A small German company has developed a new drug delivery technology
that can transport active drugs into the interior of cells by an
intrinsic, active mechanism.
In March 2004, manufacturers of pharmaceuticals such as
prescription painkillers and other drugs at risk of abuse were
required to start using radiofrequency identification tags on all
pallets destined for retail giant Wal-Mart, almost...
The threat of emerging strains of bacteria with resistance to the
current arsenal of drugs was the subject of intense focus as the
14th Annual European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and
Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) got underway...
A new patch product in clinical trials could provide a
patient-friendly means of delivering the only drug treatment for
osteoporosis that can actually replace lost bone, reports Phil
Taylor.
Acusphere has developed microcapsule a technology that promises to
improve the delivery of a range of drugs, including those that are
poorly-soluble in water. The technology is being used to develop a
sustained-release version of...
Applera has been awarded a broad US patent covering the use of
microdevices with built-in electronic memory that can be used for
storing and retrieving information about samples used in laboratory
experiments.
Germany's Icon Genetics has published details of its proprietary
expression technology, designed to improve the production of
biopharmaceuticals and other proteins in genetically-modified
plants.
A new company spun out from the University of Durham in the UK,
called LyraChem, has developed a new catalytic technology for the
pharmaceutical and chemical sectors that should reduce the amount
of wastage and contamination that...
Osteoporosis sufferers are set to benefit from an influx of new
drug treatments which are expected to dominate the market and give
patients an unprecedented choice of treatment options, according to
new market research which suggetss...
A formulation of the steroid drug budesonide, made using a
solubility technology developed by US company CyDex, has
outperformed one of the leading drugs for asthma on the market in a
preclinical study.
US company Globe Medical Tech has started production of a new type
of safety syringe developed by Maxxon that should cost no more than
a regular, non-safe disposable syringe.
Novartis Consumer Health has launched two of its OTC flu remedies
in portable dissolvable strips, thought to be the first such
products to use the novel delivery format.
The University of Ulster yesterday opened a new Nanotechnology
Research Institute at its Jordanstown campus in Northern Ireland,
and says it is the only institute of its type in the UK to bring
the discipline under the same roof as...
A new screening approach which can identify a new drug mechanism of
action without the need for an appropriate molecular target has
been used to suppress genetic mutation. The discovery raises new
hopes of identifying potential new...
Ireland's Elan Corp has signed up another heavyweight partner -
Switzerland's Roche - for its NanoCrystals technology, designed to
improve the solubility of drug compounds.
Growing knowledge about how to manage the risks of gene therapy
could improve the chances of developing successful treatments, said
experts meeting last week to weigh up the progress made on the
technology to date.
US water-soluble films company MonoSol has bought the UK division
of Aquafilm, giving it access to substantial manufacturing
capabilities in Europe and its range of edible films, report
Phil Taylor and Dominique Patton.
UK contract research company, Peakdale Molecular has invested in
two large-scale glass reaction systems from Radleys to upgrade the
capabilities of its kilo-scale laboratory.
Two Dutch researchers have developed a method for managing batch
productions - widely used in the pharmaceutical industry - which
has the potential of improving yields and reducing the number of
lost batches.
India's Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals has set up a company
specialising in the contract manufacture of active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs) and intermediates that is specifically aimed at
winning business from foreign...
The UK's Science and Innovation Minister, Lord Sainsbury, has
defended his government's record on nanotechnology, after last
week's report from the House of Commons science and technology
select committee blamed policy...
Scientists studying vaccinia virus, a close relative of smallpox,
have discovered that a gene necessary for virus replication also
plays a key role in turning off inflammation, a crucial antiviral
immune response of host cells.
A scientist has claimed that nanotechnology - devoted to
engineering tiny machines with applications as diverse as drug
delivery, electronics and materials science - could pose a health
hazard and should be investigated further before...
Leaving aside the safety concerns surrounding nanotechnology set
out in In-Pharmatechnologist.com's lead article today, a
report commissioned by the UK government has claimed that a lack of
foresight by both policy makers and...
