The $7.3 billion (€6.8bn) global market for non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs could soon include an upstart competitor
whose new product holds the promise of allaying joint pain but
without the gastrointestinal side effects often...
US Neuro Bioscience has signed an agreement to acquire a minimum of
75 per cent of the issued and outstanding share capital of CLL
Pharma, a French company engaged in the business of reformulating
drugs using its proprietary drug...
US company PerkinElmer was presented with the 2003 Analytical
Instrumentation Company of the Year award by market research
company Frost & Sullivan in a ceremony last night.
Amersham Biosciences has launched a new DNA Amplification Kit,
GenomiPhi, which it says can simplify the DNA preparation process
and enable high-quality DNA to be prepared from a limited amount of
biological material.
Iceland-based deCODE genetics announced this week that AstraZeneca
has entered into an agreement to purchase its RoboHTC automated
protein crystallography platform, earmarked for AstraZeneca's drug
discovery sites in Alderley...
US Steris Corporation has extended operations in Europe with the
announcement today that it has acquired Swiss provider of
washing/decontamination systems Hamo Holding.
The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) is setting up a
trade office in Aarhus, Denmark for its activities in innovation
and functional genomics, reports Biotech Denmark on its website.
Genetics-based drug discovery company CompleGen is to supply Berlex
Biosciences, a US affiliate of German company Schering, with a high
throughput assay system for discovery of compounds active against a
novel target identified by...
The latest data on cases of antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia
associated with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen-Cilag's
erythropoietin product Eprex/Erypo (epoetin alfa) have suggested
that measures put in place...
The European Commission has earmarked €13 million from the budget
of the EU's Sixth Research Framework Programme (FP6) (2002-2006) to
promote and facilitate research co-operation with the 13 associated
candidate countries for...
US biopharmaceutical company Scolr, latterly known as Nutraceutix,
is to ship the first order for its patented controlled delivery
product Glucosamine/Chondroitin to Europe.
UK developer of medical diagnostics devices Osmetech continued the
strategy to build on its healthcare diagnostics business with the
acquisition this week of the Atlanta-based 'OPTI' product line of
blood gas analysers owned...
Dutch life science company DSM reported this week that on Tuesday
three people were killed following an explosion at its Melamine
Plant 2 in Geleen, the Netherlands.
Life science company Chiral Quest this week announced that the
non-profit organisation, the Penn State Research Foundation, has
received a US patent covering the compositions of matter and use
for a series of chiral phosphine ligands...
Two British firms, De Novo Pharmaceuticals and Peakdale Molecular,
are to enter into a joint collaboration to exploit their respective
skills in molecular design and chemistry synthesis, writes market
analysts Datamonitor this week.
As the lead story today on In-Pharmatechnologist.com
highlights, the European brain-drain is far from slowing down with
the US continuing to attract researchers and entrepreneurs. A fact
that has had, and will continue to have, a...
Sweden's Biacore International, a specialist in surface plasmon
resonance technologies, has launched its Biacore 3000 GxP (Good
Manufacturing Practice/Good Laboratory Practice) Package, which
will strengthen the system's...
Shareholders at Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche welcomed the
start of a new era as the company summarised recent events,
including the divestment of the vitamins business, at its annual
general meeting yesterday.
The bulk of biotech companies are firmly rooted towards the foot of
the ladder of corporate evolution. Precious few can realistically
claim to be at the top end of the evolutionary scale with full
R&D capabilities, global reach...
Until recently nanotechnologists -- scientists who build devices
and materials one atom or molecule at a time -- concentrated almost
entirely on electronics, computers, telecommunications, and
materials manufacture. Now biomedical...
The Portuguese Minister for Science and Higher Education, Pedro
Lynce, confirmed his government's commitment to investing in
science with the announcement today that the ministry is
considering opening 20 new Ciência Viva (Science...
GlaxoSmithKline has entered into a new drug formulation agreement
with Flamel Technologies of France that could see the latter firm
receive up to $45 million (€41.3m) in licensing fees and milestone
payments.
The Eurobarometer 2002 survey on 'Europeans and biotechnology'
reveals that despite the impression that Europeans are sceptical
about this technology, the majority are optimistic that
biotechnololgy will improve our way...
