Internal Medicine

In mid-November, Bruker AXS Inc. closed on the purchase of two X-ray microanalysis businesses: Berlin-based Roentec AG and the PGT unit of Princeton Gamma-Tech of Rocky Hill, N.J. At the closing, Bruker announced the formation of Bruker AXS Microanalysis Group, a new business unit which will leverage the technology and sales organizations of the two acquired companies in a business and application area that is new to Bruker AXS.

Agilent Technologies in late October unveiled its next-generation DNA microarray manufacturing process that will increase feature density of its ink-jet-based microarrays by more than four times in 2006 and perhaps tenfold or more in 2007.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University recently announced that they are receiving five-year funding from the National Cancer Institute, to the tune of $20 million, for the MIT-Harvard Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence. Closely following this announcement was the presentation of recent research at November’s 13th European Cancer Conference regarding the use of nanoparticle-aptamer bioconjugates for drug delivery, which was spearheaded by MIT and the Harvard Medical School.

DOR BioPharma Inc. announced last month that it signed a binding letter of intent to acquire Gastrotech Pharma A/S, a private Danish biotechnology company based in Copenhagen. Gastrotech develops therapeutics based on peptide hormones to treat cancer and gastrointestinal diseases and conditions. Gastrotech was founded on technology developed at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden, which is known as the development cradle of growth hormone and IGF-1 research.

WHEN YOU’VE CHOSEN the profession I have, there is one thing you need to understand early on, lest you go crazy: Once the issue hits the presses, there is not a single thing you can do to change the publication. And once something is in print, your mistakes are indelible, there for the world to see. Years ago, when I first started in publishing, I helped start

Analytical solutions provider Applied InSilico recently announced that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) signed a multi-year licensing agreement for the application of its Evolutionary Learning Environment (ELE). The deal is part of a larger GSK initiative to develop a new global decision support environment for drug discovery areas such as model building, library design and drug candidate selection. No financial details were disclosed.

Caprion Pharmaceuticals, a proteomics-based drug discovery company, in early November announced a collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca focused on the discovery of novel targets for prostate cancer. The intention of the collaboration is to push forward the development of innovative therapies, which in turn could bolster the development pipelines of both companies.

Day after day, alone with email The man with the foolish thoughts

Cardiome Pharma Corp. announced late last month that it completed its acquisition of Artesian Therapeutics Inc., a privately-held U.S. biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md. Artesian was founded in March of 2002 to discover and develop bi-functional small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Artesian currently has two advanced small-molecule discovery programs in the area of congestive heart failure.

For some reason, every month, I can’t help but feel we are only scratching the surface of what is happening in the business of drug discovery. Of course, we have a different set of problems from other publications covering this industry. For them, a research breakthrough is a research breakthrough and if it hits any of the major diseases like cancer or CNS disorders, or is from an emerging field of discovery such as nanotechnology or microRNA,