Australian company pSivida is on the brink of starting clinical
trials of a silicon-based nanomaterial that could find broad
applications across drug and vaccine delivery, diagnostics and
tissue engineering, writes Phil Taylor.
A clear legal basis has been established for the first time which
will enable research institutions to use molecular biology
techniques for which provate companies have dominant patent
positions without signing away the rights to...
Cobra Biomanufacturing of the UK saw its losses halve in the first
half of the current fiscal year, in the face of continuing declines
in the market for contract manufacturing of plasmid DNA.
A new approach to treating obesity that destroys fat tissue using a
targeted peptide drug has shown promising results in mice and will
move on to non-human primate studies this summer, reports Phil
Taylor.
Germany's Xerion Pharmaceuticals has discovered a protein that
seems to be intrinsically involved in the spread of cancers and
could be a new target for drug therapies. The finding is also a
validation of the firm's Xstream...
Applied Biosystems has unveiled a family of reagents that speeds up
proteomics and biomarker discovery experiments by allowing up to
four peptides to be analysed in single sample, writes Wai Lang
Chu.
Belgium's Opperbas Holding has started a mid-stage clinical trial
of a new formulation of factor VIII - used to treat haemophilia A -
that should cut the number of injections that sufferers of the
bleeding disease need to endure.
Rhodia, the French speciality chemicals company, has expanded its
capability to produce N-2,3-trimethyl-2-isopropylbutanamide (more
commonly known as WS-23) with the recent addition of a second
production stream at its UK facility...
A new range of connector accessories for tubing used in the
manufacture of pharmaceuticals, designed to improve the safety of
processes that need high levels of containment, has been launched
by US company Colder Products Co.
Formulatrix and Bruker AXS have pooled their resources to speed up
the process of high-throughput protein crystallography, a key
process in the identification of protein structure and function.
RNA interference is a promising new treatment approach for a range
of diseases, but delivering the RNAi compounds to the right
location has been a major obstacle to their development. Now, US
researchers have succeeded in getting...
Researchers in the US have identified an interaction between a
known cancer-related gene and a cellular enzyme that could be the
target of a new generation of drugs aimed at cancer and parasitic
infections.
Innercap Technologies has developed a new capsule drug delivery
system that makes it possible to combine two incompatible drug
compounds into a single dosage unit.
Danish ingredients company Chr Hansen has ramped up its production
capacity in the US for its pharmaceutical products via a $10
million (€8.2m) expansion of its facilities in Stoughton in the US.
Agilent Technologies has launched a microfluidics-based technology
for liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS)- widely used by
scientists in protein research and pharmaceutical applications to
separate and identify biological...
Lanxess, the fine chemicals unit that is due to be spun out of
Germany's Bayer next year, will be headed by Axel Westerhaus,
currently in charge of the group's polyethers business in the US.
German generics producer Schwarz Pharma has licensed rights to a
drug delivery technology developed by US company Lipocine, to
revamp its pipeline in the face of competitive threats to its
biggest product.
Occam International of the Netherlands has licensed its coating
technology to Xtent, a company specialising in the development of
cardiovascular stents that deliver drugs directly into the blood
vessels.
Swedish drug discovery technology company Cellectricon has raised a
total of SEK 53 million (€5.8 million) following the completion of
its latest Series B financing round, writes Wai Lang Chu.
Banner Pharmaceuticals has developed a new oral delivery
formulation that is designed to make it easier to dose drugs to
children and the elderly and to take medications on the go,
writes Phil Taylor.
An unnamed European pharmaceutical company is using time
temperature indicators (TTI) to ensure heart valves used in human
heart transplants are kept at the optimum temperature.
India's Ajanta Pharma has said that it may re-enter the market for
bulk manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs),
despite pulling out of the sector in the late 1990s.
Researchers in the US are testing a new way to treat HIV by
destroying the virus as it enters host cells. The treatment is
based on the genetic manipulation of the immune cells that HIV
infects to enable them to destroy the virus.
Dowpharma has unveiled plans to consolidate its biopharmaceutical
custom process development activities to a single site in the US
that it says will make it easier to respond to its clients' needs.
US drug delivery company SCOLR has been knocked back by the
decision by one of its partners not to go ahead with a project
based on its technology. But the company insists it will go it
alone in tackling the pharmaceutical sector.
Applied Biosystems has launched a mouse genome microarray that can
be used to detect the expression of genes, even when they are
expressed at very low levels.
IBM has launched a new software package designed to make it easier
for small and medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotecnology
companies to cope with the compliance requirements of the US Food
and Drug Administration.
Japanese drug companies Yamanouchi and Fujisawa have said that the
entity to be created via their merger next year will be called
Astellas Pharma, drawing on a Japanese word that means 'shine on
tomorrow'.
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) earlier
his month in China may have been contained, but it serves as a
timely reminder of the need for continued efforts to develop drugs
and vaccines for the virus, reports...
In an unusual move, Finnish science park Medipolis has set up a new
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) pilot plant to take advantage of
the growing demand for biopharmaceutical production capacity.
Ministers at the Council of the European Union dashed hopes that an
EU-wide 'Community Patent' might be in the offing by voting against
the measure at last week's EU Competitiveness Council meeting.
UK-based chemistry specialist Syrris has developed a new
microreactor that, it claims, can speed up the optimisation of
process reactions used in the drug industry.
The use of animal testing in pharmaceutical research and
development is to be revised after the UK government announced it
was to establish a national centre to reduce use and raise
standards of animal welfare.
Belgian group UCB, fresh from making an offer for UK biotech
company Celltech, has announced plans to sell off its chemicals
unit and become a pharmaceuticals pure play, reports Phil
Taylor.
The use of animal testing in pharmaceutical research and
development is to be revised after the UK government announced it
was to establish a national centre to reduce use and raise
standards of animal welfare, writes Wai Lang Chu.
Respironics, a US-based company specialising in sleep and
ventilation products, is to make a $44.6 million (€37.3m) cash
offer for Profile Therapeutics of the UK.
The world's only stem cell bank was officially inaugurated last
week with the deposit of the first human embryonic stem cell line
to be developed in Europe.
A new company has been set up in the UK to apply high-throughput
technologies to the development of new chemical materials,
including catalysts and novel drugs, for use in the pharmachem
industries.
German pharmaceutical and chemicals supplier Merck KGaA has set up
a new business unit to try and establish how some of the company's
pigments can be used as brand protection technologies.
UK drug delivery specialist SkyePharma received another welcome
boost yesterday with the news that its new formulation of morphine
had been approved in the US.
After over a decade of litigation, Roche Molecular Systems has won
a 'significant legal victory' in a US court case challenging the
validity of patents on its polymerase chain reaction technology,
according to the attorney...
Banner Pharmacaps has entered into an agreement to introduce its
non-animal-derived softgel capsules in Japan for pharmaceutical and
nutritional applications.
Researchers in Finland and Belgium have developed a new way of
making plant-derived compounds in cell cultures that should cut the
cost of manufacturing a raft of pharmaceuticals, including drugs
for cancer.
Automated systems provider RTS LIFE Science International is to
launch SmaRTStore, an automated sample management system designed
for customers that do not have the large-scale requirements, or
budget, of the big pharmaceutical companies,...
UK biotechnology company Acambis is looking for new clients to take
up unused capacity at its facility in Massachusetts, US, now that
Baxter has pulled out of a manufacturing contract.
Pharming of the Netherlands has modified two of its commercial
relationships in a move that should accelerate its activities in
developing therapeutic proteins that are made in transgenic
animals, writes Phil Taylor.
