Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking to retain their
internal focus on research and development (R&D) and marketing
while outsourcing their manufacturing processes, thus fueling a
growing demand for the manufacturing...
Sandoz, the generic drug unit of Swiss pharmaceutical group
Novartis, has filed a law suit against the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) alleging that the agency is dragging its feet
in a review of a 'biogeneric' drug...
BioSante Pharmaceuticals has licensed its calcium phosphate (CaP)
nanotechnology - used for drug delivery and as an adjuvant for
vaccines - to an unnamed European pharmaceutical company.
Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), the UK subsidiary of Merck & Co
of the US, is to partner with the European Foundation for the Study
of Diabetes (EFSD), to further explore a novel area of diabetes
research.
STMicroelectronics and Mobidiag unveil a new technology that
enables rapid bacterial diagnosis. The new lab-on-a-chip
application allows a more accurate detection of infectious diseases
that will lead to better treatment choices.
Merck has signed a research and drug development agreement with
FoxHollow Technologies, which represents the first
pharmaceutical-medical device partnership aimed at identifying
cardiovascular biomarkers for use as diagnostics and...
According to a new report nanotechnology tools for drug discovery
will grow from $580 million (€471.6 million) in 2004 to $1.1
billion in 2010, driven by corporate R&D and new commercial
applications.
Novavax and Wave Biotech are to collaborate on the development of a
commercial scale production process for the former's pandemic
influenza virus vaccine and other biological products.
A US think tank, The Centre for Medicines in the Public Interest,
has released a new report projecting counterfeit drug sales to
reach $75 billion in 2010, a 92 per cent increase from 2005.
DelSite Biotechnologies has filed a Drug Master File (DMF) with the
US Food and Drug Administration for an excipient used for drug
delivery - called GelSite - used to formulate vaccines, proteins
and peptide drugs that are delivered...
BioFocus enters a new class of compound libraries with its
collection of novel low molecular weight compounds. The compilation
will allow drug researchers to find ligands that bind to proteins
without having to invest in specialised...
Wyatt Technology's DynaPro Titan range of dynamic light scattering
(DLS) instruments can be used to determine whether freezing alters
a protein's homogeneity, according to researchers in France.
Sugar is a useful excipient for use in medications because of its
ability to mask bitter tastes, but its use in drugs intended for
chronic use, or which reside in the mouth for an extended period,
raises the risk of dental caries.
Switzerland's Lonza has boosted its ability to make active
pharmaceutical ingredients (API) at its Visp site in response to
what it said was 'ever increasing hygienic and regulatory
requirements'.
SuperArray Bioscience has introduced a product that combines the
profiling capabilities of microarrays with the performance of
real-time PCR. This novel technology will bring expression
profiling to researchers who prefer PCR based...
Researchers have discovered a single therapy that could treat four
viral diseases, which could mean new avenues of laboratory
research. The treatment focuses on viruses responsible for HIV,
measles, Ebola and Marburg.
Biovitrum has initiated phase I trials for its glaucoma drug
candidate that aims to improve over existing current treatments and
satisfy the need in the market for new drugs with novel active
mechanisms of action.
Ambion and Rosetta Genomics have announced a licensing and
commercialisaton agreement to advance microRNA research. The
results will facilitate microRNA research that hails this as a
promising area in the treatment of a range of diseases.
CyBio launches its new pipetting system designed for newcomers to
automation in small to medium sized laboratories. The system is
CyBio's response to academia and biotech research requirements for
a 96 well pipetting system.
Separations specialist Whatman is starting to reap the benefits of
its acquisition of Schleicher & Schuell, but had a difficult
first half to the year with the group's combined revenues down
marginally compared to first-half...
Roche Diagnostics has announced it has settled all litigation in
the United States, Europe and Australia, with Promega concerning
Polymerase Chain Reaction Technology (PCR), ending a decade of
litigation between the two companies.
A novel painkiller in development at Pain Therapeutics - based on a
technology that both improves dosing and prevents drug abuse - has
done well in a Phase III clinical trial.
According to a new report, the global diabetic population is set to
double by 2030, with treatments currently falling way short of
medical needs. The focus falls on impending products offering novel
therapies to diabetics and for...
Scientists in the US have discovered a cellular switch that
controls immune system function. The research could lead to future
drug treatment advancements for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple
sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.
US biotechnology company Biogen Idec has succumbed to the effects
of having to withdraw its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri
(natalizumab) earlier this year, cutting 17 per cent of its
workforce and putting manufacturing facilities...
