Healthcare industry

Article - 16/04/2012

Pharma 2.0: towards paperless production

Before electronic solutions existed lorries were needed to ship new drug applications which often comprised 500000 or so pages. Thanks to IT this is no longer necessary. IT-based procedures and solutions are playing an increasing role in all areas of the pharmaceutical industry. Markus Roemer CEO of Ravensburg-based comes compliance services supports companies in implementing legal guidelines in this area. In the following interview Roemer talks…

Article - 20/02/2012

Vektor-Pharma: a start-up that merges pharmacy and mechanical engineering

The company Vektor-Pharma plans to develop and manufacture medicated adhesive patches and therapeutic films. Pharmacists and mechanical engineers have entered into a kind of symbiotic relationship and are currently working on the establishment of a successful business. Interdisciplinary synergy is key to developing such transdermal therapeutic systems TTS more quickly effectively and cheaply than any one discipline would be able to do on its own.…

Article - 20/02/2012

Microporation: an innovative laser replaces jabs

People who are afraid of needles now have something to celebrate: hypodermic needles, which have long been the key instrument for administering drugs used to treat allergies and diseases as well as for vaccinations, now have a serious competitor. The minimally invasive P.L.E.A.S.E. ® platform developed by Pantec Biosolutions AG combines a laser device and stick-on patches to deliver drugs transdermally and painlessly into the bloodstream. The…

Article - 13/02/2012

Emcid Biotech GmbH: mosses as gold mines

Mosses are a great source of molecules that offer protection against microorganisms dehydration and other stress factors but it is a potential that has yet to be fully exploited. Freiburg-based Emcid Biotech GmbH is developing a platform for the identification development and industrial production of natural substances and enzymes of lower plants in particular those of mosses.

Article - 16/01/2012

Alexander Titz: molecular design to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has become an important cause of infection, and is often picked up in hospitals, especially by patients with weakened immune systems. It can cause respiratory and urinary tract infections, as well as lead to infections on implants and wounds. P. aeruginosa lives in a gel-like matrix, a so-called biofilm that is highly resistant to antibiotics, making it very difficult to eradicate. Dr. Alexander Titz and his team at the…

Article - 12/12/2011

Comprehensive Biomarker Center GmbH – next-generation biomarkers

Biomarker research has moved on from proteins to nucleic acids where one of the main priorities is the use of microRNA expression profiles. The Heidelberg-based biotech company Comprehensive Biomarker Center GmbH (CBC, formerly febit) has state-of-the-art technologies and the skills and knowledge to advance the development of new nucleic acid biomarkers for complex diseases in cooperation with partners from research and industry.

Press release - 05/12/2011

Flexible Rack Systems Sort Molecules

Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have developed a flexible and efficient new process for the separation of enantiomers. Enantiomer separation is indispensable for the production of many pharmaceuticals. In their process, the scientists use porous molecular frameworks (MOFs) that are assembled in layers on solid substrates using a specifically developed method. The results have now been…

Article - 24/10/2011

Ascendis Pharma: transient drug conjugates

Ascendis Pharma’s proprietary technology platform, TransCon, is a novel prodrug technology for the production of new patentable versions of drugs already on the market, which has been developed for improving the dosage form and effect in patients. A Phase II clinical study of Ascendis Pharma’s most advanced drug candidate, a PEGylated growth hormone that only needs to be administered once-weekly to growth hormone-deficient adults, has recently…

Article - 17/10/2011

Papillomaviruses as cancer-causing agents and how they can be fought off

Studies presented at the recent International Papillomavirus Conference in Berlin demonstrate that vaccination can prevent infection with the types of HPV that cause the majority of cervical cancers. New improved vaccines to prevent HPV infections as well as therapeutic vaccines that are effective in people that are already infected are currently being developed. In addition, research has shown that other cancers can also be caused by infective…

Article - 14/10/2011

Vetter - a world market leader: “We put ourselves in our clients’ shoes"

We talked with Peter Soelkner Managing Director of Vetter Pharma International GmbH. Soelkner has been with Vetter since 2008. Prior to his current position Soelkner was the head of Key Account Management at Vetter before going on to work for Sartorius Stedim Biotech USA. The sales specialist has a chemical engineering degree and an MBA from Columbia University NY.

Press release - 10/10/2011

Vetter’s state-of-the-art Chicago facility is fully operational

Vetter, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization that specializes in aseptic filling, today announced that its first U.S. facility is now fully operational. Located at the Illinois Science + Technology Park in suburban Chicago, the 24,000-square-foot site includes microbiology and chemical analysis labs, material preparation and compounding functions, three cleanrooms for aseptic filling, and visual inspection. The first to…

Dossier - 19/09/2011

Social media are gaining in importance in the life sciences

Social network services are springing up like mushrooms; everybody seems to be talking about ‘Web 2.0’ or ‘Podcast’. The life sciences are also starting to use the new communication media for their purposes. Social network services are online platforms with a representation of each individual user who links up with a number of different social networks composed of other users. Terms like Web 2.0 and Podcast are commonly used and the World Wide…

Press release - 16/09/2011

Cellzome Achieves Clinical Candidate Milestone from Inflammation Alliance with GlaxoSmithKline

Cellzome’s Kinobeads™ platform drives design of selective clinical candidate and lead for additional kinase target. Cellzome announces that it has successfully reached the clinical candidate milestone for a program as well as a lead declaration milestone for a further target (under a separate program) as part of the kinase alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The achievement of these milestones triggers undisclosed payments from GSK.

