The Challenge of Change - Managing Excipients Control
Colorcon
25-Mar-2005 - US researchers have found that three types of leukaemias are all caused by acquired mutations that alter a specific enzyme controlling blood cell proliferation. Identifying the genetic malfunction may give rise to a targeted therapy, similar to chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), which is treated with Gleevec.
23-Mar-2005 - Researchers at the Serono Genetics Institute have announced the identification of 80 genes involved in the inflammatory and neuro-degenerative pathways of multiple sclerosis (MS) forming a library of potential targets for future treatments of the disease.
23-Mar-2005 - UK speciality chemicals firm C6 Solutions has said that it will be stopping production operations by the end of 2005 and has put its entire manufacturing plant and equipment up for sale.
21-Mar-2005 - Researchers in the US have developed a drug delivery technology that directs therapeutics directly to bone, raising the possibility of improved treatment for osteoporosis and other diseases affecting bone, including cancer, reports Phil Taylor.
21-Mar-2005 - The prospect of using genomic analysis as a tool for studying trauma patients is a realistic prospect according to a new study, which says the tool can be used to predict whether or not a given patient will respond to a specific course of drug treatment.
21-Mar-2005 - French pharmaceutical company Pierre Fabre is to invest €30 million in its plant at Idron near Pau to bolster its contract manufacturing activities for injectable drugs.
18-Mar-2005 - Swiss drugmaker Novartis says that its renin inhibitor drug aliskiren (SPP100), which potentially represents the first in a new class of orally-active drugs for high blood pressure, has shown promising data in a clinical trial.
16-Mar-2005 - Costs rises for raw materials and energy push Philadelphia-based FMC BioPolymer to hike up prices for its cellulose gel range.
16-Mar-2005 - A group of US researchers claim to have identified a fundamental mechanism that may facilitate the design of safer and more efficacious topical drug delivery systems, reports Phil Taylor.
15-Mar-2005 - Teva Hungary, a subsidiary of number two generic company Teva Pharmaceuticals, is to build a $100 million (€75m) factory for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in Sajobabony, Hungary.
14-Mar-2005 - A study has suggested the hypoxia inducible gene RTP801 may serve an important mechanistic role in the development of experimental chordial neovascularisation (CNV), the principal cause of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).
14-Mar-2005 - Biologists have shown for the first time how histatin, the naturally occurring antifungal agent in saliva, kills the oral pathogen Candida albicans, a yeast responsible for most HIV-related oral infections.
10-Mar-2005 - Italy's Recordati has reported flat turnover but a rise in operating income in 2004, while its pharmaceutical chemicals business managed to return to profit, reports Phil Taylor.
10-Mar-2005 - Johnson & Johnson is planning to acquire TransForm Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company that specialises in the discovery of improved formulations and novel crystalline forms of drug molecules, in a cash-for-stock deal valued at around $230m (€171m), reports Phil Taylor.
10-Mar-2005 - Biopharmaceutical company deCODE genetics, announced the initiation of trials for a first-in-class compound used to treat atherosclerosis for which there is currently no effective drug treatment. The disease strikes almost 20 per cent of people over the age of 70 in the industrialised world.
09-Mar-2005 - Sales of amino acids used in synthesis applications will reach nearly $1 billion in 2009 and represent the fastest-growing category in the $7 billion amino acids market.
08-Mar-2005 - Xceleron has announced the long-awaited results of the CREAM trial into human microdosing in drug development, which demonstrates that microdosing provides a valuable insight into the human pharmacokinetics (PK) of new drug candidates.
07-Mar-2005 - US researchers have discovered that cholesterol plays a key role in anchoring a signalling pathway, which has been linked to cell division and cancer. The findings could identify cholesterol as an unlikely drug target.
07-Mar-2005 - The emergence of nanotechnology is likely to have a significant impact on drug delivery sector, affecting just about every route of administration from oral to injectable, according to specialist market research firm NanoMarkets.
07-Mar-2005 - US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis have filed with the US Food and Drug Administration seeking marketing approval for Exubera, an inhaled human insulin powder, for the treatment of diabetes.
07-Mar-2005 - Metabolex has announced positive clinical trial results for its oral insulin sensitiser for type 2 diabetes, which is primarily designed to eliminate the dose-limiting side effects of the currently marketed sensitisers.
07-Mar-2005 - There is no doubt that the introduction of stents, and latterly those that deliver pharmacological agents, has revolutionised the treatment of coronary artery disease over the last 10 years and all but consigned heart surgery to second-line use. But has the phenomenal improvements seen with the first generation of drug-eluting stents (DES) raised the bar too high for other products to follow, asks Phil Taylor?
04-Mar-2005 - A team of researchers have discovered how a key enzyme involved in repairing DNA is put together and how it works, a development that opens up new drug therapies for making cancer cells more vulnerable to attack.
03-Mar-2005 - BioProgress of the UK says that the commercial version of its TABWRAP tablet-coating machine should be launched at this year's Conference on Pharmaceutical Ingredients (CPhI) meeting in November, reports Phil Taylor.
02-Mar-2005 - Neurocrine Biosciences has announced positive Phase I clinical trial results with its proprietary, orally active small molecule Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) receptor antagonist that could diminish bone demineralisation.