Quicker review times by the US Food and Drug Administration has not
increased the number of prescription drugs withdrawn for safety
reasons in the country, according to the Tufts Centre for the Study
of Drug Development.
Scientists in research and academia have called for the end to the
pharmaceutical industry's 'cynical use' of drug studies and its
subjects who are often misled into taking part.
Diabetics moved a step closer to having an alternative to
injections for their insulin therapy yesterday, after a US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee gave its backing to an
inhaled formulation of the drug developed...
US researchers think they may have solved the puzzle as to why p53
activity occurs in both the nucleus and cytoplasm during apoptosis.
The discovery could form a basis in the development of new
anti-cancer therapies that target protein...
US biotechnology firm XOMA has granted Wyeth a non-exclusive,
worldwide license for a technology used to make biologic drugs such
as antibodies in bacteria instead of mammalian cells.
Bayer Healthcare has selected InforSense technology for the
development of its integrative analytics infrastructure on a deal
that sees InforSense provide a workflow-based cheminformatics
platform.
Biotechnology firm, MorphoSys, have announced an agreement with
pharmaceutical company Shionogi, in a deal that fits into
MorphoSys' effort to expand geographically into the Japanese market
- currently the second largest individual...
Generics manufacturer Andrx Corp has become the latest generic
drugs manufacturer to fall foul of the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) because of quality issues at a manufacturing
plant.
Dutch biotechnology company Crucell and the Aeras Global TB Vaccine
Foundation has announced the initiation of a series of clinical
studies for a unique TB vaccine, which allows millions of doses to
be manufactured simultaneously...
Fundamental changes are occurring in not only the way scientific
research is conducted but also innovations that will drive a very
different approach to laboratory design in the new millennium.
Medical research bodies have joined together in a defiant effort to
combat terrorism by issuing a statement that aims to reduce the
risk of sensitive laboratory research being used in bioterrorism.
Anglo-German company Evotec has reorganised its pharmaceutical
development services business by integrating its ProPharma
subsidiary, based in Scotland, into a new structure alongside its
in-house activities.
Wyeth yesterday formally opened its Grange Castle biotech
production facility in South County Dublin, Ireland, one of the
largest integrated biotech manufacturing facilities in the world.
If there was any doubt that GlaxoSmithKline aims to become the
premier world supplier of influenza vaccine, it should be laid to
rest by yesterday's news that the number two drugmaker is buying
Canadian company ID Biomedical.
A clinical trial will shortly get underway to see if insulin,
delivered intranasally using an atomiser developed by Kurve
Technology, can improve short-term memory in Alzheimer's disease
patients.
A new immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of tuberculosis
(TB) is set to open up new avenues of laboratory research that
sidesteps the associated side effects of current conventional
treatments and provides a solution to...
Thermo Electron introduces its new mass spectrometer, which uses a
linear ion trap delivering faster cycle times and improved ion
statistics. This latest addition to the ion trap product portfolio
is designed for use in both research...
The latest research included in the proceedings of the annual
meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, (ESC) means that
heart treatments and management therapies feature strongly in
DrugResearcher's round-up of the 5-day...
One of the difficulties facing the pharmaceutical industry is the
sheer volume of information that has to be incorporated on drug
labelling and packaging, which often makes designing packaging more
a function of squeezing in material,...
Scientists in the US have developed a way to rapidly generate
libraries of gold nanoparticles that could have an array of
applications in the pharmaceutical industry, from target and drug
discovery studies to drug delivery.
Akzo Nobel business unit Diosynth, which specialises in the
production of complex active biopharmaceutical ingredients for the
pharmaceutical sector, has won a contract to apply its new method
for manufacturing synthetic peptides...
Excipients, often overlooked by pharmaceutical companies with their
attention firmly focused on active pharmaceutical ingredients, are
benefiting from an increasing awareness of their potential to cut
the costs of drug development.
Pharmos has announced the initiation of a phase I trial with
cannabinor, a CB2-selective synthetic cannabinoid drug candidate.
The trial aims to assess the drug's potential as a treatment for
neuropathic, inflammatory, visceral,...
A suite of optical detection methods, developed by Finnish
researchers alongside world number two drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline,
promises to cut the cost of drug production and increase the safety
and quality of medicinal products.
A recent survey has revealed that Affymetrix continues to lead the
DNA microarray market - expected to reach $937 million (€751
million) by 2010. However, Agilent Technologies and Applied
Biosystems are eyeing the top position, particularly...
