RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) – Sangamo Biosciences Inc. said that early data from a clinical trial shows its Lou Gehrig’s disease drug candidate improved patients’ muscle function. Patients who were injected with the drug SB-509 were about twice as likely to have improved muscular function, Sangamo said. It reported that 32 percent of patients who received…
President Obama Backs Away From Drug Imports
WASHINGTON (AP) – A long-running effort to allow the import of lower-cost prescription drugs faces a new twist – President Barack Obama’s administration is raising safety concerns that could effectively scuttle it, even though Obama backed the plan as a senator. Some import supporters question whether the administration is acting to keep the powerful pharmaceutical…
High-Volume Autosampler
Dionex Corporation introduces new capabilities for the AS-HV High-Volume Autosampler. New vial racks have been added to increase sample vial capacity (up to 180) to offer greater flexibility and higher throughput. The new vial racks allow the use of a wider range of vial sizes thus reducing labor, eliminating errors and contamination. The ability to…
Automated LCP Crystallization
TTP LabTech is pleased to announce the launch of mosquito LCP. Developed in collaboration with senior researchers from the MRC, UK (Gebhard Schertler and Pat Edwards), this instrument facilitates the automation and increased throughput of lipidic cubic phase (LCP) crystallisation set-ups. This novel automation system enables LCP screening to be performed accurately and with ease.…
EtherNet/IP Controller
DENSO’s new EtherNet/IP option for its RC7 robot controller allows a single cable to connect the robot controller with a programmable logic controller (PLC), which simplifies integration and reduces the cost of robot setup and hardware. The EtherNet/IP cable quickly and easily plugs into a dedicated port on both the robot controller and PLC, eliminating…
IFC Controller
The Fluidigm BioMark IFC Controller MX from Fluidigm Europe is a self-contained system specifically designed to automatically prime and load 48.48 Dynamic Array and Digital Array integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs), one at a time. The MX is a compact, fully integrated system with internal computer, touch screen control, and internal air source capable of setting…
Celgene Buying Gloucester Pharma for $640M
NEW YORK (AP) – Biotechnology company Celgene Corp. said it will buy privately held Gloucester Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $640 million, getting access to key cancer drugs. The deal includes $340 million in cash upfront and $300 million in future regulatory milestone payments. Gloucester, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., develops drugs for blood cancers with limited treatment…
Drugmakers’ Support for Health Overhaul Tested
WASHINGTON (AP) – The pharmaceutical industry may have to cough up more than the $80 billion it agreed to contribute to President Barack Obama’s health overhaul effort, reflecting pressure from Democrats and their supporters for more money to cover older and low-income people. Obama and congressional Democrats want the drug industry to remain a crucial…
Petri Dish Filler
INTEGRA Biosciences has released an updated MEDIAJET automated Petri dish filler. The new MEDIAJET now offers the flexibility for high throughput filling of Petri dishes of various sizes, Petri dishes with two compartments, and test tubes of various diameters and length. An integrated shaker function provides a convenient solution for pour plate applications. The MEDIAJET…
Large Molecules Cross The Transdermal Barrier
click to enlarge The handheld P.L.E.A.S.E. device for microporation of the skin. (Source: Pantec Biosolutions AG) Until recently, transdermal patches were only useful for small molecule therapies because of the inability of larger molecules (such as proteins) to passively cross through the outer skin layers and reach the capillaries in the dermis. To improve the…
Hollow Microstructured Transdermal System Delivers Biopharmaceuticals
click to enlarge Figure 1: Hollow microstructured transdermal system attached to user. (Source: 3M Drug Delivery Systems) In recent years, many therapeutic peptides and proteins have come to market. While they are highly effective, these drugs must often be administered by IV or syringe injection. This complicates the administration process and can potentially affect patient…
2020: A New Drug Delivery Landscape
Pharmaceutical companies are awakening to the fact that being first in market and first in class is no longer enough. While most agree that the blockbuster approach is all but dead, there is considerable debate about its successor. “Big pharma” continues to invest record amounts in drug discovery research, but what can they learn from…
Building ISR Confidence
During drug development programs, bioanalytical assays are validated and used to quantify drugs and their metabolites in samples from a variety of different biological matrices. Incurred sample reanalysis (ISR) has recently become an accepted way to assess the quality of bioanalytical assays and is widely used within the pharmaceutical industry and by contract research organizations…
