Sufferers of the skin disease psoriasis may be predisposed to
developing the condition because they carry a mutation in the gene
coding for protein called vascular endothelial growth factor,
according to UK researchers.
Near-defunct Scottish biotechnology company PPL Therapeutics marked
the end of a dreadful 2003 with the sale of its cloning technology
which created Dolly the sheep for just £760,000 (€1.1m).
A protein that forms part of the cytoskeleton of cells could be a
new target for medicines that prevent the spread of tumour cells
around the body, according to new research published on Nature's
website.
AstraZeneca has been granted approval for a new drug - the first in
its class - for the prevention of blood clotting complications
(venous thromboembolism) in major orthopaedic (hip or knee
replacement) surgery. It is the first new...
There are fears that a renewed epidemic of severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS) could occur in 2004, after initial tests on a
patient with symptoms associated with the disease suggested that
the causative agent was the SARS coronavirus...
Life sciences technology company Invitrogen has entered into a
definitive agreement to acquire fellow US firm BioReliance, which
specialises in the testing and manufacture of biologic drugs.
Kiadis of the Netherlands has acquired the entire issued share
capital and assets of Selact in a move that bolsters its
capabilities in chemical synthesis and contract research.
A UK-based animal rights group has passed video footage of alleged
animal cruelty at a facility in Germany run by US contract research
company Covance to the Ministry of Environment in
Northrhine-Westfalia.
The international team of scientists working to determine the most
common variations of the human genome have given more details of
the rationale behind the effort, known as the HapMap project, in
the journal Nature (18 December).
German biotechnology company febit has started shipping its geniom
one instrument - the first benchtop system that handles the entire
process of oligonucleotide microarray synthesis, hybridisation and
data analysis in a single instrument.
A combination of a microarray technology developed by Switzerland's
Zeptosens and signal processing software from US firm ViaLogy has
provided a quantum leap in the sensitivity of gene expression
testing in a new study.
Dutch formulation specialist ForTe has developed a new taste-masked
formulation of sodium phenylbutyrate, used in the treatment of a
group of rare metabolic disorders characterised by an inability to
eliminate waste nitrogen, that...
Although there are a number of interesting new compounds in the
antibacterial pipeline, none of them are likely to reach
blockbuster status, according to a new report from Datamonitor.
Porvair Sciences of the UK has introduced a new product for
concentrating samples in 96 or 384-well microplates, which aims to
remove the traditional laboratory bottleneck of waiting for solvent
to evaporate from the plates before...
Preliminary findings of a study in monkeys suggest that researchers
have taken an important step towards a possible treatment strategy
for the Ebola virus.
Two US companies have forged an alliance to develop a polymer-based
technology that could be used to shield drugs from inactivating
processes in the body, extending their time in the circulation.
The European Court of Justice has ruled that Internet sales of
prescription drugs should not be permitted in European Union member
states but that over-the-counter drugs may be sold on-line and
through mail-order.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 15 New Molecular
Entities in the current year to 30 September, 2003, setting the
stage to outpace last year's registrations by nearly 20 per cent,
says a report from Cutting...
Australia's Gradipore has brought in external help to find a
solution to the company's manufacturing problems for its
polyacrylamide gels, used for electrophoretic separations in the
life sciences industry.
The amount of pharmaceutical R&D funding headed out-of-house to
research suppliers engaged in drug development work will grow
almost 15 per cent annually for the next five years, nearly double
the anticipated increase in overall...
The lacklustre growth in the chemicals industry will continue to
lag behind world gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the next
few years, a reversal of the situation before 2000, according to
BASF chairman Juergen Hambrecht.
Scotland's PPL Therapeutics, once one of the brightest stars in the
UK biotechnology universe, came to desultory end this week when the
company auctioned off most of its remaining assets for just
£169,000 (€242,000).
Profile Therapeutics of the UK, a specialist in inhaled therapies,
said it has agreed to supply France's Schering SA with its Prodose
intelligent inhalers to support Schering's product Ventavis
(iloprost), a recently-approved...
