Roche is said to be considering a purchase of diagnostics company
Igen International after a US appeals court ruling put a slice of
the Swiss group's diagnostics operations in jeopardy.
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.
Scientists at Roche have discovered a new class of drug, called
glucokinase activators, that may be of use in the treatment of
patients with type 2 diabetes.
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...
Millipore has reported buoyant sales growth in the second quarter
of this year but was let down by a lacklustre showing from its
biotechnology division, held up as one of the key drivers of future
growth.
Therascope, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on
small molecule drug discovery, has raised €24.1 million to develop
its TACE platform.
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.
Biofrontera Pharmaceuticals has taken over the entire operations of
bioLeads, a company specialising in sourcing natural compounds from
microorganisms.
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.
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.
Swedish drug discovery company Karo Bio has trimmed its losses down
to SEK18.1 million in the second quarter of 2003 from SEK79.7
million a year earlier.
European Commission refers eight EU member states to the European
Court of Justice over their alleged failure to implement legal
protection of biotech inventions.
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.
Genedata's Expressionist software is to be used in a cancer
research effort in Singapore aimed at developing clinical
diagnostics and identifying novel drug targets.
A team of scientists studying severe acute respiratory syndrome
has, for the first time, described how the coronavirus (SARS CoV)
manufactures several of the materials required for viral
replication.
IBC is holding its 3rd international conference on Small Molecule
& Protein Structure-Based Drug Discovery by Design on 8-10
October 2003 in San Diego.
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.
A series of pre-formulated rat gene expression assays developed by
Applied Biosystems could provide a short cut to testing
toxicological responses to chemical compounds.
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.
Crestor (rosuvastatin), the 'superstatin' developed by AstraZeneca,
has been recommended for approval by a US Food and Drug
Administration advisory panel.
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.
US companies GenPath and Array BioPharma have formed a
collaboration to focus on the development of new drugs against an
undisclosed tumour maintenance gene.
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.
