Genetix Limited has launched the ClonePixFL, a mammalian cell
imaging and picking instrument that builds upon the success of the
ClonePix adding fluorescent capabilities to its clone picking
abilities.
The UK government has given the national biotechnology industry
trade group £3 million (€4.3m) in funding to support the
development of bioprocessing, continuing a string of projects aimed
at boosting the UK biotech sector.
Filtration and separation company Pall has made another acquisition
in the chromatography sector with the purchase of Euroflow (UK) for
an undisclosed amount.
Despite burgeoning demand for biopharmaceutical drugs, little
progress is being made toward the improving efficiency and reducing
costs in conventional biomanufacturing processes using microbial or
mammalian fermentation systems.
Wacker-Chemie is to acquire German biotechnology company ProThera,
based in Jena, to boost its presence in the biologics manufacturing
sector. ProThera will now operate as Wacker Biotech.
A non-profit pharmaceutical company, the Institute for OneWorld
Health, has been awarded a $42.6 million (€32.1m)grant from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to find a new way of producing
a valuable drug for malaria, which...
At the Conference on Pharmaceutical Ingredients (CPhI) opened its
doors yesterday, In-PharmaTechnologist.com spoke with Nick Hyde,
global business director at leading contract manufacturer
Dowpharma, to hear his views on the state...
Parexel and Sartorius have been awarded a contract to supply,
validate and help operate a biologic manufacturing facility in
South Korea, said to be the first of its kind in the country.
France's drug industry has started filling in the detail of its
strategic plan to boost the standing of the biotechnology sector,
first unveiled at the end of last month. At the heart of the plans
is a quadrupling of the production...
Lonza has commissioned a new current Good Manufacturing
Practice-compliant facility for the production of microbially
derived biopharmaceuticals at its largest worldwide production
centre in Visp, Switzerland.
Cambrex has made a second deal to increase its presence in the
microbiological testing, this time acquiring France's Genolife for
approximately $6 million (€4.75m) in cash.
The contract manufacturing market for biologicals will more than
double over the next six years, but production costs are higher
than necessary because 'downstream' processing is being ignored.
Laborium Biopharma and the Biotechnology Research Institute of the
National Research Council (BRI-NRC) have entered into an alliance,
further boosting the biomanufacturing sector of Montreal in Quebec,
Canada.
According to a latest report, the growth of the biotechnology
company will continue to outpace that of pharmaceutical companies,
with the seven largest biotechnology companies growing at rates
faster than the pharmaceutical industry's...
Dutch biotechnology company Crucell has initiated legal proceedings
against CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, which claims the company has
violated Crucell's PER.C6 technology's European patent.
BASF has threatened to relocate research into 'green genetic
engineering' to other countries if German law continues to restrict
R&D into plant biotechnology, with applications as diverse as
crop biomanufacturing of...
Drug major Roche has licensed a technology developed by Glycart
Biotechnology that makes antibody-based drugs more effective by
making them resemble natural human antibodies more closely.
Purification and filtration systems manufacturer Pall has reported
flat fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that missed analysts'
expectations, although group sales grew by 7 per cent to $504.5
million (€418m).
After two difficult years, there are more signals in 2004 that
trends are turning in the economic situation of German
biotechnology companies, according to Prof Peter Stadler, chairman
of the German Association of Biotechnology Industries...
UK biotechnology company CellFactors has entered administration
following its failure to raise additional funds to further develop
its product Skeletex, a biological matrix derived from human cells
that induces new vascularised bone...
Major pharmaceutical and generics players are continuing to invest
in plants for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients,
with Pfizer, Ivax, Berlex and Protein Design Labs all announcing
new ventures in the last few days.
Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim has completed the validation process
for its new biopharmaceutical production plant in Biberach with a
positive inspection by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In the UK, a groundbreaking partnership between government and
industry has led to the creation of a National Biomanufacturing
Centre, designed to make it easier for fledgling biotechnology
companies to get access to contract manufacturing...
