The Pharmaceutical Services Division (PSD) of US chemicals firm
Solutia is planning a charge into the market for supplying drug
conjugates, which are becoming more and more common in the
treatment of diseases such as cancer.
Researchers have taken a step forward in the development of a
system for making unlimited quantities of antibody-based drugs for
human applications in cattle.
Canadian company MIV Therapeutics has been awarded a US patent for
a coating technology for medical devices and drug encapsulation
based on hydroxyapatite, one of the major constituents of bone.
Australian company pSivida is on the brink of starting clinical
trials of a silicon-based nanomaterial that could find broad
applications across drug and vaccine delivery, diagnostics and
tissue engineering, writes Phil Taylor.
A new approach to treating obesity that destroys fat tissue using a
targeted peptide drug has shown promising results in mice and will
move on to non-human primate studies this summer, reports Phil
Taylor.
Germany's Xerion Pharmaceuticals has discovered a protein that
seems to be intrinsically involved in the spread of cancers and
could be a new target for drug therapies. The finding is also a
validation of the firm's Xstream...
Belgium's Opperbas Holding has started a mid-stage clinical trial
of a new formulation of factor VIII - used to treat haemophilia A -
that should cut the number of injections that sufferers of the
bleeding disease need to endure.
Formulatrix and Bruker AXS have pooled their resources to speed up
the process of high-throughput protein crystallography, a key
process in the identification of protein structure and function.
German generics producer Schwarz Pharma has licensed rights to a
drug delivery technology developed by US company Lipocine, to
revamp its pipeline in the face of competitive threats to its
biggest product.
Occam International of the Netherlands has licensed its coating
technology to Xtent, a company specialising in the development of
cardiovascular stents that deliver drugs directly into the blood
vessels.
Banner Pharmaceuticals has developed a new oral delivery
formulation that is designed to make it easier to dose drugs to
children and the elderly and to take medications on the go,
writes Phil Taylor.
India's Ajanta Pharma has said that it may re-enter the market for
bulk manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs),
despite pulling out of the sector in the late 1990s.
US drug delivery company SCOLR has been knocked back by the
decision by one of its partners not to go ahead with a project
based on its technology. But the company insists it will go it
alone in tackling the pharmaceutical sector.
Researchers in Finland and Belgium have developed a new way of
making plant-derived compounds in cell cultures that should cut the
cost of manufacturing a raft of pharmaceuticals, including drugs
for cancer.
Pharming of the Netherlands has modified two of its commercial
relationships in a move that should accelerate its activities in
developing therapeutic proteins that are made in transgenic
animals, writes Phil Taylor.
New biotechnology processes are poised to change the economics of
manufacturing drugs, creating the potential for delivering both
affordable medicines to patients in the developing world and laying
the foundation for new markets.
A new generation of potent, targetted vaccines for cancer could be
the offspring of a marriage between two technologies developed at
European biotechnology companies Avidex and Active Biotech.
The needle-free injector technology underpinning PowderJect, the
drug delivery company which shot onto the biotechnology scene in
the mid-1990s and was snapped up by Chiron of the US last year,
will form the foundation of a new therapeutic...
DSM Anti-Infectives, the world's largest producer of antibiotics,
is planning to expand a manufacturing plant for a key intermediate
used in the manufacture of cephalosporins that will make it the
largest producer of the compound...
A prototype chip-based laboratory developed by a German company
could reduce the time it takes to carry out the DNA amplification
required for polymerase chain reactions to five minutes.
The European Commission has mapped out its strategy to keep the
European Union at the forefront of research into nanotechnology, a
position that is in danger of being eroded, and plans to double its
funding in the sector writes Phil...
Swiss contract manufacturing company Lonza has licensed a
technology that makes it possible to make peptide drugs that are
longer and have a more complex structure than is possible using
conventional techniques, reports Phil Taylor.
Germany's atugen, a specialist in RNA interference technologies for
switching off genes, has demonstrated the feasiblity of delivering
a small interfering RNA (siRNA)-based drug and achieving a
physiological response in animals.
Computer giant IBM claims to have identified seven key technologies
that will drive innovation in the pharmaceutical industry over the
next decade, raise the quality of development and manufacturing
processes and slash the pre-launch...
