US company Molecular Devices has extended the range of reagents for
its IMAP assay system with the launch of a new product intended for
use in the discovery of drugs targeting kinases.
Dutch biotechnology company Crucell has initiated legal proceedings
against CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, which claims the company has
violated Crucell's PER.C6 technology's European patent.
The US Food and Drug Administration has published its long-awaiting
guidance on process analytical technology (PAT), aimed at
encouraging its use and raise the standard of manufacturing in the
pharmaceutical industry.
Novartis Consumer Health is set to become one of the first
companies to launch a pharmaceutical based in the 'film strip'
format, which has become a popular alternative to lozenges and gums
for freshening the breath.
Italian packaging machinery company IMA has expanded its business
in the US market with acquisition of Nova Packaging Systems, which
makes automatic machines for the bottling of capsules and tablets.
The US Food and Drug Administration will start using a risk-based
approach for prioritising site inspections for certain
pharmaceutical products, the agency has announced in a final report
on its current good manufacturing practice...
Fujitsu Laboratories has reported a successful experiment using its
BioServer, designed to overcome one of the primary obstacles to
drug discovery - taking the huge amount of data coming from
genomics efforts and applying it to the...
Scientists have reworked the mechanism of how enzymes work, forcing
the pharmaceutical industry to rethink its views on the design of
biological catalysts and new drugs.
Integrated material handling solutions provider FKI Logistex has
expanded its range of conveying surface options to make pallet
loading more adaptable and cost-effective for suppliers.
BASF has threatened to relocate research into 'green genetic
engineering' to other countries if German law continues to restrict
R&D into plant biotechnology, with applications as diverse as
crop biomanufacturing of...
From the 1st January 2005, industrial carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions will come under regulation through the introduction of
the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
Chiron has had to cease production at a UK plant making influenza
vaccines, exacerbating an existing shortage of the jab ahead of
this year's flu season.
Cancer treatment to kill tumours could be made more effective by a
revolutionary approach to angiogenesis which takes the unusual
approach of opening up the tumour blood supply allowing better
access for cancer drugs and more effective...
Drug maker Samaritan Pharmaceuticals, has entered into a
collaboration with Pharmaplaz to produce and supply Samiritan's
lead compound and pipeline of drugs that includes treatments for
AIDS, Alzheimer's, cancer and cardiovascular...
Franz Humer, president of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical
Industries and Associations and chief executive of Roche, has
issued a plea for a concerted effort at improving Europe's science
base at the European Parliament.
The biotech industry managed to raise almost $6 billion during the
third quarter bringing the total raised this year to $20 billion
(€16.2 billion), an increase of $3.2 billion from this time last
year, reflecting the growing confidence...
Germany's BASF has entered into a collaboration with Solvias of
Switzerland that will see the two companies combine their expertise
in the development and manufacture of chiral intermediates for the
life science industry.
Pharmaceutical scientists at Cardiff University, UK, have developed
a new method of delivering drugs for treating breast cancer that
promises to be more effective than current treatments
In the wake of label giant Avery Dennison's recently announced
charge into the radiofrequency identification (RFID) sector, Dan
Scarborough, the group's chief operating officer, has shed more
light on the rationale for the...
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety
and Energy Technology in Germany are developing a compostable
packaging tape that can be disposed of cheaply and creates less
waste.
The first commercial products from chloroplast transformation
technology (CTT) looks a distinct possibility after Chlorogen
signed a joint development and supply agreement with Sigma-Aldrich
to produce four specific proteins in tobacco...
Drug delivery specialists Merrion Biopharma has announced the
opening of new facilities in Ireland, strengthening its position in
the $24 billion oral drug delivery market and reinforcing the
healthy state of the Irish pharmaceutical...
France's genOway, the company behind the first-ever cloning of a
laboratory rat last year, has reported a double whammy of good
news, raising €4 million in funding and forging an alliance with
the world's number one drugs...
