The latest in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have
moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the
announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to
industry regulators.
Relaunching pharmaceutical products in a bid to preserve an earlier
product's existing market share and maintain revenues is a common
tactic in the pharma industry, but, as a recent report notes,
kicking off development plans...
German researchers have developed a microfluidic device that
greatly increases the efficiency of measuring the melting
temperature of DNA double strands.
The former director of the country's State Food and Drug
Administration (SFDA) has lodged an appeal against the death
penalty slapped on him after a corruption conviction.
Solvay today announced plans to increase production of ultra-pure
soda ash at it Dombasle, France, site to meet the growing demand in
the pharmaceutical industry.
Critical Therapeutics is developing a new injectable formulation
for the treatment of asthma, and is the latest company to use
Captisol technology to achieve it.
Lonza is building a new plant in its home country to become the
only contract manufacturer with large-scale capacity for making
highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Pfizer is to plough $300m (€226m) into South Korean research and development over the next five years, while it's CEO is planning to visit North Korea tomorrow.
Diverse manufacturer 3M has agreed to sell off another chunk of its
pharmaceuticals business, fourteen months after it decided to give
up on the 'very competitive' industry.
JRS Pharma has entered into a collaboration with US firm CoreRX to
develop co-processed active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) using
JRS's high functionality excipient technology, Prosolv
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) outlined more details on the mechanism of its
anticancer drug ofatumumab - an antibody that was the subject of
the biggest ever pharma licensing deal.
After dismal second quarter results Patheon is stepping up its
resolve for 'damage control' and indicated that further cutbacks at
its problematic Puerto Rico plant are imminent.
Taiwan looks to benefit from a new alliance with Canada-based
ProMetic BioTherapeutics, which will provide a proprietary
manufacturing process to extract plasma proteins for drugs.
Schering-Plough and Kurve Technology have signed a new agreement
involving Kurve's nasal drug delivery device, which follows on the
heals of a partnership formed between the two companies last year.
BioFocus DPI has released a new informatics system that can combine
chemical and biological data from various sources to optimise
protein kinase inhibitor candidate selection.
Applikon Biotechnology has launched a new bioreactor controller,
the i-ControlXL, that has been designed to work with reactors of
any size, from any supplier.
Agilent has launched a new tool that removes the 14 most abundant
proteins found in blood plasma and serum to speed up the discovery
and identification of low-abundance proteins and biomarkers.
Major packaging player Rexam this morning announced that it will be
scooping up the plastics business of beleaguered firm
Owens-Illinois in a deal worth almost $2bn (€1.5bn).
Histological evidence of tumour destruction has confirmed the
promise of Epeius Biotechnologies' Rexin-G as an effective targeted
gene therapy platform for metastatic cancer.
Ipsen has cancelled its Phase III trial of its sustained-release
formulation of triptorelin while it attempts to fine-tune the
manufacturing process of the hormone therapy drug.
This year's American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
conference is over and as 45,000 scientists head home,
DrugResearcher.com looks at some of the most innovative drugs that
were on show.
Genzyme is expanding its manufacturing capabilities of
thymoglobulin in France as it moves to meet the growing demand and
future potential of the rabbit serum derivative.
IDBS look to speed up laboratory research by enabling more
efficient knowledge transfer with its latest electronic lab
notebook (ELN) suite, E-WorkBook 7.0.
Roche has initiated a recall of its HIV drug Viracept (nelfinavir)
right down to the patient level after finding evidence of dangerous
contaminants in the tablets.
Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT) lead candidate AMT 011, a
Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) Deficiency treatment has received Orphan
Drug Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Just as the clinical trials sector in Russia is
starting to take off, the industry has been dealt a severe
blow with the sudden and indefinite banning of biological sample
exports.
Applied Biosystems (ABI) has started its early access program for
its next-generation DNA sequencing system, SOLiD, as well as
starting to take customer orders.
The first ever non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) to be
delivered via the nose has been developed, and its makers are
heralding it as "an important breakthrough in treating
pain".
A molecule that links spontaneous physical activity such as
fidgeting and food intake could be a promising new target for drugs
to control diet-induced obesity, researchers from Europe and the US
suggest.
Siegfried Generics this week kicked off production at its new
manufacturing facility in Malta making the most of the country's
lack of pharma patents which gives the firm a head-start in
producing generic pharmaceuticals.
The apparent inability of current analytical techniques to fully
characterise complex biological drugs still stands in the way of
easy approval pathways for 'biogenerics' or copies of off-patent
brand name biologics.
A joint effort to develop a winning oral formulation for the
treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) has taken another step towards
the finish line with initiation of Phase III trials for the novel
laquinimod compound.
Oxigene's potentially first-in-class cancer drug is showing
promising clinical results and could rival a drug Novartis'
recently spent nearly a billion dollars on.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has found a buyer for
two of its manufacturing plants in a final move to
complete the restructuring plans announced by the company last
year.
An Italian firm specialising in novel drug delivery technologies is
due to receive a lump sum of €1m following the successful
development of a new formulation of a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) drug.
Scientists have successfully used ribozymes - considered by some to
be the 'living fossils' of a time when life was based on RNA - to
prevent the spread of HIV in the body.
Bionovo, Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Trius Therapeutics, Exelixis,
AmerisourceBergen Corporation and Kindred Healthcare have all had
people on the move in the world of pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The seventeenth in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have
moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the
announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to
industry regulators.
Newly-formed Brane Discovery has licensed a Parkinson's research
programme to become the third company in three years to own the
potentially first-in-class drug candidates.
Just weeks after announcing intentions to snap up biologics firm
MedImmune, AstraZeneca has acquired DSM's old biologics
manufacturing facility in Montreal, Canada, a site that's been
gathering dust since it was mothballed...
The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries will help to push
trade between India and the United Kingdom up by 60 per cent within
three years, claims a soon-to-be released report.