The first draft sequence of the genome of the chimpanzee has been
completed, providing a tantalising first glimpse of the genetic
differences that separates man from one of its closest cousins in
the animal kingdom.
A US start-up company specialising in biomaterials, 3DMatrix, has
developed a synthetic scaffold product that can be used to create
self-assembling, microscale environments to encourage the growth of
cells in culture.
A team of researchers in Sweden have developed a drug based on a
naturally-occurring protein that could represent a new class of
antibacterial to tackle the growing problem of antibiotic
resistance.
Molecular Probes of the Netherlands, a specialist in proteomics
tools, took the opportunity presented by the Lab Automation Europe
meeting towards the end of last month to launch a range of new kits
for protein, RNA and DNA analysis.
Another report has slammed the so-called blockbuster model of drug
development in the pharmaceutical industry, in which R&D
efforts are concentrated on drugs that can command sales in excess
of $1 billion (€820m).
Radleys Discovery Technologies, a UK-based specialist in parallel
chemistry, has introduced a platform to speed up the purification
process after synthesis of multiple compounds.
UK company Medisys has confirmed that it will move ahead with the
launch of its Futura safety syringe product on its own and should
be filling customer orders in the second quarter of 2004.
A new process developed by RP Scherer promises to overcome the
stability problems that can occur when certain pharmaceutical
actives are formulated alongside fatty acids in softgel capsules.
The worldwide cellular assays market is projected to grow by more
than 50 per cent to $700 million over the next five years as
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seek methods to increase
the efficiency of their drug discovery...
German biotech company flyion has developed a new technology which
speeds up drug development and could reduce the number of animals
needed in research.
General Electric was yesterday cleared to press ahead with its €8.1
billion acquisition of UK Amersham by the US antitrust authorities,
and promptly announced a sweeping reorganisation of the business in
an attempt to boost its profit...
A number of senior executives at microfluidics and lab automation
specialist Caliper Technologies are leaving the company in a
reorganisation aimed at cutting costs and breaking even in cash
flow terms in 2005.
Despite the best efforts of specialist software development
companies and millions of dollars in spending on dedicated
programmes, the most commonly used package in the drug discovery
laboratory is Microsoft's office workhorse...
Akzo Nobel opened a new biotech vaccines production facility in
Boxmeer, the Netherlands, yesterday, that signposts a new ambition
in human vaccines for the group.
The pharmaceutical industry has welcomed the passage of new
legislation by the UK Parliament that will give police new powers
to intervene in public order offences, including those carried out
by animal extremist groups.
Many drugs cannot be administered orally since they cannot be taken
up in the gastrointestinal tract. All attempts to solve this
problem have thus far resulted in unacceptable risks of side
effects, mainly because the intestinal wall...
UK firm Cobra Biomanufacturing has ended its first year as a
publicly-listed company with a healthy 137 per cent increase in
revenues to £6 million (€8.6m), helped by an expansion of its
business in the US.
Tecan UK has launched a new plate-handling add-on for its Aquarius
multi-channel pipetting system that should increase the throughput
of the device, which is used for applications such as assay
development and drug screening.
Over the last few years, researchers involved in high-throughput
screening have been seeking out the use of their expensive reagents
by developing assays that use smaller and smaller volumes, helped
by sophisticated automation technologies.
It is already well established that microwave energy can be used to
speed up the breakdown of protein molecules by enzymes, the first
stage in protein identification. Now, a collaboration between two
companies is looking to incorporate...
The innovation gap between the EU and the US will not be closed
before 2010 if the present rate of progress continues, according to
new figures contained in the Commission's European innovation
scoreboard for 2003.
An imaging system that promises to take the tedium out of protein
crystallisation experiments made its European debut at last week's
International Biotech conference in London, UK.
German biopharmaceutical company Medigene has been granted a US
patent covering a specific manufacturing process for viruses suited
for the use in therapies and research.
