Thomson Scientific & Healthcare has launched a new service to
allow pharmaceutical companies to quickly create and modify drug
labels that comply with new US Food and Drug Administration
guidance due to come into play this year.
The UK education system is failing to provide sufficient high
calibre scientists needed for the research-based pharmaceutical
industry. The concern is that financial targets have meant
university science departments becoming increasingly...
US scientists have demonstrated that by knocking out two key
signals in liver cells causes diabetes. These findings pave the way
for drug strategies to boost these two different signals and treat
the different metabolic components...
A silicon-based drug delivery system, developed by Australian
nanotechnology company pSivida, has passed an important
proof-of-concept hurdle in a clinical trial involving patients with
inoperable liver cancer.
As the cost of commercialising drugs continues to spiral, results
from a trial evaluating the concept of human microdosing is set to
offer great potential in drug development. The pharmaceutical
industry is placing importance in finding...
The Indian pharmaceutical sector has begun its seismic shake-up
following the introduction of new laws granting patent protection
to medicines on 1 January.
The German government is the latest in Europe to start a programme
to support companies and academics working in the emerging field of
'bionanotechnology'.
'Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move
the world', said the mathematician Archimedes in 230 BC. In 2005, a
new company bearing his name does not quite match his global
ambitions, but intends to...
Genetix Limited has launched the ClonePixFL, a mammalian cell
imaging and picking instrument that builds upon the success of the
ClonePix adding fluorescent capabilities to its clone picking
abilities.
High rates of antibiotic resistance in South and East Europe are
higher than in northern Europe because the regions have high rates
of antibiotic use, according to a study published in this week's
issue of The Lancet.
Genomic Solutions have launched its plate arraying technology on
the BioRobotics MicroGrid II and the GeneMachines OmniGrid Accent.
This technology allows the production of DNA and protein
microarrays in 96 and 384-well microplates...
Researchers have developed a new structural understanding of how
the two key subunits of kinases, one of the most important classes
of enzymes, work together. kinases have increasingly become prime
targets for drugs to treat an array...
A €10 million grant from the EU has allowed researchers throughout
Europe to advance their research in the field of 'biological
crystallography,' which aims to create precise, 3-D "architectural"
models of biological...
West Pharmaceutical Services has completed the sale of its drug
delivery operations to Archimedes Pharma, a newly formed UK company
backed by private equity house Warburg Pincus.
The bad press surrounding the pharmaceutical industry continues
with claims that Merck & Co executives were concerned about
infant exposure to mercury in vaccines several years before the US
Food and Drug Administration made the...
A contract manufacturer of pharmaceutical ingredients could provide
supplement makers with new supplies of the antioxidant coenzymeQ10,
currently selling for record prices owing to tight supply,
reports Dominique Patton.
Material science company Malvern Instruments has teamed up with
ImageTherm Engineering to develop a new version of an instrument
used to measure the size of droplets in concentrated spray and
aerosols.
Invitrogen announced it is to acquire Dynal Biotech, the molecular
separation and purification technology company. The deal will
provide Invitrogen with bead-based isolation technologies that
targets key medical research issues.
Pall is gearing up to launch a new filter technology in Europe that
can remove prions - the infectious agents that cause mad cow
disease and its human form Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) - from
blood and blood products.
According to a recent survey, leading pharmaceutical firms claim
that despite the decline in R&D productivity, scientists are
working harder and completing more projects.
Emerson Process Management has launched a new sensor device to help
pharmaceutical companies ensure that their clean-in-place (CIP)
procedures - essential for aseptic processing - are working
effectively.
ITI Life Sciences launches the first R&D programme to develop
3-dimensional cell-based assays with fluorescence lifetime
detection technology that aims to address a significant bottleneck
in the drug discovery and development...
The pharmaceuticals sector has been highlighted by the UK
government's Cabinet Office as one of its priority projects in a
review of business regulation.
The European approval of a new high-potency vaccine for hepatitis B
virus (HBV) marks the debut on the marketplace of a new adjuvant
ingredient that can significantly improve the effectiveness of
immunisations, reports Phil Taylor.