Encapsulation specialist RP Scherer, part of the Cardinal Health
group, has been granted a patent on a technology that could be used
to reduce the amount of flavours and sweeteners used in
fast-dispersing dosage forms.
A non-profit pharmaceutical company has set up a network of
volunteer scientists in order to plug a hole in medical research -
the development of medicines for diseases that affect some of the
poorest people in the world.
The first in a series of government-funded incubation facilities
opened in Ireland this week, designed to nurture the development of
biotech companies.
US company NeoPharm believes it may have overcome one of the major
limitations of using RNA interference (RNAi) or gene silencing as a
systemic treatment.
The Japanese regulatory authority has approved the JRS Pharma's
ProSolv excipient - designed to make it easier and cheaper to make
high-quality tablets - for use in pharmaceutical formulations.
Researchers in the US have developed a drug delivery technology
that could improve the treatment of cancer, avoid side effects and
even report back on the success of treatment.
Access Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement with an unnamed US
partner for a drug delivery system based on nanoparticle aggregates
that can be used to formulate proteins that are degraded by
solvents.
Debiopharm of Switzerland has won approval for a three-month depot
formulation of Pamorelin (triptorelin pamoate), a drug to treat
prostate cancer, based on its proprietary polymer-based drug
delivery technology.
Researchers in the US have developed a way of self-assembling
liposomes - lipid particles used to carry a drug payload - that are
smaller and more uniform in size than can be achieved using current
methods.
Belgium's UCB has been granted approval in the US for the first
chewable formulation of an antihistamine designed to make it easier
to treat children for hayfever.
Researchers in the Netherlands say that a steroid drug formulated
in a lipid droplet and coated with a polymer seems to be more
effective in treating rheumatoid arthritis than the steroid on its
own.
A consortium of academic and industry researchers, headed by
scientists from French company genOway, has started development of
genetically-modified laboratory rats that can serve as models for
human diseases.
UCB has been awarded a US patent on a formulation technology that
could represent a low-cost means of achieving a difficult task -
making a drug that needs to be absorbed in the stomach suitable for
once-daily administration.
The French government has embarked on a fact-finding exercise to
try to work out ways it can address the country's diminishing
standing as a centre for biopharmaceutical R&D.
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology in the US have
developed a postage stamp-sized chip that can be used to carry out
many of the routine steps involved in isolating and purifying
nucleic acids from cells.
Since the sequencing of the human genome, there has been a lot of
attention paid to finding cellular factors that control gene
expression. Micro RNA (miRNA) - small sequences of 20-24
nucleotides that do not code for proteins - are...
Researchers at Harvard Medical School in the US have developed a
way to rapidly screen compounds for potential therapeutic activity
in diseases where current screening methods are limited.
The European Parliament has adopted new measures to control the
trade in two compounds used for both legitimate pharmaceutical
applications and the manufacture of illicit drugs, writes Phil
Taylor.
Sigma-Aldrich's fine chemicals unit is to distribute a
plant-produced recombinant aprotinin manufactured by US-based Large
Scale Biology Corporation, under a new agreement announced this
week.
BioProgress of the UK, which makes cellulose based films for
coating tablets and capsules, is planning to buy a company which
would provide a rapid route to increase production capacity in the
US, and also accelerate the development...
A once-daily version of a drug for attention deficit problems in
children - originally designed to avoid the stigma of having to
take medication during school hours - could also save lives on the
road, according to new research.
A new inhaled formulation of insulin that could do away with the
need for diabetics to inject themselves before meals has been filed
for approval in Europe by Aventis and Pfizer and the dossier
accepted by the European Medicines Evaluation...
Researchers at Max Planck Institute in Germany have used a
nano-sized imaging tool to capture the first-ever movies of cells
transmitting the messages that control genes. The breakthrough is
expected to help pharmaceutical companies...
A partnership between two US companies is aiming to exploit the
discovery that short pulses or bursts of antibiotic treatment are
more effective than continuous exposure in fighting bacterial
infections.