Science and Enterprise

Month: November 2010

  • Life Science Firms: FDA Improving but Still Not There

    A survey of 50 life science companies conducted by the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers says the companies feel they have better working relationships with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but they say the agency still does not have adequate resources or is up to speed on advancing technology. The survey was sent electronically to…

  • Clinical Data Reported on Parkinson’s Biomarker Candidates

    KineMed Inc., a drug discovery company in Emeryville, California says it recently presented data on a new use of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for the monitoring of disease progression and therapeutic interventions in Parkinson’s disease. The company reported the findings at a grant review meeting of the Michael J. Fox Foundation on 1 November 2010 in…

  • GSK, Nottinghan Univ. to Collaborate on Green Chemistry

    The BBC is reporting that the global drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will build a new lab at the University of Nottingham in the U.K. for research and education in cleaner and safer chemistry processes. The proposal is expected to be presented first as a proof-of-concept in 2011, for construction at the University’s Jubilee Campus, one…

  • Trial Shows Drug Effect on ALS Blood Biomarker

    Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals in Palo Alto, California said today an early stage clinical trial of its drug NP001 for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) showed improvement in a blood biomarker associated with the disease with patients taking the drug. ALS is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain…

  • Aileron Adds Scripps Chemistry Process for Drug Discovery

    The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California and Aileron Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts said today (30 November) they agreed to add Scripps Research’s molecular chemistry technology known as “click chemistry” to Aileron’s peptide and protein platforms. The agreement provides Aileron exclusive rights to use click chemistry for therapeutics and non-exclusive rights for diagnostics. Click…

  • New Process Replaces Toxic Substances to Make Nanomaterials

    A study by a University of Missouri research team in Columbia has found a method that could replace nearly all of the toxic chemicals required to make gold nanoparticles. The ingredient to replace these toxic substances can be found in nearly every kitchen’s spice cabinet: cinnamon. And the researchers found their discovery could help in…

  • Nanomaterial Developed to Detect Excessive Blast Exposure

    Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in Philadelphia have developed a color-changing patch that could be worn by military service members to indicate the strength of exposure to blasts from explosives in the field. The findings are described in the online edition of the journal…

  • Study: Youth Prescriptions Nearly Double Since 1994

    Adolescents and young adults are most likely to abuse prescription medications, which after marijuana is their illicit drug of choice. Yet prescription rates for controlled medications have nearly doubled for those age groups in the past 14 years, according to a study published online in the journal Pediatrics. Overall, a controlled medication was prescribed for…

  • Laser Measurement Device Deployed for Europe Wind R&D

    Denmark’s National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, known as Risø DTU, has developed a laser-based instrument package to measure conditions at wind power farms, and that device will now be used across Europe at European Energy Research Alliance research stations and commercial installations. Just one of the devices, called a WindScanner (pictured right) , can produce…

  • Texas Health Center Studying Newborns Strep Test

    The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is studying a faster lab test for Group B Strep (GBS), a common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns. The lab test is made by NanoLogix Inc., a biotech company in Hubbard, Ohio. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), GBS is…