Breaking News on Drug Discovery

Weekly comment

Chinese scientists given freedom to fail

As part of a drive towards greater innovation, the Chinese government looks set to introduce new laws giving its domestic scientists freedom to tackle complex scientific problems without fear of failure, according to a state media report this week.

Charles River, LAB put their faith in Canada

Two big players in the early stage contract research organisation (CRO) arena have announced this week they are expanding their preclinical capabilities in Canada as demand for preclinical testing is rising.

Micromet sticks to tough cancer target

Micromet is sticking to its research into cell adhesion antibodies to treat breast cancer and other tumours, hoping it will have more luck than GlaxoSmithKline and Centocor's failed attempt.

Sigma-Aldrich jump on the LentiExpress for RNAi screening

Sigma-Aldrich has launched a new technology that promises to dramatically simplify and speed-up high-throughput (HT) RNAi screening of the human kinome.

Bigger is better, reveals CRO survey

In terms of contract research organisations (CROs), bigger is actually better, reveals a recent Lehman Brothers survey, which offers some fresh insight into this growing industry.

GSK drug could prove unlikely saviour for Vioxx

Vioxx (rofecoxib) might have been offered a lifeline with the news that the drug could be used safely, so long as drugs such as GlaxoSmithKline's investigational dyslipidaemia compound are administered at the same time.

Raising the standard of proteomics data

A new series of reporting guidelines have been developed by researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in an effort to aid proteomics data integration and comparison.

Sangamo points finger at blood vessel growth

Sangamo Biosciences is engineering synthetic versions of the body's natural DNA regulators for a variety of therapeutic purposes, including against cancer, HIV/AIDS and diabetic neuropathy.

Drugs moving into the clinic: 26

The latest in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to industry regulators.

Analysts fear severe delay for Arpida antibiotic

New data have raised 'serious questions' about whether Arpida's new antibiotic will be approved by industry regulators, according to one analyst's report.

MicroCal pushes ITC towards secondary screening applications

The launch of the world's fastest isothermal titration calorimeter (ITC) could herald a new dawn for a technique traditionally hampered by throughput limitations and the need for large amounts of sample.

R&D news in brief

In a round up of the latest news in pharma research, Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb have big plans for DGAT-1 in obesity and diabetes, GlaxoSmithKline is extra keen on Exelixis' anticancer drug, Takeda is talking TLRs and UK scientists have made 'a big breakthrough' in Huntington's disease.

Big pharma learning drug safety lessons

Big pharma is learning from past failures to improve its ability to predict drug toxicity earlier in the development process.

Nicholas Piramal to spin off R&D unit

Nicholas Piramal is the latest Indian pharma firm planning to spin off its new chemical entity (NCE) research unit as its pipeline is maturing.

Novartis turns its back on India

Novartis is to pull millions of planned investment dollars out of India in reaction to intellectual property (IP) fears. The decision may leave China as the cat that got the cream.

Pfizer expands biologics R&D

Pfizer is breaking ground on a $50m expansion of its biologics pilot plant in Chesterfield, at a time when the drug giant is cutting back in other business areas.

Drugs moving into the clinic: 25

The latest in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to industry regulators.

Merck KGaA disappointed by Parkinson's drug results

Newron Pharmaceuticals and its partner Merck KGaA suffered a disappointment yesterday, when their investigational Parkinson's disease drug failed a pivotal clinical trial.

Amgen expounds IL-17 potential as arthritis target

Amgen is rushing to discover how interleukin-17 causes inflammation and bone destruction in rheumatoid arthritis, as it could provide a valuable new therapeutic target.

Biogen Idec aiming for biologic Alzheimer's drug

A team of scientists at Biogen Idec have unveiled preclinical data for a potential protein therapeutic to treat Alzheimer's, a disease normally only attacked using small molecules due to delivery issues.

