Dimerix Bioscience has closed a series A capital raising worth almost AUD$1 million, and has revealed plans to accelerate the development of its new compounds created by applying its technologies to novel G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) cluster targets.

Sydney antibody therapeutics developer Peptech (ASX:PTD) has signed an agreement with an unnamed biopharmaceuticals manufacturer to make its potent anti-inflammatory domain antibody (dAb) for preclinical and human clinical trials.

Reports that a potential blockbuster drug for multiple sclerosis, Tysabri, could be back on shelves later this year appear to have given a boost to Melbourne company Antisense Therapeutics (ASX:ANP), which is also developing an MS drug.

The FDA, as expected, has followed the recommendation of an advisory panel last week and approved the heart drug BiDil, which clinical data have shown works well in African-Americans but poorly in other populations.

The US Food and Drug Administration and Applied Biosystems researchers have recently collaborated on a comparative study of the genetic effects of the three commercialised glitazone drugs, using the company's microarray platform technology.

A preclinical trial of Metabolic Pharmaceuticals' (ASX:MBP) conotoxin peptide painkiller hints that if it makes it to the clinic, it could provide a health bonus for patients suffering chronic neuropathic pain.

Isotechnika has said a pivotal trial of its experimental drug, ISA247, to treat psoriasis showed positive preliminary results.

Heart surgeons who perform coronary bypass operations or aorta grafts face a dilemma: they need to use anti-clotting agents to prevent potentially lethal post-surgical clots, but standard blood-thinning drugs like aspirin can cause bleeding from graft joins - or from weakened blood vessels in the brain.

Belief that pharmacogenomics will transform drug development and medicine has been percolating for a few years. Recently, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) turned up the volume of its voice in the chorus of pharmacogenomics support with its report Personalised Medicine: The Emerging Pharmacogenomics Revolution.

Brian McNamee has been at the helm of Australia's oldest - and now biggest - life-sciences company, CSL, for 15 years. He guided the company through its public listing in 1994 and has overseen its growth to a market capitalisation of $6.8 billion. He spoke with Melissa Trudinger about CSL's research and development programs, and his vision for the company's future.

Nigel Poole offers 10 glimpses of what Australian life science commercialisation could look like in 2015.