After two major acquisitions, Biosynth is coming to CPHI North America ready to tell the industry about its enhanced capabilities and connect with new and existing customers.
By By Michael Braunagel, managing director, Actigen
Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) made its debut in 1991, heralding a breakthrough in medical science for individuals and families grappling with rare diseases stemming from single gene mutations.
Nestle Health Science has licensed a protein engineering platform from Codexis in a $14m deal that includes an option to co-develop a phenylketonuria drug candidate called CDX-6114.
Contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Almac has invested $7m (€5.5m) in a biocatalysis R&D partnership with Queens University Belfast.
Codexis has felt the impact of Gilead’s Sovaldi with product revenues tumbling almost 60% due to the reduction in its hepatitis C biocatalyst and intermediate business.
Novasep has received the regulatory nod to manufacture a kinase inhibitor new molecular entity (NME) following pre-approval inspections at two facilities in France.
Hepregen has agreed to provide US CRO QPS Holdings with long-term liver cell models to aid its offerings in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic (DMPK) services.
Biocatalysis is emerging as a hot topic for CMOs in 2013 with AMRI, Almac and DSM all citing drug industry demand as the driver for recent collaborations.
Almac says the completion of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) has aided biocatalysis development offering clients an array of streamlined processes.
Northern Ireland-based Almac Group has launched its selectAZyme brand, which provides a wide range of enzymes such as reductases, hydrolases, nitrolases for manufacturing applications.
US CRO and discovery technology supplier XenoTech has launched CryostaX, which it claims is the largest single-freeze pool of human hepatocytes available to drug developers.
Dutch chemicals giant DSM and France’s LibraGen are targeting the chemical and pharmaceutical industries with their new chiral amine production accord, which aims to develop a range of new catalytic enzymes.
University of York, UK, spin-out Paraytec, has published new results that extend the use of its ActiPix UV area imaging detector to applications in enzyme assays and protein sizing.
Researchers from Novartis have published results using
high-throughput screening (HTS) mass spectrometry (MS) techniques
for the identification of enzyme inhibitors.
Biocatalysis expert Codexis has acquired BioCatalytics for an
undisclosed amount to strengthen its off-the-shelf biocatalyst
portfolio and give itself a larger 'window to the market'.
Swedish researchers have solved the crystal structure of the enzyme
that plays a pivotal role in the asthma biocascade, providing
information that could lead to more efficient asthma therapies.
Biotechnology firm Codexis has launched its Codex biocatalyst
panels, which promise to increase R&D and manufacturing
productivity while reducing cost.
Findings from new study have offered an innovative profile of an
enzyme that aids tumour growth, which points towards a potential
new target for treatments for ovarian and breast cancers.
A key study performed by US scientists has uncovered detailed
structural changes, which a catalytic enzyme undergoes in order to
carry out its biological function. The findings challenge
traditional hypothesis and may aid in future...
Biotechnology firm Codexis says it has reached an important
development milestone in its effort to design a biocatalytic
process to produce a key intermediate for a Schering-Plough drug,
reducing manufacturing costs and environmental...
A new report has suggested the US demand for enzymes for
pharmaceutical and biocatalyst sectors will trigger market growth
of 6.9 per cent per year reaching $2.2bn (€1.7bn) in 2010.
Researchers in the US have developed an exciting new tool that
enables scientists to watch cell chemical activity in real-time.
The tool's development has major implications for speeding up new
drug design.
An enzyme-based process operated by Lonza for the production of the
major chiral building block for Pfizer's Lipitor, the world's best
selling drug, has won its designer Codexis a top green chemistry
award for its high yield,...
PerkinElmer has launched a new antibody-free kinase assay
technology that is set to play a major role in drug discovery by
allowing researchers to perform direct measurements of kinase
activities on full-length protein substrates...
Molecular Devices has launched its proprietary system, which offers
Fluorescence Polarisation (FP) and Time Resolved Fluorescence
Resonance Energy Transfer (TR-FRET) detection, allowing researchers
to select between these two well-known...
Researchers have come up with definitive proof that proteins can be
custom-designed for a new and pre-determined activity, signalling a
new direction in drug production as well as having relevance to the
biotechnological and medicinal...
Scienion introduces its ultra low-level liquid handling system,
which allows the aspiration and dispensing of single cells or low
amount of cells for cell-based assays in the drug development
field.
US researchers have identified an enzyme activity that is
inactivated in all reported mutant forms of a disease protein,
opening up opportunities for therapies to treat ataxia, a rare
hereditary neurological disease that affects 1/100,000...
German cancer drug company GPC Biotech has agreed to buy the
material assets of Munich-based kinase specialist Axxima
Pharmaceuticals in a cash-neutral transaction for €13.7m.
US company Biotrove says its mass spectrometry-based
high-throughput screening (HTS) system, RapidFire Lead Discovery,
has been used to screen more than a million individual samples over
the last 12 months.
US company Codexis has acquired Germany's Juelich Fine Chemicals,
one of Europe's leading producers of specialty enzymes or
biocatalysts for the production of chiral pharmaceutical
intermediates.
Researchers have developed a new structural understanding of how
the two key subunits of kinases, one of the most important classes
of enzymes, work together. kinases have increasingly become prime
targets for drugs to treat an array...
The long-standing relationship between biotechnology company
Genencor and Danish ingredients firm Danisco is to be cemented via
the merger of the two companies.
Tool supplier, EMD Biosciences has released the first comprehensive
guide to inhibitors for signal transduction and drug discovery
research that will enable researchers to pinpoint specific enzymes
as a possible target for drug therapy.
Scientists have reworked the mechanism of how enzymes work, forcing
the pharmaceutical industry to rethink its views on the design of
biological catalysts and new drugs.
Sulfa drugs, the primary therapy for treating anthrax, are losing
the battle in its effectiveness in treating this bacterium, of
which antibiotic-resistant strains are emerging. Now,
computer-generated images which show bacterium...
Switzerland's Lonza Group said yesterday that it will use a novel
process developed by US-based biocatalysis company Codexis for the
synthesis of a key chiral pharmaceutical compound used in one of
the world's major human...
Codexis has appointed a new head of biocatalysis and chemical
development, shoring up its expertise in what is a small but
fast-growing area of the catalysts market.
Diversa has entered into a deal aimed at boosting its manufacturing
capacity in enzymes used for industrial processes, including the
production of pharmaceuticals. The agreement with Mexico's Fermic
is designed to step up the...
