Redpoint Bio has been issued with a patent for an assay technology
which tests whether a compound enhances or inhibits the bitter or
sweet taste of different ingredients, allowing the company to
screen for flavour enchancing compounds.
Cambrex Corp, the US-based manufacturer of small-molecule active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and advanced intermediates for
the drug industry, has announced that one of its customers is
recalling a product for which Cambrex...
Genomic services firm Expression Analysis has purchased the
first-ever commercially-available technology to allow the
sequencing of a single molecule of DNA, without amplification.
The heparin recall has widened after a lot of heparin sodium USP
active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) produced by Scientific
Protein Laboratories (SPL) was found to contain a heparin-like
contaminant.
Varian, Invitrogen, BMG Labtech and Hosokawa Micron have all
recently announced new product launches, detailing a selection of
tools and equipment to aid the scientist working in the laboratory
environment.
Scientists have successfully created the first artificial
transposon - a piece of DNA which randomly "jump" around the
genome, cutting and pasting itself throughout the strands of DNA.
Switzerland's Siegfried Holding says that a significant jump in
2007 net profit, up 54 per cent to CHF 49.7m ($50m), vindicates its
decision to refocus on the active pharmaceutical ingredients and
generics sector.
A new modular approach to automating laboratory techniques could
ease the process of scaling small-scale manual methods to
high-volume commercial production.
Dutch biotech Crucell and its US partner DSM Biologics have
achieved a record yield of 15 grams per litre with their PER.C6
cell line technology for the production of monoclonal antibodies
and recombinant proteins.
Peptide Technologies showcased their latest rapid automated peptide
synthesis equipment at Pittcon 2008, including a new product, the
benchtop Tribute instrument.
Applied Biosystems has sequenced a human genome for just $60,000 in
a project that significantly undercuts the $100,000 milestone
achieved by the industry and setting the scene for a price war
between DNA sequencing tool specialists.
A successful and strategically important year,' is how Sartorius
CEO Joachim Kreuzburg described 2007, a year highlighted
by merger of its biotechnology division with Stedim to boost its
presence in the burgeoning biopharmaceutical...
The costs of introducing any formal good manufacturing practice
(GMP) requirements for potentially high-risk pharmaceutical
excipients in the European Union would far exceed the likely
benefits, concludes an impact assessment for...
NanoDrop, now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, made a big impact
at Pittcon 2008 with its range of micro-volume UV-vis and
fluorescence spectroscopy instruments.
Research into the use of RNA interference (RNAi) to "silence" gene
activity has taken another step forwards, saysThermo Fisher
Scientific which has launched an agent that accelerates the
processes in which RNAi is used to...
Roche has entered into an agreement to provide drug compounds for
cardiotoxicity testing using a cell-based platform that could play
a major role in the preclinical safety evaluation of drugs and
newly developed compounds.
The CEO of Californian company Nektar Therapeutics says that 2007
has been key in transforming the company into a fully integrated
drug development organisation, despite the setback with Pfizer's
inhaled insulin product Exubera.
Alfa Laval has introduced new plate technology for the continuous
production of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and speciality
chemicals that has "the potential to start something of a
revolution in the chemicals industry",...
A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation into the
recent Baxter heparin scare has uncovered a contaminant in the
product that was sourcing the active pharmaceutical ingredient
(API) from a Chinese manufacturer.
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) has hit the
headlines at Pittcon 2008 with the release of ground breaking
instruments from a number of companies.
Dissolved charged particles frequently form the waste product of
both industrial and biological processes, but while it has been
easy to remove positive ions (cations) without disturbing the
surrounding solution, it has been significantly...
Bio-Rad Laboratories has reported strong growth in the last quarter
of 2007, with a 34 per cent increase in revenue compared to the
last quarter of 2006. These results have contributed to an overall
14.7 per cent increase in sales...
The globalisation of the supply chain increasingly challenges the
US Food and Drug Administration's ability to ensure the quality of
pharmaceuticals on the US market, acknowledges the acting director
of the agency's Center...
Dutch biotech Pharming has solidified its patent position in the
use of transgenic cattle to produce protein therapeutics through a
licence agreement with Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a US company
developing stem cell therapies...
Applera has announced its intentions to separate its Celera Group
from the Applera Corporation, forming a separate, publicly-traded
company, subject to approval from the US Securities and Exchange
Commission and Applera's board...
Life sciences systems maker Bruker Corp reported
stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue results
on the back of the company's recent $1.1bn acquisition of
affiliated firm Bruker BioSpin.
A UK chemicals plant has become the latest casualty of
GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK's) pledge to make the business leaner with
the help of outsourcing and offshoring.
A new consortium in Scotland is to develop a new 3D cell assay for
use in drug discovery and for safety evaluation prior to clinical
trials, in the hope of cutting costs and reducing the use of
animals for testing.
Bayer Healthcare is to deploy a new technique, developed by
Millipore, for genetically engineering cells to produce
pharmaceutically useful proteins that could both increase the yield
and accelerate drug production.
Jubilant Organosys, India's largest custom research and
manufacturing services (CRAMS) provider, has scored new contracts
to the tune of $92m for the year thus far as its business continues
to gather momentum.
An investigation in the aftermath of a fire and explosion at one of
Cambrex' US plants last year has found the firm in breach of
several safety regulations and the company will be fined
accordingly.
Biotage has announced plans to shift its business focus to the
environmental analysis sector - an industry on the rise as soaring
world population demands more efficient and safe laboratory
technologies to deal with waste, hazardous...
Germany's rap.ID Particle Systems has launched a new lab-ready
particle identification device capable of identifying around 400
particles an hour from 5µm and up. The company says the device is
suited for development and quality...
More details have emerged over the US Food and Drug
Administration's (FDA's) failure to vet the Chinese manufacturing
plant implicated in the Baxter heparin scare - the agency mistook
it for an already-inspected plant, it...
Aceto, the US-based distributor and marketer of fine and industrial
chemicals, is making a determined pitch for the pharmaceutical
intermediates sector in Japan.
A lab on a chip method has been developed to mimic brain
chemistry and so give a greater understanding of how neurons in the
brain interact in the formation of a nervous system.
The UK's Applied Cytometry is gearing up to launch a new ultra
high-speed software system for data analysis/processing in
applications generating large data sets such as laser flow
cytometry.
With 40-60 per cent of a global drug manufacturing industry worth
more than $380bn captured by the North American marketplace, the
region offers sustained opportunities for suppliers of
pharmaceutical water and wastewater treatment...
A new 'map' that depicts the interactions between proteins from
pathogens and humans could help explain how viruses and bacteria
manage to trick victim cells into carrying out their dirty work.
An end may be in sight to the long-running problems with the
Florida manufacturing facility acquired by US brand and generic
company Watson Pharmaceuticals with Andrx Corporation in November
2006.
Questions are hanging over the role of a Chinese manufacturing
facility in the Baxter heparin scare after it has emerged that the
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never inspected the
facility.
