September 2010 Volume 6, Issue 9
Volume 6, Issue 9 | September 2010
September 2010
In this Issue
Research & Development
The French connection
Seeking to acquire Genzyme, sanofi-aventis goes public with a nearly $20 billion cash offerJumping into the game
Envoy to seek new Parkinson’s disease therapy with Scripps Research InstituteSignaling the pathway to antibody development
NovImmune enters into exclusive antibody licensing agreement with GenentechStriking a nerve
Gladstone, Danish drugmaker Lundbeck sign neurological disease research agreement7,000 points of light
Sigma Life Science and Boston University awarded NHLBI grant to probe samples from Framingham Heart Study for biomarkers in cardiovascular diseaseGlobal News
Shire hungry for share of gastro market
British drugmaker announces plans to buy Movetis NVA sure selection
Agilent Technologies and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute develop all-exon target enrichment tool for next-generation sequencingEasing the pain
BioFocus and University of Bristol enter drug discovery collaboration in diabetes-related chronic neuropathic painA dowry to the seal the engagement
Actelion obtains option to acquire privately held Trophos for just under $13 millionTour of Italy
Aptuit, Siena Biotech forge strategic partnership for former GSK facility in VeronaInstruments & Informatics
Illumina shines light on Helixis acquisition
Company announces purchase, launch of new PCR product in Q2 financial reportA VisEn-ary acquisition
PerkinElmer’s acquisition of VisEn Medical will add in vivo molecular imaging capabilities to enhance preclinical researchA collaboration in the Cleve
EMD Millipore and Cleveland Clinic collaborate on method to rapidly stain and assess tissueAutomation solution enables protein purification
PhyNexus, Tecan collaborating on development of standard processesAxela’s acquisition of Xceed Molecular hits snag
Plan to create a powerhouse in robust and easy-to-use systems for translational medicine put on hold as recession hits Canadian life sciences companies hardSpecial Reports
Pharmacogenomics harnesses power of prediction, personalization
Branch of pharmacology stands at the precipice of the era of personalized medicine in cancer treatmentGetting down to basics
Researchers dig deep into the genome, not just to establish the causes of cancer, but also the best approaches to treatmentEditor's Focus
When shareholders attack, it’s not just the news that suffers
It’s the phone call or e-mail that every publication editor dreads. It comes seconds before deadline time, as the content your editorial team has worked for the last month to produce is committed to print. It comes from a writer whose story has morphed so materially from its original state that it can’t run as planned—usually leaving a black hole in your layout to be filled at the eleventh hour.Commentary
Guest Commentary: Prioritizing hits based on drug-target residence time
Amid the complexity and expense of the small-molecule drug discovery process, from identification and validation of a “drugable” target to the development of an understanding of the impact of pharmacogenomic differences in patient populations on drug action, lies the “hit-to-lead” process in which compounds that show activity in an assay system are iteratively improved upon through medicinal chemistry that is guided by more detailed assays and filtering criteria.Patent News
Lilly loses method patent after use was disclosed in earlier patent
Eli Lilly & Co. recently lost an appeal from a final judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, finding claims 2, 6, and 7 of U.S. Patent No. 5,464,826 invalid for obviousness-type double patenting over its earlier U.S. Patent No. 4,808,614. (See, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries v. Lilly, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2010-1105).Diagnostics
Korea collaboration is key for cancer research
Pfizer forms research partnership with South Korea’s Samsung to analyze, treat liver cancer tumorsCancer double-team
Novartis, Pathwork Diagnostics forge collaboration to develop and sell diagnosticsIRIS takes AlliedPath to personalized medicine
Company closes on acquisition, gains laboratory offering MDx servicesPenning a pair of diagnostic deals
Eurogentec enters into two agreements with BD Diagnostics regarding molecular diagnostics: one in technology transfer and the other in supplGovernment Watch
The big decision on Bilski
Supreme Court patent ruling on Bilski means much for diagnostics, less for pharmaDTC genetic testing faces federal fire
GAO investigators say DNA tests give bogus results, mislead consumers; FDA launches probe of several companiesIs close enough good enough for medicine?
Proposal to allow biosimilars takes heat at Congressional caucus hearing2010 U.S. healthcare bill: Good, bad or double-edged sword?
Report examines reform’s impact on pharmaOmics & Systems Biology
Partnership is primed and ready
FivePrime Therapeutics partners with GSK on skeletal muscle disordersAB SCIEX and ETH Zurich Institute join forces to advance systems biology
Collaboration to create new methods on AB SCIEX QTRAP 5500 System for faster and broader quantitative analysis in support of metabolomics studiesA new avenue for Alzheimer’s
MIT researchers say SIRT1, a gene implicated in aging, may control production of protein fragments that make up amyloid plaquesNitto Denko and Quark Pharmaceuticals to jointly develop siRNA anti-fibrotic drug
Quark also signs licensing option agreement with Novartis for p53 suppressorSubscribe to our eNewsletters
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