.

Athenix’s 65 employees will become the core of the research and development lab Bayer CropScience plans to establish in Morrisville for as many as 128 staff.

Buying Athenix could give Bayer CropScience a chance to catch up - particularly in the race to win farmers over with new seeds for hardier corn, the largest crop grown in the U.S. and a critical component in food, animal feed and fuel ethanol.

Financial details for the deal, which is projected to close within a month or so, were not disclosed.

Bayer CropScience, which has its U.S. headquarters in RTP, also found technology it liked at Texas Tech University. It bought the rights to the technology to develop cotton seeds that produce plants with better fibers.

Avandia: GSK defends its diabetes drug

GSK’s U.S. operations, which are headquartered in RTP, came to the defense of diabetes drug, Avandia, after findings from a Canadian study suggested that Avandia carries a higher risk of heart failure and death than Actos, a competitor’s drug in the same class.

Bad news and controversy have trailed Avandia since it was linked to an increased risk of heart attack two years ago and U.S. sales of the pill dropped by nearly half to $800 million last year. Some doctors believe Avandia should not be used at all.

The Canadian study looked at nearly 40,000 patients with Type 2 diabetes who took either Avandia or Actos to lower their blood sugar and compared the results to hospital records for heart failure, heart attack and death.

GSK found the study results at odds with findings from other studies and faulted the Canadian researchers for not taking into account different doses of Actos and Avandia that patients received. Other critics pointed out that the patients taking Avandia in the Canadian study were sicker than their counterparts taking Actos.

Both drugs carry Food and Drug Administration warnings about heart failure and heart attack risks. Other possible side effects include weight gain and fluid retention.

Kudos and gatherings

The NC Biotechnology Center held a workshop that attracted more than 30 investors, entrepreneurs and attorneys interested in turning an idea into a company and getting it ready for a tire-kicking by investors. The center also hosted students from Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who were interested in the industrial fellowship program. In its second year, the program helps scientists make the leap from academia to industry.

And the Triangle came in fourth after Boston, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., as one of the nation’s leading regions for nanotech research.