FDA's approval of Sanofi-Aventis' Eloxatin (oxaliplatin) is
unlikely to increase the drug's patient base, but the new
formulation should consolidate Sanofi-Aventis' position as the
largest pharmaceutical firm in...
Bruker Biospin has announced the successful delivery and
installation of its 900MHz NMR magnet, delivering the highest field
strength actively shielded NMR magnet available today.
Biacore International has launched the Biacore T100, a system that
analyses the protein interactions that occur in disease pathways,
selection of drug candidates and decisions on the safety of a
protein therapeutic.
US drug delivery company Alkermes has entered a new stage in its
development as it gears up to file for marketing approval of its
own product, rather than applying its technologies to drugs sold by
customers.
In the US, drugmaker Eli Lilly has extended its bar coding to
include individual vials of its insulin products, going beyond the
requirements of recent labelling legislation aimed at cutting
medication errors.
India begins its first ever human clinical trial of an
investigational vaccine candidate designed to treat HIV/AIDS, which
now has a worldwide infection rate of 14,000 every day.
EiRx Therapeutics has entered into an agreement with Merck to carry
out research using its cancer cell assays to use its technology for
identifying drug targets.
Pharmaceutical distribution and technology company Cardinal Health
reported a slide in profits in the second quarter of the year, as
an internal investigation into the company's accounting practices
claimed additional executive...
A UK company is finding that the pharmaceutical industry is a
lucrative new market for its under vehicle bomb detector, now that
terrorist attacks are no longer confined to political and military
targets.
Researchers have identified a promising new drug target in their
fight against resilient Staphylococcus bacteria that can be
transmitted to patients in hospitals via contaminated medical
implants.
Finnish chemicals company Kemira is planning to buy Verdugt BV of
the Netherlands in a move that will triple its sales of organic
acids at a stroke and make it the number one company in the sector.
US drugmaker Perrigo has started selling a new nicotine gum to help
smokers quit the habit in the US, challenging the dominance there
of Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline's Nicorette product.
Hungary's Richter Gedeon reported rises in both overall sales and
profits in 2004, although its active pharmaceutical ingredient
(API) business remained under pressure in the US.
Hana Biosciences announced today the clinical trial initiation of
PT-523 to evaluate this compound as a single agent in relapsed
non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Lung cancer continues to carry
the poorest prognosis of cancer,...
Chemicals giant BASF has invested €2 million in a small German
encapsulation business that claims to have developed a novel
process that allows for efficient ingredient delivery.
Speedel Experimenta has announced the completion of its human
micro-dosing studies into renin inhibitors that are set to provide
an effective means of treating hypertension and for protecting end
organs such as the heart and kidneys.
The pharmaceutical excipients industry urgently needs a system of
European master files, already used by the active pharmaceutical
ingredient sector (API), to stimulate innovation in the sector and
bring Europe's regulatory stance...
Akzo Nobel has reported a sharp rise in profits for 2004, but
warned that 2005 would be tough and that further divestments in its
chemicals portfolio are planned.
US firm Bolder BioTechnology has been awarded a patent for a new
technology that allows therapeutic proteins to be modified
chemically to improve its activity in the body.
Significant progress toward a more targeted treatment of
Alzheimer's disease was made as scientists targeted an enzyme,
which has a differentiated role and opens up perspectives for new
drugs that have fewer undesired side effects.
Qiagen launches a unique siRNA design service that provides a
guarantee that at least 50 per cent of the siRNAs produced will
result in efficient knockdown to the researcher's specific
requirements.
Understaffing and heavy workloads are constant problems for
hospital pharmacies in the US, but one company believes it has a
packaging solution that could speed up dispensing.
Cybio has launched a new flash luminescence reader that improves
throughput and data quality in functional screening of G-Protein
coupled receptors and calcium channels in drug discovery and
research.
GPC Biotech announced the initiation of a Phase I trial with its
anticancer monoclonal antibody, 1D09C3, which has already proved
effective in the treatment of lymphoid tumours including
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
