LGC has acquired Germany's Mikromol, a specialist in pharmaceutical
impurities and metabolites used as reference materials, to create
its first non-UK lab.
Australian dairy farmers could become major suppliers of
pharmaceutical-grade lactose, if a new technology developed at the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation can be
exploited commercially.
Neo Pharma becomes the first company to start manufacturing
pharmaceuticals in Abu Dhabi. The company's facility offers both
production and R&D capabilities.
Procter & Gamble has patented a new formulation of risedronate
that overcomes the upper gastrointestinal side effects that can
occur with the osteoporosis drug.
Tecan second-quarter results reveal some signs of recovery after a
torrid first quarter and the departure of former chief executive
Emile Sutcliffe, with diagnostics holding back an improved
performance in biopharma.
Applied Biosystems has unveiled a gene expression analysis product
that allows researchers to conduct studies on the entire human
genome using a single microarray.
Italy's Abiogen Pharma has licensed rights to two UK-developed
compounds that seem to work via a completely new mechanism of
action for the treatment of anxiety.
The pharmaceutical industry is failing to increase efficiencies in
core areas of its business - such as clinical trials and sales -
because of an enormous pressure from investors to drive revenues,
according to Datamonitor.
The difficulties facing Lonza came into clear focus today as the
company published its half-year results, with sales down across its
custom manufacturing, organic chemicals and polymers businesses.
Emisphere Technologies has demonstrated effective oral delivery of
protein-based drugs in three studies presented at the Controlled
Release Society's annual meeting.
Chemical major BASF has expanded the range of products it offers to
pharmaceutical clients with the $65 million (€58m) purchase of
Callery Chemical from Mine Safety Appliances.
Enanta has discovered a type of macrolide that could represent a
new class of antibiotic for the treatment of upper and lower
respiratory tract infections.
The market for non-array products used in the analysis of the
transcriptome - a map of gene expression and mRNA in the cell - is
maturing quickly but will still grow at more than 14 per cent a
year between 2003 and 2008, says a report...
Therascope, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on
small molecule drug discovery, has raised €24.1 million to develop
its TACE platform.
UK software company Intelligensys has launched a new product that
promises a step forward in the application of artificial
intelligence technologies to pharmaceutical formulation and design.
LipoCore's Galacticle delivery technology is to be the subject of a
feasibility study at one of the largest multinational drug
manufacturers in the autumn
Switzerland's Tecan has forged a co-marketing alliance with EMD
Biosciences in the area of automated systems for medium- to
high-throughput protein extraction, screening and purification. The
collaboration will focus on companies...
Caliper Technologies has completed its $71 million (€61m)
acquisition of Zymark, a privately held provider of laboratory
automation, liquid handling and robotics systems.
There is a growing reliance on the use of tissue microarrays to
accelerate the examination of histological samples used in drug
discovery, according to a new report from BioInformatics.
Roche's Burgdorf plant making insulin pumps has serious regulatory
compliance problems, said the FDA, which could block import of the
products unless resolved.
Scotland's PPL has started a mass slaughter of its flock of sheep
engineered to produce alpha-1 antitrypsin in their milk. The cull
could spell the end of the firm's ambitions in transgenic
production.
Lonza Biotec is to manufacture PEGylated antibody fragment-based
drugs for Celltech under the terms of a new agreement between the
two companies. The two companies have also reached an agreement on
a prior deal relating to Celltech's...
MolecularNature has forged a drug discovery partnership with Zetiq
Technologies that has already yielded a number of novel cancer
regulatory compounds.
This year's ISLAR meeting - the last ever to be held - will be
replaced in 2004 by a new Association of Laboratory Automation
conference called LabFusion.
Amersham Biosciences has added to its range of CyDye mono-reactive
fluor dyes with two products used for labelling proteins or
antibodies in protein array experiments.
A pilot project aimed at identifying new drug candidates for
central nervous system disorders, initiated by Germany's 4SC and
Spain's Esteve, has grown into a full-blown collaboration between
the companies.
The Karolinska Institute, together with the Swedish academy of
pharmaceutical sciences, is organising BioTech Forum 2003, to take
place from 26 to 28 November in Stockholm, Sweden.
Danish pharmaceutical companies increased their sales to overseas
countries by 20 per cent in the first four months of this year
compared with the same period of 2002, according to Invest In
Denmark.
A new range of cell culture vessels developed by Switzerland's
Integra Biosciences promises to increase production yields in
laboratories making monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins.
A deal with Vaccinex has taken Lonza Biologics beyond its primary
focus of mammalian cell culture-based manufacturing and into the
area of antibody drug discovery.
A US appeals court has reversed an earlier decision to make
Switzerland's Roche pay almost $500 million in damages to Igen in a
dispute over a technology used in clinical diagnostics and
pharmaceutical research.
Danish biotech company Symphogen has obtained a European patent on
its Symphage technology for the development of antibody-based
drugs. Clinical trials of the product candidate are due to start in
2005.
Novartis has agreed to pay GlaxoSmithKline a royalty on sales of a
generic version of GSK's antibiotic Augmentin
(amoxicillin/clavulanate) sold in the USA as AmoxC.