Merck-Frosst pushing mass spectroscopy into overdrive

Merck-Frosst Canada is pushing the limits of mass spectroscopy (MS), hoping to speed it up enough to achieve true high-throughput screening of difficult drug targets.

Award for preclinical services firm

Domainex, a London- and Cambridge-based preclinical services firm has won an industry award for its bottleneck-breaking genomics technology.

Bayer pipeline in good shape as merger rumours build

Analysts believe Bayer's research and development pipeline is well equipped to deal with looming patent expiries but that didn't stop rumours of a Novartis buyout last week.

Applied Biosystems expanding genotyping access

Through a new service partnership, Applied Biosystems is helping scientists study genetic variations - even if they can't access or afford the necessary lab equipment.

Weekly comment

UK tightens Phase I guidelines

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has now published revised guidelines for Phase I trials in the UK.

Amgen's approach to selectivity predictions

Amgen has outlined how it uses computer models to predict the selectivity of small molecule drugs.

Blockbuster potential for Actelion insomnia drug

Analysts are waiting with baited breath for the latest clinical data on Actelion's first-in-class insomnia drug, pointing to its blockbuster potential and deriding current insomnia drugs as 'shockingly limited'.

Amgen admits job cuts on way after anaemia drugs drama

Amgen has finally put an end to weeks of rumours and speculations by admitting its plans to slash 12-14 per cent of its workforce to offset the recent difficulties it has been facing with the sales of its anaemia blockbusters.

Did Pfizer overpay in Icagen deal?

Pfizer has penned a discovery-stage deal with Icagen aimed at finding potential pain alleviating drugs, but has forked out over twice the industry average.

Agilent expands microarray offering with FFPE sample labelling kit

Using technology recently licensed from Kreatech, Agilent has launched a kit to enable researchers to more easily access genetic information from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples.

First 3D images of living cell a 'dream'

A US scientist says he has fulfilled his dream by creating the first 3D images of a living cell, finally allowing researchers to study them in their natural state.

Weekly Comment

No lack of innovation in pharma, says Wyeth

The often cited decline in R&D productivity and dwindling innovation within the pharma industry is actually a thing of the past, according to Wyeth's head of business development.

US-Russian CRO pact inked

Russian contract research organisation (CRO) Synergy Research Group has hooked up with a US-based CRO in a bid to expand its services to North America.

Antibody rival drawing investors to Molecular Partners

An award-winning therapeutic protein technology, touted as superior to antibodies, has attracted venture capitalist investment for its owners, the Swiss biotech Molecular Partners.

Big pharma's wish list

Some of the world's largest pharma firms have set out what therapeutic areas and specific mechanisms are becoming more important to them, and which will be left by the wayside.

Invitrogen takes the stress out of stem cell 'passaging'

The launch of Invitrogen's Stempro EZPassage should substantially reduce the time and stress involved in dividing up cultures of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) colonies.

Preclinical services news in brief

In this week's review of activity within the preclinical research services arena, new deals have emerged involving GVK Biosciences, Lab Research, GATC Biotech and Bridge Pharmaceuticals.

Pfizer offers insight on R&D outsourcing in Japan

Pfizer, among others, recently offered an insight into R&D outsourcing in Japan, where this services market is still fairly immature, with growth potential in several key areas.

Drugs moving into the clinic: 24

The latest in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to industry regulators.

Charles River performs well in Q2

Charles River Laboratories posted healthy financial results for its second quarter, with both business units performing well.

Jeol ups the ante with new 'entry level' NMR machine

Jeol has launched a new NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer that brings a high performance instrument to routine drug discovery and quality control applications, all in an 'entry level' package.

Merck and Neuromed feel the pain

Merck & Co's latest bid to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of Vioxx (rofecoxib) has hit another stumbling block as it has dropped NMED-160 that it was developing in collaboration with Neuromed.

