ChemAxon, Hungarian company that provides software solutions for
biotechnology, has released its latest version of the Java database
engine enabling chemical communication across networks.
UK life sciences group Amersham has reported first-quarter 2003
sales of £381 million (€544m), flat on the same period of 2002 but
up 6 per cent if unfavourable currency impacts and discontinued
product sales were excluded. The results...
Architects of the new instruments for the Sixth Framework Programme
will be heartened by news that a German report on the country's
networks of competence has concluded that such arrangements
stimulate innovation and, in turn,...
Research into genomes of the natural world took a step forward this
week with the announcement from Diversa corporation that it is to
jointly collaborate with the US Department of Energy's Joint Genome
Institute (JGI) to discover...
Danish Novo Nordisk plans to break ground on a €10 million
expansion of its insulin manufacturing facility in Clayton, US. The
company has awarded the contract to BE&K Engineering and Suitt
Construction for the 19,000-square-foot...
Outsourcing drug discovery functions is a rapidly growing trend
that has led to a nearly $2 billion (€1.7bn) industry worldwide,
according to a new study released this week by Kalorama
Information, and contract services in the field...
Balchem reported a small rise in net sales, up 3 per cent overall
during the first quarter of 2003, but said it was pleased with
results in light of the continued difficult economic environment.
Net earnings at the New York-based...
In a bid to increase European competitity in the global research
arena the European Commission announced new measures destined to
encourage public and private players across Europe to upgrade their
research effort.
European Commission publishes table detailing progress it has made
in negotiating Protocols to the Europe Agreements on Conformity
Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (PECAs) with a
number of accession countries.
Danish biotech company Fluxome Sciences , based at the Technical
University of Denmark, has entered a cooperation agreement with the
US biotech company Bio-Technical Resources concerning development
of optimised fermentation processes,...
UK packaging giant Rexam, a major producer of pharmaceutical
closures and one of the world's top five consumer packaging groups,
has introduced a range of LDPE and foil laminate bags and drum
liners manufactured in a cGMP compliant...
Amersham Biosciences has launched a new range of ultrafiltration
cassettes, under the Kvick brand, which it claims "help to speed up
bioprocessing timelines by offering an easy way to separate,
concentrate and diafilter biological...
The Netherlands-based organisation for Applied Scientific Research
(TNO) has signed an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline to collaborate
in the development and use of TNO's in vitro models of the
human gastrointestinal (or "GI")...
Ireland is developing a sound research base in the areas of
biotechnology and information and communication technologies (ICT),
despite institutional and funding barriers, concludes a recent
report by the national policy and advisory...
The global economic downturn marked 2003 first quarter results for
Dutch based life science company DSM but strong autonomous volume
growth boosted figures to higher than 2002.
A UK-based company has become the first to offer a blister
packaging product for pharmaceuticals that meets the BS 8404
standard, which covers packs that are child-resistant but also
allow easy access for the elderly and others who...
Invensys APV, a supplier of process equipment to the pharmaceutical
industry, will demonstrate its new technologies at the upcoming
Achema 2003 exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany.
Prominent US genomics Robert L. Strausberg, who directs the
National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Cancer Genomics office, has been
named as vice president for research at The Institute for Genomic
Research (TIGR).
Engineers in the US are one step closer to mass-producing
therapeutic proteins needed by today's pharmaceutical industry.
Researchers claim to have achieved a major milestone in their
efforts to effectively produce human therapeutics...
The biotechnology industry in the state of British Columbia in
Canada could double the number of companies, attract large
revenue-generating biotechnology firms and create more than 5,000
new jobs within five years, says a strategic...
Strasbourg, France-based Aventis has announced its intention to
sell off part of its remaining stake in Rhodia, its loss-making
former specialty chemicals subsidiary. The move reduces its stake
in Rhodia to 15.3 per cent from 25.2...
A prominent US law professor from Stanford University has called
for an international treaty on sharing scientific and technological
information, to be based on the arrangements already agreed for
free trade under the World Trade...
Billion dollar science and technology company Dowpharma, a business
unit of The Dow Chemical company, has announced new capabilities in
catalytic asymmetric hydroformylation (AHF) of olefins for
applications in the development and...
Akzo Nobel business unit Diosynth, which specialises in the
production of complex active biopharmaceutical ingredients for the
pharmaceutical sector, has developed a new method for manufacturing
synthetic peptides that, it claims,...
