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...
Paris, France-based speciality chemicals company Rhodia has
reported a disappointing set of first quarter figures that reflects
what the firm describes as "a difficult economic and geopolitical
environment" and "a trough...
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,...
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.
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
German pharmaceutical and ingredients group Boehringer Ingelheim,
outpacing market growth, ended 2002 with a healthy rise in profits,
the company reports this week.
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.
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...
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.
Life science company Chiral Quest this week announced that the
non-profit organisation, the Penn State Research Foundation, has
received a US patent covering the compositions of matter and use
for a series of chiral phosphine ligands...
Two British firms, De Novo Pharmaceuticals and Peakdale Molecular,
are to enter into a joint collaboration to exploit their respective
skills in molecular design and chemistry synthesis, writes market
analysts Datamonitor this week.
Shareholders at Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche welcomed the
start of a new era as the company summarised recent events,
including the divestment of the vitamins business, at its annual
general meeting yesterday.
The bulk of biotech companies are firmly rooted towards the foot of
the ladder of corporate evolution. Precious few can realistically
claim to be at the top end of the evolutionary scale with full
R&D capabilities, global reach...
GlaxoSmithKline has entered into a new drug formulation agreement
with Flamel Technologies of France that could see the latter firm
receive up to $45 million (€41.3m) in licensing fees and milestone
payments.
Dow Chemical has agreed for Dowpharma, Dow's pharmaceutical
manufacturing services business unit, to supply select, proprietary
oligonucleotides to Montreal, Canada-based Topigen Pharmaceuticals
for use in its pharmaceutical...
Biotechnology company Biogen this week celebrated its 25th
anniversary by breaking the ground on a large-scale manufacturing
facility in Hillerød, Denmark, marking the company's first
development phase for the region and a greater...
UK contract pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor Intercare
Group has reported 2002 turnover of £275.1 million (€406m), an
increase of 27 per cent year-on-year, and pretax profits of £24.6
million, up 15 per cent. The results...
UK Science Minister Lord Sainsbury this week announced a new
initiative to develop 'a strategic approach' to the future of the
bioscience industry in the UK and to encourage growth in the
sector.
Ireland's Elan Corp has inked a deal with Ingenium Pharmaceuticals
of Germany that will see the companies apply Ingenium's functional
genomics technologies to the discovery and development of novel
therapeutics for pain...
British Biotech, once the darling of the UK biotechnology industry
but now suffering the after-effects of a string of major drug
development failures, is having another go at bolstering its
pipeline via a merger with fellow UK company...
Akzo Nobel has opened a new powder coatings factory in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam in partnership with Chang Cheng Securities, marking
the 12th powder coatings site in the Asia Pacific region for the
company.
SC Biosciences is to be the exclusive distributor of sensitive
tools for drug discovery with the announcement this week that it
will distribute in vivo imaging technology in Japan for US company
Xenogen corporation.
German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has signed a
long-term agreement with software company MDL Information Systems
to use its software technology for managing and deploying chemical
information systems.
Applied Biosystems group, the world's number one maker of
gene-analysing equipment, warned on Tuesday that it would report
lower-than-expected fiscal third-quarter revenue and earnings due
to deteriorating business conditions.
Drug target validation has become the critical step in maintaining
profitability for the pharmaceutical industry, claims a new report
from market research company Business Communications. Drug
developers must accelerate identification...
CyDex, a US company working in drug delivery technologies, has
signed announced an agreement with Merck regarding its advanced
formulation system Captisol.
"The current confluence of negative factors facing the chemical
manufacturing industry could be called 'the perfect storm',"
said Andrew N. Liveris, president of Dow Chemical company's
Performance Chemicals...
Swiss life-science company Lonza announced on Tuesday that it is to
strengthen the production of oligonucleotides - an emerging new
class of therapeutics consisting of short nucleic acid chains
interfering in the processing of genetic...
Women are becoming the most attractive target audience for
healthcare companies, claims a new report from market analysts
Datamonitor. A combination of increasing Internet access, a general
interest in health issues among women along...
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals saw biopharmaceutical product sales -
driven by strong growth in sales of Nabi-HB - reaching record
levels of $89.5 million (€83m) in 2002, a 22 per cent increase from
2001 levels.
US demand for combinatorial chemistry products and services is set
to increase by more than twelve per cent annually to reach $4
billion (€3.7bn) in 2006, according to a new report from market
analyst the Freedonia group.
Pharmaceutical and veterinary product manufacturer IVAX corporation
has acquired ChemSource, a manufacturer of active pharmaceutical
ingredients based in Puerto Rico.
Genetronics Biomedical has completed the sale its BTX division to
Harvard Bioscience for $3.7 million. Genetronics Biomedical's
stockholders approved the sale in a meeting on Friday.