Dow Chemical has agreed for Dowpharma, Dow's pharmaceutical
manufacturing services business unit, to supply select, proprietary
oligonucleotides to Montreal, Canada-based Topigen Pharmaceuticals
for use in its pharmaceutical...
There has been 'unprecedented development' in terms of the
Community's research policy in the last year claims the European
Commission's 2002 annual report on technological research and
development (RTD) in 2001.
A collaboration between Cenix BioScience of Germany and the USA's
Ambion has been formed to co-develop and market the first
commercially-available, human genome-wide library of small
interfering RNA sequences. RNA interference...
Biotechnology company Biogen this week celebrated its 25th
anniversary by breaking the ground on a large-scale manufacturing
facility in Hillerød, Denmark, marking the company's first
development phase for the region and a greater...
Pharmaceutical researchers used to begin their evaluation of drug
leads by looking at affinity and potency, but a
genomics/informatics-based research culture is now growing which is
starting to impinge on this classical mode, says...
UK contract pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor Intercare
Group has reported 2002 turnover of £275.1 million (€406m), an
increase of 27 per cent year-on-year, and pretax profits of £24.6
million, up 15 per cent. The results...
Anglo-German company Proteome Sciences has developed a new reagent
that it claims can dramatically enhance the sensitivity of mass
spectrometers for the identification of proteins.
UK Science Minister Lord Sainsbury this week announced a new
initiative to develop 'a strategic approach' to the future of the
bioscience industry in the UK and to encourage growth in the
sector.
Scientists in Australia report this week that they have developed a
powerful software modelling tool, MolSAR, which could have the
potential to reduce drug development costs by up to €28 million per
drug.
Dharmacon, a US supplier of RNA and RNA-interference research
products, announced today it has launched Cell Cycle siARRAY, a
collection of ready-to-use siRNA duplexes designed to knock down
112 genes involved in cell cycle regulation.
Venture capital investments in biotechnology and medical device
companies combined to total $4.7 billion (€4.4bn) in 2002, or 22
per cent of all investing, representing the highest proportion in
seven years, according to the MoneyTree...
Ireland's Elan Corp has inked a deal with Ingenium Pharmaceuticals
of Germany that will see the companies apply Ingenium's functional
genomics technologies to the discovery and development of novel
therapeutics for pain...
British Biotech, once the darling of the UK biotechnology industry
but now suffering the after-effects of a string of major drug
development failures, is having another go at bolstering its
pipeline via a merger with fellow UK company...
Akzo Nobel has opened a new powder coatings factory in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam in partnership with Chang Cheng Securities, marking
the 12th powder coatings site in the Asia Pacific region for the
company.
A series of new flow cytometry products will soon hit the market
with the announcement yesterday from US companies BD Biosciences
and Molecular Probes that, following a recent license agreement, BD
Biosciences Pharmingen has launched...
Specialists in cellular analysis Cyntellect this week announced the
issuance of a new patent covering the company's Laser Enabled
Analysis and Processing (LEAP) technology platform.
SC Biosciences is to be the exclusive distributor of sensitive
tools for drug discovery with the announcement this week that it
will distribute in vivo imaging technology in Japan for US company
Xenogen corporation.
German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has signed a
long-term agreement with software company MDL Information Systems
to use its software technology for managing and deploying chemical
information systems.
Applied Biosystems group, the world's number one maker of
gene-analysing equipment, warned on Tuesday that it would report
lower-than-expected fiscal third-quarter revenue and earnings due
to deteriorating business conditions.
The prospect of using chicken eggs as commercial 'biofactories' for
the production of protein-based drugs has moved a step closer with
the announcement of a study showing that transgenic cockerels can
pass on an introduced...
Patient safety, care quality, and efficiency in the supply chain
are likely to improve with new proposals from the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) that will require bar coding on medications.
European scientists continue to be strong in areas such as medical
research and chemistry and Europe may produce the highest number of
science graduates but it is lagging behind in biotechnology, still
employs fewer researchers, accounts...
For years, it has been common wisdom in the pharmaceutical industry
that delivery of drugs via the nose only really works if the
compound can be presented in liquid form. One company begging to
differ is Britannia Pharmaceuticals...
