As one of the most prestigious cancer institutes in the US, Dana-Farber has enjoyed considerable support for its entrepreneurial pursuits, spinning out about 30 companies in the past 12 years.

“Now where we’ve always struggled — where every cancer center struggled — is support of basic science,” Barrett Rollins, chief scientific officer emeritus, told Endpoints News.

And then two of its trustees had an idea. What if they tied philanthropy to investment in Dana-Farber startups, requiring a donation to basic science as a condition for accessing its brightest biotech venture ideas?

As the second leading cause of mortality globally, the lucrative field of cancer treatment has elicited a frenzy of drug development and billions in venture funding. But a new study suggests that cancer-killing compounds may be lurking in the existing arsenal of non-oncology medicines.

By analyzing thousands of FDA-approved drugs and compounds that have been proven safe in clinical trials, scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found nearly 50 compounds — including drugs for diabetes, inflammation, alcoholism and even a treatment for arthritis in dogs — with previously undetected anti-cancer activity.

A couple years back, some cardiovascular specialists at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital stumbled across a surprising result.

Novartis had tasked them with carrying out the long-range Phase III trial for canakinumab, an experimental anti-inflammatory drug the company was trying to market for cardiovascular disease. The main results were mixed — modest reductions in fatal cardiovascular events, clear side effects — but an additional, exploratory analysis, turned heads over in oncology: Across 10,061 patients, those who had received canakinumab were less likely to develop lung cancer; 33% less likely for the highest dosage.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute — the noted nonprofit known for doling out generous investigator awards to researchers all around the US — is facing lawsuits by two Asian American biologists who allege they were unfairly denied renewal of grants because of their sex, age, national origin or disability.

Meredith Wadman of Science first reported the lawsuits, which according to legal experts and several other Asian American women who were discontinued as HHMI investigators reflect a pattern of prejudice at the organization. They also come amid a general increase in awareness about the obstacles women in life sciences face in their careers. Earlier this year, the Salk Institute in San Diego came under fire after in which female faculty members claim an “old boys’ club” of seniors restricted their access to funds, resources and networks.

Nearly two years ago, Pfizer sent a NASH drug to the freezer because it didn’t appear viable long-term. Now, scientists for the pharma giant say the drug reduces liver fat, and a different version of that therapy may yet see daylight as part of a partnership with Novartis.

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, Pfizer scientists reported that PF-06427878, a DGAT2 inhibitor, reduced fat and lipogenic gene expression in mouse and rat studies. That triggered small clinical trials, where volunteers in the drug arm saw a 31.5% reduction in liver fat after 14 days and minimal adverse effects.

Can a reformulation of an old drug on the market for asthma, allergy and mastocytosis protect against liver disease, Alzheimer’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

A team from Massachusetts General Hospital is making a case for the latter two. Having recently found an injection of cromolyn sodium effective in inhibiting amyloid beta (Aβ) aggregation in vitro and in mouse models, researchers set out to investigate whether the same compound can achieve the same in ALS.

A compound domiciled inside the gut of a soil-dwelling parasitic worm could be the chief ingredient for a potent human antibiotic designed to fight a class of stubborn superbugs, new research suggests.

The tsunami of antibiotic resistance is an acute global threat. In the United States, at least 2.8 million people get an antibiotic-resistant infection each year, and more than 35,000 people die, according to a recent report by the CDC.

As a former academic and a seasoned drug developer, Burt Adelman knew when he was recruited as a senior advisor to Novo Ventures in 2017 that one of his key priorities needs to be introducing the fund to the network he was so deeply embedded in.

“I was thinking long and hard on how can I, as a Boston insider, help Novo really get inside the ecosystem of Boston biotech?” he recalled in an interview with Endpoints News.

The wild successes of drugs like Eylea and Lucentis sometimes overshadow the fact that there still isn’t a cure for age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among the elderly, especially the earlier-stage disease known as dry AMD. While around three dozen genes tied to the disease have been identified — giving rise to experimental gene therapies — some scientists believe a closer look is needed to figure out where exactly these genetic alterations are taking place.