A small German company has developed a new drug delivery technology
that can transport active drugs into the interior of cells by an
intrinsic, active mechanism.
In March 2004, manufacturers of pharmaceuticals such as
prescription painkillers and other drugs at risk of abuse were
required to start using radiofrequency identification tags on all
pallets destined for retail giant Wal-Mart, almost...
The threat of emerging strains of bacteria with resistance to the
current arsenal of drugs was the subject of intense focus as the
14th Annual European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and
Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) got underway...
A new patch product in clinical trials could provide a
patient-friendly means of delivering the only drug treatment for
osteoporosis that can actually replace lost bone, reports Phil
Taylor.
Acusphere has developed microcapsule a technology that promises to
improve the delivery of a range of drugs, including those that are
poorly-soluble in water. The technology is being used to develop a
sustained-release version of...
Applera has been awarded a broad US patent covering the use of
microdevices with built-in electronic memory that can be used for
storing and retrieving information about samples used in laboratory
experiments.
Germany's Icon Genetics has published details of its proprietary
expression technology, designed to improve the production of
biopharmaceuticals and other proteins in genetically-modified
plants.
A new company spun out from the University of Durham in the UK,
called LyraChem, has developed a new catalytic technology for the
pharmaceutical and chemical sectors that should reduce the amount
of wastage and contamination that...
Osteoporosis sufferers are set to benefit from an influx of new
drug treatments which are expected to dominate the market and give
patients an unprecedented choice of treatment options, according to
new market research which suggetss...
A formulation of the steroid drug budesonide, made using a
solubility technology developed by US company CyDex, has
outperformed one of the leading drugs for asthma on the market in a
preclinical study.
US company Globe Medical Tech has started production of a new type
of safety syringe developed by Maxxon that should cost no more than
a regular, non-safe disposable syringe.
Novartis Consumer Health has launched two of its OTC flu remedies
in portable dissolvable strips, thought to be the first such
products to use the novel delivery format.
The University of Ulster yesterday opened a new Nanotechnology
Research Institute at its Jordanstown campus in Northern Ireland,
and says it is the only institute of its type in the UK to bring
the discipline under the same roof as...
A new screening approach which can identify a new drug mechanism of
action without the need for an appropriate molecular target has
been used to suppress genetic mutation. The discovery raises new
hopes of identifying potential new...
Ireland's Elan Corp has signed up another heavyweight partner -
Switzerland's Roche - for its NanoCrystals technology, designed to
improve the solubility of drug compounds.
Growing knowledge about how to manage the risks of gene therapy
could improve the chances of developing successful treatments, said
experts meeting last week to weigh up the progress made on the
technology to date.
US water-soluble films company MonoSol has bought the UK division
of Aquafilm, giving it access to substantial manufacturing
capabilities in Europe and its range of edible films, report
Phil Taylor and Dominique Patton.
UK contract research company, Peakdale Molecular has invested in
two large-scale glass reaction systems from Radleys to upgrade the
capabilities of its kilo-scale laboratory.
Two Dutch researchers have developed a method for managing batch
productions - widely used in the pharmaceutical industry - which
has the potential of improving yields and reducing the number of
lost batches.
India's Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals has set up a company
specialising in the contract manufacture of active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs) and intermediates that is specifically aimed at
winning business from foreign...
The UK's Science and Innovation Minister, Lord Sainsbury, has
defended his government's record on nanotechnology, after last
week's report from the House of Commons science and technology
select committee blamed policy...
Scientists studying vaccinia virus, a close relative of smallpox,
have discovered that a gene necessary for virus replication also
plays a key role in turning off inflammation, a crucial antiviral
immune response of host cells.
A scientist has claimed that nanotechnology - devoted to
engineering tiny machines with applications as diverse as drug
delivery, electronics and materials science - could pose a health
hazard and should be investigated further before...
Leaving aside the safety concerns surrounding nanotechnology set
out in In-Pharmatechnologist.com's lead article today, a
report commissioned by the UK government has claimed that a lack of
foresight by both policy makers and...
Encapsulation specialist RP Scherer, part of the Cardinal Health
group, has been granted a patent on a technology that could be used
to reduce the amount of flavours and sweeteners used in
fast-dispersing dosage forms.