Kisters Kayat has launched its Ultra-Flexible Packaging Cell,
designed to take primary packages all the way from production line
to bundled packs, trays or cases and finished pallet.
IBM in the UK and US based IDBS, a provider of data management,
analysis and decision-making software for drug discovery, this week
announced a global strategic alliance.
US company PPD is taking a stake in Chemokine Therapeutics, a
Canadian- and US-based biotechnology company, to continue
development of a proprietary peptide derived from a particular
chemokine that may make the peptide useful as a...
An expert group on intellectual property rights (IPRs) has warned
that rules governing the protection of copyrights, database rights
and patents hamper scientific endeavour and must be changed 'in the
interest of society',...
US provider of drug discovery tools Deltagen saw cutbacks in
workforce and the closure of operating units help boost revenue by
93 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2002 to $4.7 million (€4.3m),
compared to $2.5 million (€2.3m) for...
Total revenues for the four emerging sectors of protein array,
crucial antibody array, peptide biochip, protein biochip, and
solution bead/particle array were estimated at $90 million
(€83million) in 2002, writes market analyst Business...
LION bioscience this week launched the latest version of its open
integration platform, LION DiscoveryCenter 3.2, with an enhanced
chemistry functionality for integrated drug discovery.
Millipore, which specialises in providing technologies, tools and
services for the discovery, development and production of new
therapeutic drugs, has reported first-quarter 2003 sales of $187
million (€173 million), up 13 per cent...
German packaging company Bosch Packaging Technology will reveal a
host of products at the upcoming exhibition on chemical engineering
and biotechnology to be held in Frankfurt, Germany in May this
year. Brand new on the stand, filling...
The addition of HarbourVest Partner to Israeli life sciences
venture capital fund Vitalife prompted the fund to announce on
Monday the closing of its first fund, worth €46 million.
UK biotechnology bellwether Celltech has emerged victorious in the
bidding battle for Oxford GlycoSciences. OGS reluctantly gave in to
Celltech's pressure on 11 April, after the latter firm bought
additional holdings which brought...
Researchers have now completed the sequencing of the human genome,
to an accuracy of 99.999 per cent, nearly three years after the
first 'working' draft was published to great fanfare in June 2000.
The achievement comes...
The $7.3 billion (€6.8bn) global market for non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs could soon include an upstart competitor
whose new product holds the promise of allaying joint pain but
without the gastrointestinal side effects often...
US Neuro Bioscience has signed an agreement to acquire a minimum of
75 per cent of the issued and outstanding share capital of CLL
Pharma, a French company engaged in the business of reformulating
drugs using its proprietary drug...
US company PerkinElmer was presented with the 2003 Analytical
Instrumentation Company of the Year award by market research
company Frost & Sullivan in a ceremony last night.
Amersham Biosciences has launched a new DNA Amplification Kit,
GenomiPhi, which it says can simplify the DNA preparation process
and enable high-quality DNA to be prepared from a limited amount of
biological material.
Iceland-based deCODE genetics announced this week that AstraZeneca
has entered into an agreement to purchase its RoboHTC automated
protein crystallography platform, earmarked for AstraZeneca's drug
discovery sites in Alderley...
US Steris Corporation has extended operations in Europe with the
announcement today that it has acquired Swiss provider of
washing/decontamination systems Hamo Holding.
The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) is setting up a
trade office in Aarhus, Denmark for its activities in innovation
and functional genomics, reports Biotech Denmark on its website.
Genetics-based drug discovery company CompleGen is to supply Berlex
Biosciences, a US affiliate of German company Schering, with a high
throughput assay system for discovery of compounds active against a
novel target identified by...
The latest data on cases of antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia
associated with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen-Cilag's
erythropoietin product Eprex/Erypo (epoetin alfa) have suggested
that measures put in place...
The European Commission has earmarked €13 million from the budget
of the EU's Sixth Research Framework Programme (FP6) (2002-2006) to
promote and facilitate research co-operation with the 13 associated
candidate countries for...
US biopharmaceutical company Scolr, latterly known as Nutraceutix,
is to ship the first order for its patented controlled delivery
product Glucosamine/Chondroitin to Europe.
UK developer of medical diagnostics devices Osmetech continued the
strategy to build on its healthcare diagnostics business with the
acquisition this week of the Atlanta-based 'OPTI' product line of
blood gas analysers owned...
Dutch life science company DSM reported this week that on Tuesday
three people were killed following an explosion at its Melamine
Plant 2 in Geleen, the Netherlands.
