A new screening technique has been developed to target genes that
change patients' responses to cancer drugs and other medications.
By identifying genetic factors affecting patients drug responses,
customisable treatment plans...
A unique approach to microdosing, providing drug data ahead of
schedule and with improved accuracy, could herald a new era in drug
development in which human ADME data is involved in candidate
selection or deselection.
Speciality chemicals group Noviant has developed a certified
GM-free disintegrant for use in tablets, allowing supplement makers
to continue supplying a full range of products without having to
add labels required under new European...
A potential new drug target for treatment of cancer has amazed
scientists who believe it plays such a key role in preventing
cancer onset that it opens up a range of different targeting
options for multiple types of cancer.
Locus Pharmaceuticals have acquired the drug discovery company
Protein Mechanics, which brings together novel technologies that
broaden the scope of drug targets and further strengthens its
position as a leading company in computational...
A new drug target, which blocks the reproduction of cancerous cells
without the side effects commonly associated with existing cancer
drugs, has been discovered by scientists who believe this target is
linked to other diseases including...
US firm Altair Nanotechnologies has filed two new patent
applications on its TiNano Spheres drug delivery system, which it
claims can deliver a large amount of drug, improving reaction
rates.
Scientists who have discovered the binding site for the
anti-epilepsy drug Keppra have confirmed that the drugs mechanism
of action places it in a new class of central nervous system (CNS)
drugs.
UK chemicals group Croda said strong demand for its marine and
plant-derived oils in the personal care and healthcare sectors
lifted sales and helped improve first half operating profits.
US researchers have found a delivery method for gene therapy that
reaches all the voluntary muscles of a mouse - including heart,
diaphragm and limbs - and reverses the process of muscle-wasting
found in muscular dystrophy.
A US-based aerosol drug specialist has signed an agreement with
Switzerland's Phares Drug Delivery for use of a technology that can
improve the delivery of inhalation-therapy drugs and overcome
delivery incompatibility in combination...
A novel approach to traditional drug design has led to a new drug
which prevents eye scarring after glaucoma surgery. The discovery
brings hope to half a million people in the UK who suffer from what
is the most common cause of irreversible...
Pharmaceutical investment in antibiotic research and development
(R&D) must be reinvigorated so doctors have access to medicines
needed to combat the ever-growing threat of antibiotic resistant
infections.
Researchers in the UK are developing an oral tuberculosis vaccine
for badgers based on alginate gel beads, which protect the bacteria
from stomach acid until it reaches the intestine. They say the
technology could also work for human...
In the first study of its kind, researchers have identified the
genes in non-cancerous supporting cells that can encourage the
growth of breast cancer cells. The findings suggest aiming
chemotherapy at both normal and cancer cells...
Swiss fine chemicals company Siegfried has been insulated from the
general downturn in the chemicals industry, but has finally
succumbed and been forced to lose staff and cut back production,
writes Phil Taylor.
3M has teamed up with MicroDose Technologies to market a new
metered dose inhaler that should be cheap to produce and deliver a
broad range of compounds.
Drug development company Jerini has transferred its peptide
technologies business unit to a wholly owned subsidiary which will
continue to provide and develop peptide-based services and products
for biomedical research.
Aspen Pharmacare, Africa's largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, has
been told that it can retain a recently purchased manufacturing
facility for off-patent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs),
providing it continues to supply...
A step forward has been taken in understanding the genetic disorder
Huntingdon's after the discovery of a protein whose mutation causes
it to stop functioning properly and trigger the disease.
Global efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and
AIDS have intensified over the past few years, yet they continue to
fall short of what is likely to be needed to achieve success,
reports Phil Taylor.
Viruses are increasingly being used as delivery vectors in the
pharmaceutical industry, for example to deliver genes to cells or
DNA sequences that function as vaccines. But formulating them so
that the virus' activity is retained...
A natural mutation of a gene that helps regulate the reactivity of
the immune system is a major contributor to type 1 diabetes,
researchers have found, writes Wai Lang Chu..
Swiss chemicals group Clariant, currently in the throes of a major
restructuring exercise, has sold off its UK-based Lancaster
Synthesis unit to Johnson Matthey.
SkyePharma has completed Phase III testing of a new version of
AstraZeneca's asthma drug Pulmicort (budesonide) that does not use
ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellants.
Researchers in the US have provided the first direct evidence in
mice for the role of an enzyme that specifically controls the
production of serotonin in the brain.
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...
A yeast encapsulation technology developed by UK company Micap is
at the heart of a new strategy for controlling
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the 'superbug'
that is emerging as a major threat in hospitals...
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.
BD Biosciences has acquired Atto Bioscience in a deal worth $25
million (€20m), allowing it to enter the emerging high content cell
analysis market and enhancing its presence in the pharmaceutical
and biotechnology sectors.
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...
The results of a new clinical trial provide evidence that Durect's
Oradur delivery technology can reduce the risk of misuse or abuse
of narcotic painkillers.
Dermatrends, a US drug delivery company, has been awarded a patent
that covers the method of using bases to enhance the permeation of
amine drugs across the skin and could lead to new products for
Alzheimer's and other diseases.
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.
Boehringer Ingelheim has been granted a US patent on a way to
disguise real and placebo tablets in a clinical trial - without
having to resort to placing them in larger capsules which may be
difficult for patients to swallow.
Qiagen has sold off its embattled nucleic acid synthesis business
in a management buyout, but has retained a minority stake and all
activities relating to RNA interference (RNAi), a potent new drug
discovery tool.
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.
West Pharmaceutical Services of the US said yesterday that it is
looking to hive off its drug delivery business and focus on its
primary business in prefilled syringes and components.
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.
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.
Dutch drug delivery company OctoPlus has licensed two
biodegradeable polymers to SurModics that can be used to coat
medical devices and deliver drugs into the surrounding tissues.
Germany's Icon Genetics and Israeli firm Protalix are to
collaborate on a way of hiking protein expression in plant cells to
improve their use a production vehicle for recombinant proteins.
Cardinal Health has completed its $2 billion (€1.6bn) tender offer
for intravenous product and services firm Alaris Medical Systems in
a deal that could give Alaris a leg-up that will allow it to
leapfrog its competitors.
A Korean company has developed a new way of making peptide nucleic
acids - a promising drug category that has been limited to date by
an expensive and cumbersome synthetic process.
