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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Adjuvants - substances that are added to vaccines to intensify the
immune response to an antigen which have been used for over 80
years - are beginning to be understood by researchers who believe
more effective adjuvants can be designed.
A strong indicator of the potential of a new type of drug to treat
cancer - the Aurora kinase inhibitors - has come with Merck &
Co's decision to invest up to $350 million (€288m) in a license for
the lead compound in the...
AstraZeneca's anticoagulant Exanta (ximelagatran) has been launched
in Germany, its first market worldwide, for the prevention of blood
clots in patients undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery.
The world's largest centre for human embryonic stem cell research,
which will develop treatments for a range of currently incurable
diseases, is to be opened by Cambridge University in the UK.
Applied Biosystems has won a legal battle in Germany that could see
certain thermal cycler products from Bio-Rad and MJ Research being
driven off the market.
Reforms that demand the public disclosure of industry payments to
The National Institute of Health (NIH) employees are to be
introduced to crackdown on the violation of existing rules that
create a conflict of interest between the...
Merck KGaA subsidiary EMD Biosciences has formed a partnership with
The Automation Partnership that will see EMD's products included on
the new Piccolo system for recombinant protein production.
Tekcel, a sample management company for life science research, has
acquired assets of Biophile that includes its ultra low temperature
(minus 80 degrees C) sample management systems designed for
research applications in the drug discovery...
The first clinical trial of a peptide that mimics the cellular
adhesion molecule NCAM is due to take place in the UK in the third
quarter of this year, bringing a potential new treatment for
Alzheimer's disease a step closer,...
A new treatment for cancer that destroys tumours by heating them
from the inside has shown promise in animal studies conducted at
Rice University in the US, writes Phil Taylor.
Affymetrix has extended the range of custom microarrays it offers
to customers with the launch of the NimbleExpress Array Programme,
which caters for users that require fewer units.
Germany's MWG Biotech has launched its own line of small
interfering RNA (siRNA) reagents, siMAX, encroaching into territory
dominated by the likes of Qiagen, Dharmacon, Ambion, Proligo and
Invitrogen.
Researchers at Harvard have discovered why cholesterol-lowering
drugs do not have identical effects on patients. These medicines on
average cut heart attacks by a third and with sales of $26 billion
dollars and used by 20 million...
Irish start-up Celtic Catalysts believes it can tackle two of the
major obstacles holding back the use of catalysts to make chiral
drugs - the strong patent positions of existing players and
difficulties in scale-up - with its platform...
Drug discovery instrumentation and software developer Axon
Instruments announced today the release of its Axoporator 800A
single-cell electroporator, the first commercially available
instrument of its kind, writes Wai Lang Chu.
The European Union has awarded funding worth €2.2 million to the
group of academic institutes behind the 3DGENOME research
programme, which is exploring how the genome functions in health
and disease.
A conference on the hot topic of RNA interference will be held in
London, UK in October, with the keynote address delivered by
leading RNAi researcher Craig Mello.
Vectura, a UK biotechnology company which is developing an inhaled
alternative to orally acting impotence drugs such as Pfizer's
Viagra (sildenafil), has announced plans to float on the London
stock market.
Scientists in the UK are tipped to be given approval this week to
create cloned human embryos to harvest stem cells to treat diabetes
patients and with the possibility of treating other diseases such
as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
A coalition of biopharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies
has agreed on an electronic data standard that should make it
easier to file product approval dossiers to regulators
electronically, bringing drugs to market more...
The development of an in silico model of the non-obese
diabetic (NOD) mouse, the primary animal model used by researchers
to study type 1 diabetes, is set to enhance understanding of the
disease and radically advance pharmaceutical...
Qiagen and Protedyne have teamed up to develop an ultra
high-throughput sample preparation system for Protedyne's BioCube
systems used for nucleic acid purification,writes Wai Lang
Chu.
A biomechanical pathway which is key to the specific allergic
response suffered by those with asthma has been shown to induce a
specific enzyme which if neutralised, could eliminate the
inflammation and hyperresposiveness of the airway,...
Scottish biotech firm CXR biosciences and Edinburgh's Roslin
Institute have entered into a collaboration with Geron to develop a
new technique that promises to reduce the need to test drugs on
animals.
Invitrogen subsidiary Protometrix is gearing up to launch a
microarray containing nearly all the 6,200 or so proteins in the
proteome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a commonly
used organism in genomics research.
Researchers have isolated a protein that appears to be behind the
curious phenomenon that severe dietary restruction can extend the
lifespan of some organisms. The protein is thought to control
whether a mammal stores fat or sheds...
The annual US Biotechnology Industry Association event started this
weekend in San Francisco with the usual showcase of new
biopharmaceuticals and other technologies. But aside from supplying
the drugs of the future, the biotechnology...
Drug therapies that focus on the vascular endothelial growth factor
(VEGF) in treating advanced or metastasised cancer represents a
huge slice of drug treatments currently in development. This
molecular target paves the way for...
Neuro3d has started trials of its orally active phosphodiesterase-4
(PDE4) inhibitor in depression, resurrecting the use of this class
of drug in this indication.
Recently formed US company WaferGen has acquired licenses to three
labs-on-a-chip developed at the Technical University of Delft in
the Netherlands that could be on the market in the next two years.
Fisher Scientific subsidiary Perbio last week opened a new facility
in the UK to manufacture its Hyclone range of cell culture
equipment and mediathat ramps up its liquid production capacity by
a factor of four, reports Phil Taylor.
In the build up to the American Society of Clinical Oncology's
(ASCO) annual conference, drug companies from around the world have
been showcasing potential drug treatments, with a number of new
molecular targets for cancer,...
It has been eight years since Molecular Devices first introduced
its FLIPR (Fluorometric Imaging Plate Reader) onto the market to
answer the need for a detection device that could handle cells.
Human clinical trials involving an Ebola vaccine took a step closer
after Dutch biotechnology firm Crucell announced a single dose of
its Ebola vaccine had successfully protected monkeys during trial
tests.
Canadian company MIV Therapeutics has been awarded a US patent for
a coating technology for medical devices and drug encapsulation
based on hydroxyapatite, one of the major constituents of bone.