Article - 01/09/2011

Quality by Design – a paradigm change in bioprocess development

Bioprocess technology has undergone a fundamental change with regard to the criteria used for validating product quality: around ten years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the 1987 process validation guidance and the subsequent establishment of the Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative heralded a paradigm change in bioprocess understanding and control. The FDA’s guidance underwent a paradigm shift from what was…

Press release - 21/07/2011

Phenex wins the former Head of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at Sanofi Aventis as advisor

Phenex Pharmaceuticals AG today announced the engagement of Prof. Dr. Dr. Werner Kramer, the former Head of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases R&D at Sanofi Aventis, as a senior scientific advisor. At the end of last year, Prof. Kramer has left Sanofi Aventis after 25 years of very successful practice in drug discovery and development to devote himself to new scientific challenges. His long- and outstanding expertise in research and development…

Article - 18/07/2011

JRS – creating sustainability with fibres

Fibres can be used to disintegrate tablets, bind together the ingredients in a formulation and coat substrates. The company J. RETTENMAIER & SÖHNE GmbH+Co.KG has been offering plant fibres, pulp and cellulose for a broad range of applications since 1878. The company now also uses the natural fibres for the fabrication of bioplastics in an effort to contribute to sustainability.

Lipid Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, announced today that it has initiated a Phase IIb clinical trial with its lead product LT-02 in patients with ulcerative colitis. Lipid Therapeutics received approval for this multi-center, international trial from the authorities in Germany and Lithuania and is awaiting approval in Romania. Patient enrollment has already started in Germany and Lithuania.

Press release - 22/06/2011

SYGNIS Pharma AG secures further financial resources with shareholder loan

SYGNIS Pharma AG (Frankfurt: LIOK; ISIN DE000A1E9B74; Prime Standard) today executed a subordinated loan agreement for a total amount of EUR 6 million with its main shareholder dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG, Walldorf, Germany (dievini), with an interest-rate at customary market conditions. As a result this loan, which is payable on demand, secures the financing of SYGNIS’ existing operations, according to the present plans, at…

Press release - 17/06/2011

Vetter Invests in Additional Lyophilization Capacity

Vetter, a leading specialist in aseptic filling, has installed three additional state-of-the-art lyophilizers at the company’s Ravensburg Vetter South facility, nearly doubling its number of freeze-dryers. Altogether, the site will be able to produce up to 24 million lyophilized units annually. The new equipment increases the number of lyophilizers across all Vetter facilities by 30 percent.

Article - 14/06/2011

Retinitis pigmentosa: a new form of cell death

What form of cell death do the photoreceptors of people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa undergo and how can their degeneration be prevented or delayed with pharmaceutical substances? Dr. Paquet-Durand from the Institute for Ophthalmic Research in Tübingen is working to resolve these questions.

Press release - 12/06/2011

Interview with Nycomed CEO Hakån Björklund

Nycomed CEO Hakån Björklund talks about the sale of his company to its Japanese competitor Takeda. He believes that the two companies are well-matched in strategic terms. Björklund has been CEO (chief executive officer) of Nycomed since 1999.

Article - 30/05/2011

Technology Licensing Office (TLB): invention and patent management

The Technology Licensing Office TLB works in partnership with science and industry and is continuously coming up with new ways to ensure the economic success of inventions from all the key fields of technology. Dr. Frank Schlotter head of Life Sciences at the Karlsruhe-based TLB provides insights into the work that his office does taking as examples innovations from the fields of regenerative medicine and diagnostics.

Press release - 26/05/2011

High Scientific Level at the Second International Workshop about Drug-Drug Interactions

The organisation team of the Second International DDI drug-drug interactions Workshop has expressed great satisfaction with the course of the scientific meeting. Thus the DDI Workshop at Marbach Castle is on its way to become an established platform for the annual exchange between experts scientists members of the industry and regulatory bodies regarding DDI affairs.

Press release - 04/05/2011

Vetter’s Chicago Facility Now Accepting Projects

Vetter, a leading provider of aseptic prefilled drug-delivery systems, announced that its Chicago facility is accepting client projects. Located at the Illinois Science + Technology Park in Skokie, Illinois, the site supports preclinical through phase II products.

SYGNIS Pharma AG a clinical stage biotech company developing innovative therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases today announced that it has licensed the exclusive rights to a European patent which will significantly expand SYGNIS IP-position with regard to its lead candidate AX200. AX200 which is known as the G-CSF protein is currently in a clinical phase II efficacy trial for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.