There has been 'unprecedented development' in terms of the
Community's research policy in the last year claims the European
Commission's 2002 annual report on technological research and
development (RTD) in 2001.
A collaboration between Cenix BioScience of Germany and the USA's
Ambion has been formed to co-develop and market the first
commercially-available, human genome-wide library of small
interfering RNA sequences. RNA interference...
Biotechnology company Biogen this week celebrated its 25th
anniversary by breaking the ground on a large-scale manufacturing
facility in Hillerød, Denmark, marking the company's first
development phase for the region and a greater...
Pharmaceutical researchers used to begin their evaluation of drug
leads by looking at affinity and potency, but a
genomics/informatics-based research culture is now growing which is
starting to impinge on this classical mode, says...
UK contract pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor Intercare
Group has reported 2002 turnover of £275.1 million (€406m), an
increase of 27 per cent year-on-year, and pretax profits of £24.6
million, up 15 per cent. The results...
Anglo-German company Proteome Sciences has developed a new reagent
that it claims can dramatically enhance the sensitivity of mass
spectrometers for the identification of proteins.
UK Science Minister Lord Sainsbury this week announced a new
initiative to develop 'a strategic approach' to the future of the
bioscience industry in the UK and to encourage growth in the
sector.
Scientists in Australia report this week that they have developed a
powerful software modelling tool, MolSAR, which could have the
potential to reduce drug development costs by up to €28 million per
drug.
Dharmacon, a US supplier of RNA and RNA-interference research
products, announced today it has launched Cell Cycle siARRAY, a
collection of ready-to-use siRNA duplexes designed to knock down
112 genes involved in cell cycle regulation.
Venture capital investments in biotechnology and medical device
companies combined to total $4.7 billion (€4.4bn) in 2002, or 22
per cent of all investing, representing the highest proportion in
seven years, according to the MoneyTree...
Ireland's Elan Corp has inked a deal with Ingenium Pharmaceuticals
of Germany that will see the companies apply Ingenium's functional
genomics technologies to the discovery and development of novel
therapeutics for pain...
British Biotech, once the darling of the UK biotechnology industry
but now suffering the after-effects of a string of major drug
development failures, is having another go at bolstering its
pipeline via a merger with fellow UK company...
Akzo Nobel has opened a new powder coatings factory in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam in partnership with Chang Cheng Securities, marking
the 12th powder coatings site in the Asia Pacific region for the
company.
A series of new flow cytometry products will soon hit the market
with the announcement yesterday from US companies BD Biosciences
and Molecular Probes that, following a recent license agreement, BD
Biosciences Pharmingen has launched...
Specialists in cellular analysis Cyntellect this week announced the
issuance of a new patent covering the company's Laser Enabled
Analysis and Processing (LEAP) technology platform.
SC Biosciences is to be the exclusive distributor of sensitive
tools for drug discovery with the announcement this week that it
will distribute in vivo imaging technology in Japan for US company
Xenogen corporation.
German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has signed a
long-term agreement with software company MDL Information Systems
to use its software technology for managing and deploying chemical
information systems.
Applied Biosystems group, the world's number one maker of
gene-analysing equipment, warned on Tuesday that it would report
lower-than-expected fiscal third-quarter revenue and earnings due
to deteriorating business conditions.
The prospect of using chicken eggs as commercial 'biofactories' for
the production of protein-based drugs has moved a step closer with
the announcement of a study showing that transgenic cockerels can
pass on an introduced...
Patient safety, care quality, and efficiency in the supply chain
are likely to improve with new proposals from the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) that will require bar coding on medications.
European scientists continue to be strong in areas such as medical
research and chemistry and Europe may produce the highest number of
science graduates but it is lagging behind in biotechnology, still
employs fewer researchers, accounts...
For years, it has been common wisdom in the pharmaceutical industry
that delivery of drugs via the nose only really works if the
compound can be presented in liquid form. One company begging to
differ is Britannia Pharmaceuticals...
Drug target validation has become the critical step in maintaining
profitability for the pharmaceutical industry, claims a new report
from market research company Business Communications. Drug
developers must accelerate identification...
Aclara BioSciences, a US company involved in tools for drug
discovery, this week introduced new toxicology applications that
expand the capabilities of the eTag Assay System.