PerkinElmer reduces the cost of cellular imaging

PerkinElmer has launched an 'introductory configuration' of its Opera system to lower the upfront cost of adding high content screening (HCS) to drug discovery and systems biology programmes.

Biotech firm Archemix strengthens alliances

Following Archemix' initial public offering (IPO) filing the company has announced two high profile strategic alliances aimed at leveraging its aptamer technology to a wider audience.

Weekly comment

Speculation on gene therapy trial death 'premature'

Targeted Genetics said it was 'premature as well as irresponsible' to draw any conclusions on what caused the death of a patient who participated in a clinical trial testing the safety of the firm's new gene therapy.

Galapagos sees profit drop on spend hike; inks AZ contract

Galapagos has reported a profit erosion for the first half of 2007 amidst accelerated R&D spend and business reshuffling. Meanwhile its services division has inked its third contract with AstraZeneca.

Abraxis acquires rights to discovery platform

Abraxis Bioscience has bought the worldwide rights to a discovery platform designed to generate new therapeutics and identify new drug targets that alter the p53 tumour suppressor signalling pathway.

Baxter recalls more infusion pumps

Baxter Healthcare remains in murky waters in regard to its infusion pumps after announcing yesterday it would be recalling an additional 986 of its Colleague brand pumps.

ChanTest to expand ion-channel screening

ChanTest has received private equity financing by Ampersand Ventures to enable the company to expand its library of ion channel-expressing cell lines for drug screening.

Covance, Nanostream, launch new discovery services

Contract research organisation (CRO) Covance and laboratory services firm Nanostream have both recently launched new drug discovery offerings.

Alzheimer's hits glaucoma between the eyes

UK researchers have published results linking the beta amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer's disease to glaucoma, opening up a much needed new target for glaucoma therapies.

Pfizer's GORD therapy enters the clinic

Pfizer has initiated a Phase I study for its gastro oesophageal reflux disease (GORD or GERD using the US spelling) therapy that it licensed from Kosan Biosciences, in a deal worth up to $250m (€181m).

Asuragen moves ahead with microRNA offering

Asuragen has launched a newly expanded miRNA expression profiling service that can search over 13,000 human candidate miRNAs.

Entelos to develop liver injury model for the FDA

The search for better models to predict drug-induced human liver damage has led the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) to turn to Entelos to design a 'virtual liver' to guide biomarker and assay development.

PharmaNet back in the red; lawsuit settled

PharmaNet has reported second quarter results that place it back in the red after it had only just clawed its way back into the black in the first quarter, following a string of quarterly losses.

MDS Pharma expands services in EU market

MDS Pharma Services has announced it is expanding its development and regulatory services (DRS) business in Europe while its bioanalytical operations are still struggling.

How does HIV cause AIDS?

Remarkably, despite being over 25 years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, scientists still don't have an answer to the seemingly simple question: how does HIV cause AIDS?

PADI dives into the chemical analysis of solids

UK researchers have developed a new way to make compounds fly into a mass spectrometer (MS) that could provide benefits for researchers working in drug discovery and quality control (QC) laboratories.

Merck bulks up cardiovascular pipeline

Merck & Co. is to bolster its late-stage cardiovascular pipeline through the acquisition of US-based pharma company NovaCardia.

HIV therapy leads way in personalised medicine

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has opened the flood gates into the world of personalised medicine with the world's first ever approved genetic test, which predicts a life threatening side effect of one of its antiretroviral drugs.

Drugs moving into the clinic: 23

The latest in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to industry regulators.

Tepnel to launch new molecular services

Tepnel Research Products & Services has indicated it will soon begin offering a number of new molecular services at its new facility in Livingston, Scotland.

Teaching computers to read chemical structures

German scientists have developed software that can recognise chemical structure images and convert them into a computer readable format to enable graphical searching of patents and scientific papers.

Johnson & Johnson slashes jobs, closes facilities

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has become the latest big pharma player to cut jobs and close facilities, in another example of the changing face of the industry landscape.