A technique known as electron momentum spectroscopy may provide a
means of improving rational drug design by allowing direct
measurement of the wavefunction of large molecules.
In the second piece of news today on RNAi, Qiagen is to collaborate
with Intradigm on RNAi compounds for use as drug discovery tools
and potential therapeutics.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals of the USA has linked up with Germany's
Ribopharma to create what it claims is a world leading company in
the development of RNAi-based therapeutics. First drug may be in
trials this year.
Roche has licensed exclusive marketing rights outside the USA to
Avastin (bevacizumab), a drug for colorectal cancer, from
Genentech. The latter company will retain all rights to the drug in
its home market.
Schering has been granted approval throughout the European Union
for Angeliq (oestradiol and drospirenone), its new low-dose hormone
replacement therapy.
The number of UK cancer patients taking part in clinical trials has
risen over 70 per cent in recent years, but this trend will be
threatened if the EU adopts its proposals on GCP
Exiqon has signed up a new distribution partner, Link Technologies,
for its locked nucleic acid (LNA) phosphoramidate reagents, used in
genomics research.
A UK Phase I trial has been initiated for XR5944 (also known as
MLN944), a DNA targeting agent under evaluation for the treatment
of advanced cancers. The product is under development by USA-based
firm Millennium Pharmaceuticals and...
Finland's Jurilab has developed a new microarray product designed
for use in DME (drug metabolism enzyme) testing, and also signed up
its first customer for the technology.
The UK biotechnology industry is gearing up for yet another bout of
consolidation with the news that British Biotech has made a £48
million (€73m) offer for Vernalis.
The European Commission has issued its long-awaited response to the
G10 Medicines Report, intended as a blueprint for improving the
European pharmaceutical industry's competitiveness while ensuring
high levels of public health...
Switzerland's Tecan has introduced a range of laboratory automation
workstations, under the Freedom EVO banner, which are designed to
provide fluid handling applications in genomics, proteomics, drug
discovery and clinical diagnostics.
The market for antibacterial drugs is becoming increasingly
unattractive to major pharmaceutical companies, despite continued
strong worldwide demand for these products and the growing threat
of bacterial resistance, according to...
Invitrogen has made a cash offer for fellow US company Molecular
Probes in a deal which would give the firm a very strong presence
in fluorescence reagents for use in labelling molecules for
biological research and drug discovery.
Syrrx has determined the atomic structure of c-Kit kinase, a
receptor-associated tyrosine kinase which has been associated with
a number of malignant cancers.
Argonaut Technologies has introduced a new resin-bound reagent,
MP-TsO-TEMPO that enables medicinal chemists to introduce diversity
into chemical libraries with high purity and yields.
Iceland's deCODE genetics has initiated high-throughput screening
on its Neuregulin 1 pathway targets in schizophrenia in
collaboration with partner Roche.
GlaxoSmithKline has opened an ultra-high-throughput screening
facility at its site in Tres Cantos, Spain, marking a significant
milestone in the company's bid to develop a more industrialised
approach to the process of drug discovery.
While the procedure for designating drugs for orphan diseases has
improved dramatically in the EU, further progress must be made,
says EU biotech group
UK informatics company Inpharmatica has added a whole new suite of
ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion)
capabilities to its drug lead optimisation services with the
purchase of a lab and intellectual property...
Tepnel Life Sciences sees its shares soar after announcing the
first sale of its Nucleopure DNA purification system to an unnamed
UK pharmaceuticals group
Canadian chromatography and mass spectrometry specialist Waters has
introduced a series of new products at the ongoing ASMS meeting in
Montreal, Canada
Bruker Daltonics has forged an alliance with the US Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory to develop and commercialise mass
spectrometry for high-throughput proteomics research
Caliper Technologies has announced its intention to acquire
laboratory automation, liquid handling and robotics specialist
Zymark in a deal valued at around $71 million in cash and stock.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals has said that it plans to cut around 600
jobs and wind down some of its manufacturing operations as it seeks
to reach profitability by 2006
Nature Technology has launched an improved delivery technology for
DNA vaccines that is now available for license by companies working
in this fast-growing area
Just over a year after acquiring the FSG business from Vivendi for
$360 million (€307m), Pall Corp has reported a healthy hike in
fiscal third-quarter sales and profits and once again raised its
earnings forecast for 2003.
The European Union's Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer
Affairs Council agreed on 2 June not to press ahead with proposals
to implement a mandatory centralised marketing authorisation scheme
for all medicines.
Germany-based drugmaker Merck KGaA has launched a major
restructuring of its R&D activities after shelving two of its
early-stage diabetes product candidates, EML 16336 and IDD 676.
One of Pfizer Global R&D's major research facilities, based in
Nerviano, Italy, has signed an expanded agreement with PerkinElmer
in which the latter will provide repair, maintenance and validation
services for sophisticated...
A new collaboration sees Hitachi Software Engineering (HSW)
acquiring the rights from German MWG-Biotech to produce DNA
microarrays for sale solely in Japan.
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...
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).
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.
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',...
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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.
