US company Incyte Genomics is closing down its Palo Alto-based gene
information division, saying that the availability of free genetic
databases on the Internet has scuppered the unit's business.
Researchers from Vertex Pharmaceuticals have identified the first
crystal structure of Flt-3, a member of the receptor tyrosine
kinase family that is implicated in the development and progression
of leukaemia, paving the way for the...
News that the outbreak of avian flu in Asia today claimed its
twelfth victim - and unconfirmed suggestions that it may be spread
from human to human - has lent additional urgency to efforts to
develop a vaccine against the virus.
Manufacturers of pharmaceutical excipients that are imported into
the US must step up their compliance with new legislation or risk
having shipments turned back at the border.
The UK's Cambridge University has scrapped plans to build a primate
research centre to conduct research into neurological disorders
which caught the attention of the scientific press late last year.
Aventis could hang on to its 15 per cent stake in chemicals company
Rhodia under the terms of a new agreement with the European
Commission. The company will instead sell off its 49 per cent stake
in Wacker Chemie over the next several...
Switzerland's Lonza has negotiated exclusive rights to an
expression system, used in the manufacture of therapeutic proteins,
that could be used to shorten the development time for its
customers' biologic products.
Tecan of Switzerland's US subsidiary has launched Cellerity, a new
system designed to produce a ready supply of cells for cell-based
assays, at the LabAutomation 2004 exhibition, which opened its
doors yesterday.
US packaging giant MeadWestvaco has reported a 38 per cent increase
in fourth-quarter profits, helped by cost-cutting, cash from the
sale of forest land and strong sales of consumer packaging
materials.
Spanish manufacturer of choline salts Algry Quimica has signed
several new research agreements to develop active ingredients for
pharma and food applications.
UK chemical sector growth, including pharmaceuticals, is forecast
at 3.6 per cent for 2004, outperforming the 2.3 per cent growth
estimated for Europe as a whole, according to a study presented at
the Chemical Industry Association's...
Sanofi's hostile bid for larger French rival Aventis may have been
rejected, but there are a number of arguments in favour of a link,
according to analyst Nicole Lamble at market research firm
Datamonitor.
Agilent Technologies has launched a software package to help drug
companies keep a close eye on the quality of chemical compounds.
The firm says the product is the first of its kind, allowing a more
than seven-fold increase in the...
Danish company Chr Hansen saw its revenues slip 4 per cent in its
first quarter, as the impact of the economic downturn and tough
dollar exchange rate was felt across its business units.
A rheumatoid arthritis drug developed by Franco-German company
Aventis has been linked to the deaths of five patients in Japan,
prompting the company to warn against prescribing the drug to
people with respiratory problems.
A small US company has developed an encapsulation technology for
pharmaceuticals that promises to overcome a major healthcare
problem - deaths and illness caused by aspirin and other
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer Tetrionics is
planning to double the capacity at a facility in the US to hike its
ability to make highly potent compounds.
Millipore has teamed up with HyClone Laboratories in an alliance
that brings the concept of disposable factory for
biopharmaceuticals production a step closer.
Monsanto and Pfizer's Pharmacia subsidiary have asked a federal
judge to either deny or postpone a request by Solutia to eliminate
liabilities to its former parent Monsanto.
A new metal detector capable of picking up ferrous and stainless
steel contamination within aluminium foil wrapped products has been
developed. Manufactured by German technology firm Sartorius, the
product, called the Observer, promises...
Eksigent Technologies is launching a new high-pressure liquid
chromatography system in March that can increase throughput
compared to rival HPLC systems as much as six-fold.
Filtration specialist Millipore has reported strong growth in sales
in the fourth quarter of 2003, suggesting that the fortunes of the
biopharmaceutical industry - Millipore's primary customer - may be
on the up.
Australia's Gradipore has been boosted by news that its Gradiflow
separation technology has been scaled up to produce commercial
quantities of an antibody from source plasma.
Dutch biotechnology company Crucell has appointed a new chief
execvutive as it continues its transition from a company
specialising in enabling technologies to one focuused on product
development.
Israel-headquartered generics company Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries has completed its $3.4 billion takeover of US company
SICOR, which makes generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Healthcare giant Cardinal Health reported revenues up 11 per cent
to $14.1 billion (€11.2bn) in the fourth-quarter of 2003, as a
strong performance in its pharmaceutical manufacturing services,
pharmacy automation and medical product...
Germany's Wacker Specialties has signed an R&D agreement with
Finland's Prokaria to bolster its activities in chiral alcohols,
used as chemical building blocks by the pharmaceutical industry.
Since they were introduced in the early 1990s, beta interferons
have become the standard of care for patients with the
neurodegenerative disease multiple sclerosis, but up to a third of
MS patients do not derive a benefit from these...
Japanese pharmaceutical companies must build strong, in-house,
R&D capabilities in order to survive, according to research
from market analyst firm Datamonitor. But this is not simply a
matter of spending more money; strategic...
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo has launched a
hostile takeover bid for its larger rival Aventis, in a move which
would create a top three drug major.
Switzerland's Bachem saw its 2003 sales slip by 3 per cent as
continued slack demand for research chemicals held back a modest
increase in its active pharmaceutical ingredients business.
A commercial unit of the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) has
launched a gene-silencing library - based on small interfering RNA
(siRNA) - that covers 90 per cent of the genome of the fruitfly
Drosophila melanogaster which is widely...
Last year, pharmaceutical companies from India submitted a third of
all the Drug Master Files for active pharma ingredients (APIs)
received in the US, outstripping their international rivals by a
wide margin.
Chiltern International, one of Europe's leading mid-sized contract
research organisations, has opened up an office in Ukraine to tap
into a growing market for clinical trial services in central and
Eastern Europe.
If 2003 was marked by consolidation in the biotechnology industry,
then in 2004 the spotlight seems to have tracked firmly back to
pharmaceuticals - and particularly the European majors.
Irish pharmaceutical group Elan has raised around $70 million
(€55m) from four new deals, including the sale of formulation and
manufacturing interests.
BioCatalytics has expanded its product line of enzymes for chemical
synthesis with the addition of new ketoreductases (KRED) enzymes
for the stereoselective reduction of ketones.
The bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is well known as a
cause of food poisoning, but could also improve the safety and
effectiveness of vaccines for a number of viral diseases, according
to US researchers.
General Electric's €8.1 billion acquisition of the UK's Amersham
was approved by the European Union yesterday, after it concluded
that the deal would not create a monopoly in Europe's medical
imaging market.
German contract ingredient manufacturer Girindus posted its first
profit since it was floated on the stock exchange in 2000 in the
last quarter of 2003, as sales rose 16 per cent to €32 million.
UK-headquartered NextGen Sciences has formed an alliance with
Germany's Protagen aimed at developing 'biochips' that can contain
thousands of functional proteins for use in drug discovery.
Dowpharma has developed new strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas
fluorescens that can be used to improve the yield of
recombinant proteins made in fermentation vats.
Scientists at the Babraham Institute in the UK have discovered that
a tiny change in a protein involved in cell survival is responsible
for abnormal cell activity in the early stages of cancer.
Understanding how the cancer gets going...
Israel's Teva has moved a step closer to consolidating its position
as the world's biggest generics manufacturer with the $3.4 billion
(€2.7bn) acquisition of US-based SICOR, which makes active
pharmaceutical ingredients...
A hoped-for recovery in the second half of 2003 failed to
materialise at Lonza, causing the chemicals and custom
manufacturing firm to post steep declines in sales and profits for
the full-year.