Reverse Cholesterol Transport Oral Small-Molecule – RVX-208
There is a paradigm shift coming in cardiovascular disease (CVD) research and drug development. Soon atherosclerosis will not just be managed, but can ultimately be eliminated. Biomarkers such as apolipoprotein A-1 (ApoA-1), high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and large HDL particles are key indicators of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). RCT is a biological pathway by…
A Shot in The Wallet
Call 2009 the Year of the Vaccine, or at least the Year of the Vaccine Shortage, as supplies of H1N1 influenza vaccine fail to keep pace with demand from governments around the world. Still, H1N1/swine flu has been good for the handful of biopharmaceutical companies that have garnered billions of dollars in largely unanticipated vaccine…
Alizé Reveals Data on ALL Therapy Asparec
Alizé Pharma, a group of companies developing innovative therapeutics for metabolic diseases and cancer, has developed an improved L-asparaginase product with increased potency, reduced immunogenicity and longer duration of action. The product, Asparec, involves the use of a state-of-the-art PEGylation technology. Key preclinical data supporting the development of this product as second line therapy in…
Genentech Submits Two sBLAs for Avastin
Genentech, Inc., a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group, announced that the company submitted two supplemental Biologics License Applications (sBLAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Avastin (bevacizumab) for the treatment of women who have not received chemotherapy for advanced (metastatic) HER2-negative breast cancer (first-line treatment). One sBLA is based on the…
WHO Approves GSK Vaccine
LONDON (AP) – Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline says one of its swine flu vaccines has been certified by the World Health Organization, making it available for donors to buy for developing countries. GlaxoSmithKline PLC said WHO had approved its Canadian vaccine after examining its quality and safety data. The vaccine contains an adjuvant, a chemical compound…
OTC Form of Heartburn Drug Zegerid Approved
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) – Merck & Co. and Santarus Inc. said the Food and Drug Administration approved Merck’s over-the-counter version of the Santarus prescription heartburn drug Zegerid. San Diego-based Santarus had partnered with Schering-Plough Corp. on the over-the-counter version, and stands to receive a $20 million milestone payment based on the approval. It could…
Ampligen Denied Approval By Regulators
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Hemispherx Biopharma Inc. said the Food and Drug Administration declined approval for the biotechnology company’s experimental intravenous drug Ampligen as a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. The company said the FDA cited two key studies as not proving the drug is effective and recommends an additional study. Also, the FDA noted manufacturing…
FDA Lifts Hold On ALS Treatment
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Shares of biopharmaceutical company CytRx Corp. rose in morning trading after the Food and Drug Administration lifted a nearly two-year suspension on development of arimoclomol as a treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease. The news follows approval of a revised clinical trial design for the drug candidate. Shares climbed 12 cents, or…
Gas Purifier
Gas purification is critical to GC performance and is essential in any application requiring extreme sensitivity. Several types of contaminants are detrimental – notably moisture, hydrocarbons, and oxygen. Contaminant traps and gas purifiers for specific gases dramatically reduce the levels of contaminants, enhance the purity of lower grade helium, and help insure instrument stability, reproducibility,…
Nitrogen Generator
Peak Scientific introduces the ABN2ZA and AB-3G Nitrogen Generators. Both the ABN2ZA and the AB-3G Nitrogen Generators are specifically designed to operate LCMS Instruments manufactured by Applied Biosystems/ MDS Sciex. These new products produce Nitrogen and Dry Air through 3 independent outputs in the required flow rates, purities and pressures to cater for the requirements…
Handheld Pipetting System
INTEGRA is now able to offer a complete range of handheld pipetting systems offering accurate liquid handling from 0.5µl to 100ml. Proven in over one hundred thousand installations worldwide the PIPETBOY pipettor range sets a high benchmark for ease-of-use, reliability, build quality, performance and operational safety. Each PIPETBOY pipettor can be used with plastic or…
Heater/Shaker
Hamilton Robotics introduces the MICROLAB NIMBUS Heater/Shaker Package – an integrated system that incorporates high-speed automated pipetting with orbital plate shaking and heating. This preconfigured, turnkey package provides streamlined functionality for a variety of applications that require heat for solute mixing or shaking such as in colorimetric, fluorescent or luminescent bioassays, cell viability assays and…