A new approach to identifying patterns in gene expression analysis
has been shown to be more effective than the most popular method in
a joint Penn State and University at Buffalo study, write US
scientists this week.
Amersham Biosciences has launched a new bench-top separations
system for purifying proteins, äKTApilot, which for the first time
allows scientists to carry out process development right through to
small-scale production using a single...
Developer of life science tools Bruker Daltonics has introduced a
new research instrument for proteomics research at the laboratory
science exhibition Pittcon, taking place in the US this week.
Scientists in the US report this week that they have developed a
new technology that increases the amount of vitamin C in plants,
including grains, by increasing the amount of the enzyme that is
responsible for recycling vitamin C.
US outsourcing company Cardinal Health is to provide alternative
drug formulation development and delivery capabilities for the
biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, the company announced
this week.
The UK Medicines Control Agency has published a new guidance on
best practice in drug labelling and packaging which is part of a
broader Department of Health programme aimed at achieving a 40 per
cent cut in medication errors by 2005....
In its first progress report since adopting the EU strategy on life
sciences and biotechnology in 2002, the European Commission
yesterday indicated that the risk of diverging policies in Member
States could seriously hamper the effectiveness...
CyDex, a US company working in drug delivery technologies, has
signed announced an agreement with Merck regarding its advanced
formulation system Captisol.
UK microbial testing company Celsis International announced this
week that food giant Nestle has selected Celsis' recently launched
milk and cream diagnostic system for its global Research &
Development site in Konolfingen.
Roche Vitamins is to start production of pure epigallocatechin
gallate (EGCG), the active compound in green tea, at a new
production plant in Shanghai. Annual output is expected to be more
than 40 tons.
Amarin corporation this week confirmed that its Swedish subsidiary
Amarin Development AB, as part of an agreement with Watson
Pharmaceuticals, has developed a generic formulation of glipizide
extended release tablets.
"The current confluence of negative factors facing the chemical
manufacturing industry could be called 'the perfect storm',"
said Andrew N. Liveris, president of Dow Chemical company's
Performance Chemicals...
Drug development and biomedical company Thuris and Italian
pharmaceutical company Sigma-Tau Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite on
Monday announced an expansion of their ongoing research
collaboration to develop compounds to combat brain...
An Edinburgh-based marine biotech business has been given a £50,000
(€73 000) boost in its bid to scour tidal areas such as rock pools
to find and develop new drugs and antibiotics, including a new
compound found to be active against...
Foss, a Danish manufacturer of analytical instruments, announced
recently that it has improved the quality assurance (QA) module for
its instrument WineScan.
The European Commission has given Pfizer the all clear to acquire
Pharmacia corporation - paving the way for the creation of the
largest pharmaceutical company in the world.
Swiss life-science company Lonza announced on Tuesday that it is to
strengthen the production of oligonucleotides - an emerging new
class of therapeutics consisting of short nucleic acid chains
interfering in the processing of genetic...
Women are becoming the most attractive target audience for
healthcare companies, claims a new report from market analysts
Datamonitor. A combination of increasing Internet access, a general
interest in health issues among women along...
In the second news of the day on a European life science company,
DSM announced this week that from now on it will supply
technologies and services for the initial development phases of new
medicines - supplementing its existing service...
The US Food and Drug Administration announced this week that it has
accomplished the initial objectives outlined in its ongoing
initiative to modernise the agency's regulation of pharmaceutical
manufacturing and product quality.
Japanese company Kaken Pharmaceutical and US Elitra Pharmaceuticals
said yesterday that they are to collaborate on a multi-year
research project for the discovery and development of novel
anti-fungal drugs.
US company Mylan Laboratories has reached a final agreement with
Bristol-Myers Squibb, which resolves all disputes between the
companies related to buspirone.
AstraZeneca Canada has received approval from the Therapeutic
Products Directorate of Health Canada to market CRESTOR
(rosuvastatin) 10 to 40 mg, a new medicine for the management of
primary high cholesterol (primary hypercholesterolemia),...
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals saw biopharmaceutical product sales -
driven by strong growth in sales of Nabi-HB - reaching record
levels of $89.5 million (€83m) in 2002, a 22 per cent increase from
2001 levels.
