Justin Provchy had been accepted to two PhD programs in mathematics when he received a package of information about Claremont, Calif.-based Keck Graduate Institute's master of bioscience degree.

Johnson, Amgen, Schering-Plough, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Abbott in an attempt to get the firms to stop using five common animal tests.

When a working map of the human genome was announced in June 2000, it was immediately clear that it would open new avenues of study and transform the life sciences, both in academia and in industry.

An idea has been brewing quietly for years among doctors, healthcare policy wonks, medical journal editors, and others who make it their business to keep a close eye on the workings of the pharmaceutical industry.

Companies typically use their first-time listing on a stock exchange, known as the initial public offering (IPO), as a crucial one-time opportunity to generate cash. However, a run of disappointing biotech market debuts over the summer has caused many biotechnology companies to put their IPOs on hold or cancel them altogether."Only if companies are down-and-dirty desperate to get money and have very few other options are they opting for IPOs," says Steven Burrill, CEO of the life sciences mercha

Under a new proposal, the Food & Drug Administration may stop issuing "approvable" and "not approvable" letters to drug sponsors whose applications need to be revised or amended. Instead, companies would receive a "complete response" letter similar to those already used by the FDA for biologics. Using the same name for all the letters should help clear up some of the confusion that can be caused by the current system, according to John K. Jenkins, who heads the Office of New Drugs in the FDA

Paul Richardson© 2004 ASCO/Todd BuchanonThe FDA is consolidating several divisions into a single Office of Oncology Drug Products (ODP) that will oversee drugs and certain therapeutic biologics targeted at cancer, as well as drugs and biologics for medical imaging. The office, which should be fully operational by April 2005, will be housed in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). The ODP will have three review divisions, but exactly how staff, products, and responsibilities wi