Biotechnology

By  ANDREW POLLACK JULY 15, 2016 Continue reading the main story Share This Page The best-selling drugs Humira and Enbrel have a lot in common. They both use biotechnology to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and other autoimmune diseases. And they come with giant price tags approaching $50,000 a year. Now the two companies behind the competing drugs have found common ground in keeping those prices so high: They are deploying new patents to prevent patients and insurers from getting two essentially generic versions of the drugs for less money. This week, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended approval of the near generic versions. But the patents could delay introduction. And even if the drugs get to market, some patient groups say they will resist efforts by insurers to force them to use the less expensive drugs. The various developments show that six years after the Affordable Care Act cleared the way for biosimilars, as the generic versi...

By  DANNY HAKIM OCT. 29, 2016 Continue reading the main story Share This Page Photo Arnaud Rousseau, a sixth-generation farmer in France, in a field of rapeseed. Twenty years ago, Europe largely rejected genetic modification at the same time the United States and Canada were embracing it.   Credit Ed Alcock for The New York Times LONDON — The controversy over  genetically modified crops  has long focused on  largely unsubstantiated fears  that they are unsafe to eat. But an extensive examination by The New York Times indicates that the debate has missed a more basic problem — genetic modification in the United States and Canada has not accelerated increases in crop yields or led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical  pesticides . The promise of genetic modification was twofold: By making crops immune to the effects of weedkillers and inherently resistant to many pests, they would grow so robustly that they would become in...

By  KENNETH CHANG Part of the work at the Flatiron Institute involves complicated numerical simulations of exploding stars, as shown here. Credit Chris Hayward/Center for Computational Astrophysics/Flatiron Institute; and Phil Hopkins/California Institute of Technology/FIRE Collaboration A new private research institute financed by the billionaire  James H. Simons  in New York will develop software tools and apply cutting edge computing techniques to science often not possible in academia and industry. Researchers this week will start moving into the Flatiron Institute, across the street from the downtown offices of the  Simons Foundation , a nonprofit that finances basic science research. Mr. Simons, a mathematician turned wealthy hedge fund manager and now philanthropist, and his wife, Marilyn, the foundation president, hope the new institute will fill an overlooked niche. Computers have been a fixture for decades in astrophysics and many other fields ...