Lonza Biologics has licensed rights its proprietary CHOK1SV cell
line to Canadian firm Chromos Molecular Systems for a project aimed
at making improved mammalian cells for biological syntheses.
Moscow, Russia-based Quantum Pharmaceuticals is offering
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies the opportunity to test
the latest version of its molecular docking software - Quantum 2.0
- at no cost, reports Phil Taylor.
Evident Technologies, a company in the market for quantum dots (a
tool for fluorescence detection in biological systems) has started
commercial production of its first biotinylated reagents.
Researchers in the US have provided the first direct evidence in
mice for the role of an enzyme that specifically controls the
production of serotonin in the brain.
Swiss life sciences company Tecan has launched the Freedom EVO 75,
a compact laboratory liquid handling system for medium throughput
applications which represents another addition to the EVO family
and its range of liquid handling...
The US Food and Drug Administration claims drug companies have
violated government law by failing to disclose the existence of
clinical trials to a government database, writes Wai Lang
Chu.
Codexis has appointed a new head of biocatalysis and chemical
development, shoring up its expertise in what is a small but
fast-growing area of the catalysts market.
Much has been written on In-Pharmatechnologist.com about the
impact on China of accession to the World Trade Organisation and
the effects on the domestic pharmaceutical industry of the
resulting need to comply with international intellectual...
A yeast encapsulation technology developed by UK company Micap is
at the heart of a new strategy for controlling
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the 'superbug'
that is emerging as a major threat in hospitals...
Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim has completed the validation process
for its new biopharmaceutical production plant in Biberach with a
positive inspection by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A collaboration between De Novo Pharmaceuticals and Peakdale
Molecular of the UK has led to the launch of a library of drug-like
compounds that interact with G protein-coupled receptors, a fertile
new source of drug targets.
BD Biosciences has acquired Atto Bioscience in a deal worth $25
million (€20m), allowing it to enter the emerging high content cell
analysis market and enhancing its presence in the pharmaceutical
and biotechnology sectors.
The discovery of the three-dimensional structure of the anthrax
toxin as it binds to and enters human cells could lead to both a
treatment for the disease and a way to harness its effects in
cancer therapy, according to a report in...
Sun Pharma of India has announced plans to buy an ailing
cephalosporin bulk active company, Phlox Pharma, to gain access to
an internationally approved generic active pharmaceutical
ingredient.
US company Sensitech has bought a Danish firm that shores up its
position in temperature and humidity monitoring of supply chains
and expands its presence into the European market.
The results of a new clinical trial provide evidence that Durect's
Oradur delivery technology can reduce the risk of misuse or abuse
of narcotic painkillers.
The market for pharmaceutical fine chemicals will remain static
until 2005 and overcapacity will continue to be a problem, predicts
Global Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals - Industry and Market
Analysis, a new report from Urch Publishing.
Dermatrends, a US drug delivery company, has been awarded a patent
that covers the method of using bases to enhance the permeation of
amine drugs across the skin and could lead to new products for
Alzheimer's and other diseases.
Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that physical
symptoms and neurological damage caused by an inherited
neurodegenerative disease that is similar to Huntingdon's disease
(HD) may be prevented by gene therapy.
In the UK, a groundbreaking partnership between government and
industry has led to the creation of a National Biomanufacturing
Centre, designed to make it easier for fledgling biotechnology
companies to get access to contract manufacturing...
Oxford BiomMedica has entered into a partnership with a US company
to try to overcome the primary obstacles to producing recombinant
proteins in eggs, the low level of expression of the gene
transcript coding for the target protein...
UK business has attacked the government for handing out what it
claims is a £4 billion annual bill as a result of 'sloppy'
environmental laws, report Anthony Fletcher and Phil Taylor.
Finnish chemicals group Kemira has agreed to sell off its fine
chemicals business to a private equity firm, exiting from what it
sees as a non-core sector, reports Phil Taylor.
A new survey has revealed that venture capital investment in health
care ventures rarely goes beyond the money bestowed, and claims
that VCs add value through their expertise are rarely if ever
fulfilled.
The accusations levelled at GlaxoSmithKline and Forest Laboratories
that negative trial results on their products have been buried has
prompted the US industry to set out its own code of practice.
