February 2010- Volume 6, Issue 2
February 2010
In this Issue
Patent News
Why are drugs expensive in the U.S.? Because other countries decide to pay less
Why are drugs expensive in the U.S.? Because other countries decide to pay less
Pfizer is continuing its fight with generic drug manufacturer United Laboratories =in the Philippines over the issue of the validity of the patent on Lipitor as Unilab tries to have the patent canceled.
Commentary
Guest Commentary: Academic institutions play active role in early-stage drug discovery process
Guest Commentary: Academic institutions play active role in early-stage drug discovery process
In the past decade, the role academic intuitions play in drug discovery has evolved, with more emphasis being placed on finding the chemical compounds that can modulate that promising target.
Research & Development
Inflammation collaboration
Inflammation collaboration
Eli Lilly and Incyte strike worldwide license and collaboration deal for the development and commercialization of Incyte's oral JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
Ambit and Astellas Pharma: Working to release your inhibitors
Ambit and Astellas Pharma: Working to release your inhibitors
They aim to develop FLT3 kinase inhibitors for AML and more
Fragile hope for brain disorders
Fragile hope for brain disorders
Seaside Therapeutics, Vanderbilt collaborate on novel therapeutics to treat Fragile X, autism, other brain disorders
Pfizer ‘invests to win’
Pfizer ‘invests to win’
Following Wyeth merger, multiple recent deals and job layoffs, pharma refocuses drug development pipeline
The path of least resistance
The path of least resistance
AstraZeneca acquires Novexel, expands collaboration with Forest Laboratories in effort to boost antibiotic pipeline
Global News
Taking aim at cancer
Taking aim at cancer
Merck strikes deal with Cancer Research UK for investigational anti-cancer drug targeting leukemia and lymphoma
Teva expands pipeline
Teva expands pipeline
Company inks license agreement to commercialize OncoGenex’s late-stage treatment for cancer
Pardon the disruption
Pardon the disruption
Roche and Evolva use discovery platform to create compounds that mimic those that are naturally occurring
Not seeing eye-to-eye
Not seeing eye-to-eye
Novartis seeks to acquire eye giant Alcon, but is meeting resistance
News Briefs
Show Preview: 49th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo of the Society of Toxicology
Show Preview: 49th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo of the Society of Toxicology
Annual SOT meeting to be held March 7 to 11 at Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center
Instruments & Informatics
Sorting it all out
Sorting it all out
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals and Fluidigm Corp. announce strategic collaboration aimed at sorting and analyzing tumor cells, especially cancer stem cells
Hawkeyeish on technology
Hawkeyeish on technology
DNASTAR and the University of Iowa sign Lasergene site license agreement
In it together
In it together
Thermo and Cerilliant offer certified solution standards for forensic and clinical research laboratories
Partnering on pathways
Partnering on pathways
GeneGo links informatics software to Sigma-Aldrich products
Omics & Systems Biology
Getting the fat in
Getting the fat in
MIT and Alnylam researchers find way to turn off multiple genes at once with RNAi therapy
Streamlined sequencing for sale
Streamlined sequencing for sale
Agilent Technologies and Covaris sign co-marketing agreement pairing target enrichment with DNA shearing for next-gen sequencing
Power times two
Power times two
Silence Therapeutics merges with Intradigm Corp. to create RNAi therapeutics company
Bringing in the proteome
Bringing in the proteome
ALS research organization teams up with Applied Proteomics to work on biomarker development
Editor's Focus
Cleveland: The next biotech hub?
Cleveland: The next biotech hub?
Couls we attract biotech and pharma companies to Cleveland, where the median home price is about $106,000, and opportunities to work with some of the country’s most highly regarded hospital and educational institutions — the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), to name two — abound?
Diagnostics
Last-minute holiday shopping bags OncoDiagnotics for Predictive Biosciences
Last-minute holiday shopping bags OncoDiagnotics for Predictive Biosciences
Predictive Biosciences did a little last-minute holiday shopping in December, closing a deal to acquire Cleveland-based OncoDiagnostic Laboratory
Let's make a deal
Let's make a deal
Bio-Rad Laboratories completes purchase of certain diagnostics businesses of Biotest AG for $67.5 million
Cancer leaves its (bio)mark
Cancer leaves its (bio)mark
Strategic Diagnostics and Fred Hutchinson Cancer seek biomarkers for use in early detection of a variety of cancers
Defining cancer by pathways
Defining cancer by pathways
Clarient’s acquisition of Applied Genomics targets NSCLC diagnostics
Contract Services
Chorus hits high notes for Lilly
Chorus hits high notes for Lilly
Special R&D unit takes control of compounds discovered in other companies’ labs
PPD completes acquisition of BioDuro
PPD completes acquisition of BioDuro
Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. finalizes acquisition of BioDuro, a drug discovery outsourcing company focused on integrated drug discovery programs and services
Contract research market eyes growth
Contract research market eyes growth
Market research reports find many pressures facing pharma, biotech companies lead them to outsource research services
Good planning, good results
Good planning, good results
Quintiq provides advanced planning and scheduling platform to global CRO PRA International