Scientists have discovered the antimonial drugs used to treat
Leishmaniasis focus on the same drug targets as those drugs used to
treat sleeping sickness and Chagas disease, raising the possibility
of a multi-functional drug that...
Scientists at Yale University in the US have discovered the
vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role
in the development of the disease and raises the possibility of new
asthma drugs that block VEGF receptors...
In a dispute with Stanelco Fibre Optics, Bioprogress Technology has
been awarded outright ownership of a master patent giving it
exclusive rights to the process of making capsules from
non-gelatine materials by means of radio frequency...
What happens to medicines after their work is done, and they end up
in the wastewater stream? This remains a big unanswered question
that needs to be answered to gauge the impact of drugs on the
environment, according to presentations...
Medicated chewing gum company Fertin has launched its Chlorhexidine
therapeutic chewing gum in Singapore, the second chewing gum brand
approved since the country's relaxation of its chewing gum ban.
A drug derived from a natural source - the cottonseed rape plant -
could find a new application as a cancer drug after failing to
prove itself as a male contraceptive.
UK supermarket chain Tesco has begun rolling out an RFID network to
track shipments from its central distribution centre to all 98 of
its Tesco Extra superstores, with completion set for Christmas this
year.
Bayer has boosted its presence in the developing microtechnology
market with the acquisition of Ehrfeld Mikrotechnik, a specialist
in the manufacture of tiny reactors for chemical processes.
The European Commission has published details of a new proposed
regulation aimed at stimulating research into drugs for use in
diseases affecting children.
Filtration separation specialist Pall has introduced a new filter
technology that improves the effectiveness of bioburden reduction
in pharmaceutical production and cuts costs.
One of the first trials of pharmacogenetics in a clinical setting
has revealed that the approach allowed a cancer drug to be used
more effectively in patients with a rare and virulent form of brain
cancer,
Invitrogen, a provider of life science technologies, has entered
into new licensing agreements to supply its Gateway Technology and
clones to worldwide genomic research centres. This will allow
scientists and laboratories to share...
In the UK, The Health Protection Agency is planning to revamp the
Food, Dairy, Water and Environmental (FDWE) laboratory service
network from this November to deal with new outbreaks and
emergencies.
A best-selling drug used by millions worldwide to treat arthritis
has been withdrawn from the market after comprehensive clinical
data confirmed long-established concerns that the treatment could
increase the risk of heart attacks...
A new family of drugs specifically designed to inhibit nuclear
import of integrase, blocking viral replication of human
immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infected cells suggests an
approach that could be effective against drug...
Software provider Accelrys becomes the latest company to exploit
the use of compound databases in drug discovery. It has agreed to
integrate Sigma-Aldrich's chemical compound catalogs into Accelrys'
chemical suppliers database...
Medicine containers that talk and give instructions on dosing have
been discussed for a long time, but the first systematic
application of the technology has come from a somewhat unlikely the
source - the US Army.
Chemicals group Lanxess - to be spun out of Germany's Bayer next
year - plans to relocate a plant in Texas to China in order to tap
into the strong growth in the market for chemicals there.
US biotechnology company Corgentech has licensed a peptide delivery
technology from UK-based Cyclacel to help it develop a new class of
gene blocking drugs.
Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has decided to put its
weight behind the inhaled insulin project it has been pursuing
alongside US drug delivery specialist Aradigm.
Applied Biosystems has announced the introduction of a new workflow
management and process automation solution software that integrates
data form multiple sources for genomics and proteomics
laboratories.
Medivative Technologies, a contract manufacturing and process
engineering services supplier to the life sciences and medical
device industries, has just been cleared for operations by the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A collaboration between CompleGen and DuPont is set to
industrialize the pre-clinical drug development process and reduce
the time to bring a drug to market. Under terms, CompleGen will
gain access to a chemical library consisting...
France-based ProSim has introduced a comprehensive database of the
thermo-physicial properties of close to 2,000 pure compounds that
should be valuable for researchers working in process simulation.