German radio frequency identification technology company KSW
Microtec is gearing up to launch a new RFID label for tracking
supply chain integrity for pharmaceuticals, blood bags and
perishable foods.
Boehringer Ingelheim has been granted a US patent on a way to
disguise real and placebo tablets in a clinical trial - without
having to resort to placing them in larger capsules which may be
difficult for patients to swallow.
With the incidence of drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) and dengue
fever rapidly accelerating worldwide, Novartis has announced the
opening of a non-profit initiative in drug discovery focussing on
advanced biomedical research for...
Qiagen has sold off its embattled nucleic acid synthesis business
in a management buyout, but has retained a minority stake and all
activities relating to RNA interference (RNAi), a potent new drug
discovery tool.
A research team based in Sweden is benefiting from a medical
charity grant of $3 million (€2.5m) that will help it develop a new
cell-based therapy for Parkinson's. Current therapies can only
ameliorate the symptoms of the disease.
Charles River Laboratories has made a $1.5 billion (€1.2bn) bid to
acquire Inveresk Research in a deal that will create a contract
research powerhouse with nearly $1 billion in annual revenues,
writes Phil Taylor.
Tomtec has launched a new multipurpose pipetting workstation that
can handle tiny volumes (down to less than 1 microlitre) and has
features that allows the automation of a number of routine
laboratory liquid handling tasks.
Bionanotechnology company Bioforce hasreached an agreement to field
test its transformational molecular printer, NanoArrayer, at the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US, writes Wai Lang
Chu.
New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has continued in his
crusade to investigate pharmaceutical company practice by
requesting information from Forest Laboratories which is accused of
promoting its products for "off-label"...
Predictions that the generics industry will experience further
consolidation - made at the annual meeting of the International
Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance this week - have been swiftly
followed by the news that Sandoz is buying...
Lanxess, the new company in which Germany's Bayer will combine
almost all areas of its chemicals business and parts of its
polymers activities, begins operating as an independent unit today.
West Pharmaceutical Services of the US said yesterday that it is
looking to hive off its drug delivery business and focus on its
primary business in prefilled syringes and components.
Pfizer's position as the number one drugmaker in the world with a
stable of blockbuster medications makes it a prime target for the
drug counterfeiters, and one of its most copied products is the
notorious impotence drug Viagra...
UK companies producing hazardous waste - including the
pharmaceutical industry - are facing a dramatic reduction in the
number of landfill sites in the UK that will accept the material.
A new alliance between Merck & Co and Alnylam, a specialist in
the development of therapeutics based on RNA interference (RNAi)
could fast-track the first drug in this class though to market.
Pricing pressure on the global market for citric acid has forced
DSM of the Netherlands to lay off staff at its Citrique Belge unit,
reports Phil Taylor.
A compound targetting respiratory syncytial virus - a major threat
to immunocompromised patients - has completed Phase I trials,
raising hopes of the first effective treatment for the virus,
writes Wai Lang Chu.
The market for generic drugs is going to expand from its present
level of $35 billion (€29bn) to $80 billion in 2008, as
cash-strapped healthcare payors turn increasingly to cheaper
options.
GE Healthcare, the life sciences business formed by the merger of
General Electric and Amersham earlier this year, has formed an
alliance with Cellomics to develop a new software suite for its IN
Cell Analyzer product range.
Researchers in the US have taken an important step toward creating
a vaccine against Alzheimer's disease, overcoming the side effects
that held back a prior vaccine for the disease.
A nasal spray which reduces calorie intake, promotes weight loss
and is safe in obese individuals has successfully completed early
clinical trials, raising hopes of a new treatment for obesity.
Dutch drug delivery company OctoPlus has licensed two
biodegradeable polymers to SurModics that can be used to coat
medical devices and deliver drugs into the surrounding tissues.
A new customisable conveyor system, specifically designed to meet
the regulatory demands on packaging in the pharmaceutical industry,
has been launched by AutoPak Engineering.
Germany's Icon Genetics and Israeli firm Protalix are to
collaborate on a way of hiking protein expression in plant cells to
improve their use a production vehicle for recombinant proteins.