An international confederation of biotechnology trade associations, with membership across six continents, has created the International Council of Biotechnology Associations (ICBA), with the expressed purpose of advocating for public policies that support the global growth of the innovative biotechnology industry. [ + ]

The US FDA has granted Starpharma (ASX:SPL) a Special Protocol Assessment for the design of two phase III trials of VivaGel for the prevention of recurrent bacterial vaginosis. [ + ]

The Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility (APFRF) has been officially launched at the Australian National University (ANU). The laboratory has been significantly upgraded thanks to a Commonwealth investment of $7.9 million from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS) and associated programs. [ + ]

Rhinomed (ASX:RNO) has announced a partnership to promote its fitness breathing device Turbine at Fitness First gyms and revealed that sales of the device hit $201K during the June quarter. [ + ]

​Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have updated the number of human genes - those that can generate proteins - to 19,000. This is 1700 fewer genes than described in the most recent annotation. [ + ]

Four QRxPharma (ASX:QRX) board members, including chairman Dr Peter Farrell, have resigned hours before a board-spill vote called by a group of unhappy shareholders. [ + ]

Regeneus (ASX:RGS) has picked up exclusive rights to an autologous therapeutic cancer vaccine for humans, after having already secured the exclusive licence for veterinary applications. [ + ]

Researchers have examined the brain effects of the psychedelic chemical in magic mushrooms, called 'psilocybin', revealing the physical changes the chemical makes to the brain. [ + ]

Sirtex (ASX:SRT) hit a milestone during the June quarter, recording its 40th consecutive quarter of sequential growth in dose sales of its SIR-Spheres liver cancer treatment. [ + ]

A researcher from the University of Copenhagen has published a study outlining the benefits of quantifying protein-protein interactions (PPI) using automated dynamic light scattering (DLS) in high-throughput screening (HTS) mode to identify promising candidates for drug-like properties and establish the suitability of formulations before entering extended stability studies. [ + ]

Simavita (ASX:SVA) revealed it had doubled Australian monthly revenues for its incontinence management products and its distribution partner has commenced sales in the US. [ + ]

Reductions in Antarctic sea ice suggest that emperor penguin colonies will shrink by the end of the century. [ + ]

Anatara Lifesciences used BIO 2014 to seek partners for a non-antibiotic diarrhoea treatment, while Life Sciences Queensland has signed an MoU with biotech accelerator Bioindustrial Innovation Canada. [ + ]

Admedus (ASX:AHZ) made good progress with the commercialisation of CardioCel during the financial year and hopes to report the results of its subsidiary's HSV-2 trial next quarter. [ + ]

AusBiotech has made preliminary comment regarding the establishment of the Entrepreneurs' Infrastructure Programme (EIP), based on questions posed in the EIP Discussion Paper (June 2014). [ + ]