UK biotechnology company Xenova has been given regulatory approval
for a manufacturing facility for clinical trial materials for its
own use, as well as for its clients.
UK biotechnology company Acambis is looking for new clients to take
up unused capacity at its facility in Massachusetts, US, now that
Baxter has pulled out of a manufacturing contract.
The European Commission has reported on its progress in building up
Europe's competitiveness in the biotechnology and concludes that
while positive steps have been taken, there is still much to be
done, particularly with regard...
Despite years of promises, there is still not a single product on
the market that has been manufactured in a genetically-engineered
organism. But a soon-to-be released market report maintains that
the floodgates are about to open,...
The first in a series of government-funded incubation facilities
opened in Ireland this week, designed to nurture the development of
biotech companies.
US-based biotechnology company Human Genome Sciences is planning to
set up the first protein manufacturing facility in India in
collaboration with local companies.
New filtration products for biopharmaceutical development and
production were unveiled at last week's Interphex 2004 exhibition
in New York by two of the main players in the sector - Pall and
Millipore.
Two France-based companies have pooled their resources to set up a
new venture specialising in the contract development and
manufacturing of biologicals drugs.
In its last set of annual results before being acquired by General
Electric, Amersham of the UK reported lower profits last year as
currency effects bit into the company's bottom line, but saw its
drug discovery unit move into...
Fisher Scientific International has swooped on two companies
providing tools for life sciences companies in a move designed to
boost its product range for research laboratories and
biopharmaceutical production.
Novartis' generic drugs subsidiary Sandoz has opened two new
manufacturing plants in Austria and Slovenia that mark its entry
into the contract manufacture of biopharmaceuticals using mammalian
cell culture.
Dowpharma has developed new strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas
fluorescens that can be used to improve the yield of
recombinant proteins made in fermentation vats.
A hoped-for recovery in the second half of 2003 failed to
materialise at Lonza, causing the chemicals and custom
manufacturing firm to post steep declines in sales and profits for
the full-year.
Dow Chemical has started a new research product, with the support
of the US government, that could hasten the time it takes to make
vaccines in response to a new epidemic or biological attack.
Near-defunct Scottish biotechnology company PPL Therapeutics marked
the end of a dreadful 2003 with the sale of its cloning technology
which created Dolly the sheep for just £760,000 (€1.1m).
Life sciences technology company Invitrogen has entered into a
definitive agreement to acquire fellow US firm BioReliance, which
specialises in the testing and manufacture of biologic drugs.
France's Nautilus Biotech says that it has achieved a key technical
milestone in a collaboration with Aventis Pasteur, designed to
improve the productivity of the latter's vaccine manufacturing
process.
Scotland's PPL Therapeutics, once one of the brightest stars in the
UK biotechnology universe, came to desultory end this week when the
company auctioned off most of its remaining assets for just
£169,000 (€242,000).
UK firm Cobra Biomanufacturing has ended its first year as a
publicly-listed company with a healthy 137 per cent increase in
revenues to £6 million (€8.6m), helped by an expansion of its
business in the US.
The pharmaceutical industry has welcomed the passage of new
legislation by the UK Parliament that will give police new powers
to intervene in public order offences, including those carried out
by animal extremist groups.
Akzo Nobel opened a new biotech vaccines production facility in
Boxmeer, the Netherlands, yesterday, that signposts a new ambition
in human vaccines for the group.
Dow Chemical has teamed up with Germany's greenovation Biotech to
develop ways of manufacturing therapeutic proteins such as
monoclonal antibodies in plants.
Dutch biotechnology company Crucell has put in place another
element in its strategy to develop in-house drug products functions
with the appointment of a new vice president of development.
Industry-backed group says UK should help support the country's
biotech companies by setting up a national agency to organise
clinical trials and boost companies' liquidity.
The global market for bioprocessing is mirroring the phenomenal
growth of the biotechnology industry around the world, says a
recently-published report from D&MD Reports.
