Science and Enterprise

Tag: Europe

  • Danish Pharma Company Restructures, Cuts Workforce

    NeuroSearch, a biopharmaceutical company in Copenhagen, Denmark said today the company would restructure its operations to focus more on developing drugs for the central nervous system. This reorganization of the enterprise, says NeuroSearch, will lead to a 20 percent reduction in its workforce. The goal of the restructuring is to accelerate development of its lead…

  • Consortium to Develop Sanfilippo B Gene Therapy

    Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT), a biopharmaceuticalcompany in the Netherlands, and a group of French research institutes, including the Institut Pasteur in Paris, has formed a consortium to develop a gene therapy to treat Sanfilippo B. AMT will manufacture compounds to be tested in a clinical trial of the therapy. Sanfilippo B is a rare genetic…

  • Spirogen, Genentech Partner on Anti-Cancer Therapies

    Spirogen Ltd. a London, U.K. biotechnology company, announced a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a Roche Group company, to discover and develop antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as potential anti-cancer agents. The collaboration will make use of Spirogen’s pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) drugs,  a group of natural antibiotics, and associated linking technology. Under the agreement,…

  • Univ. Developing Plastic That Tells When Food Goes Bad

    Chemists at University of Strathclyde in the U.K. are developing a new form of food packaging that tells consumers when the contents have started to spoil. The university received a £325,000 ($502,500) grant from the Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept Programme to support the project. The problem of food spoilage is important to both consumers…

  • Academic-Business Partnership Developing IVF Technology

    A reproductive biologist at University of Adelaide in Australia has discovered molecules in a mother’s tissue that can help women who have suffered previous miscarriages after in-vitro fertilization (IVF) improve their rates of subsequent IVF success. Professor Sarah Robertson (pictured right), who made the discovery, is partnering with a Danish company to develop a product…

  • Researchers to Study Hip Replacement, Jobs, Retirement

    Researchers in Italy, the U.K., and the U.S. will study the impact of hip replacement therapy on the employment and retirement decisions of older adults. The project with participants from Università Bocconi in Milan, University of York in the U.K., and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland is funded by a…

  • Study: Pill Splitting Inaccurate, Potentially Dangerous

    A study in the January 2011 issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing (paid subscription required) suggests that the practice of cutting prescription tablets in half results in wide dosage variations, which can be dangerous for patients needing accurate doses of their medicines. The research was done by the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ghent…

  • Pharma, Biotech Ink Deal on Anti-Inflammatory Candidate

    XOMA Ltd., a biotechnology company in Berkeley, California, and Les Laboratoires Servier a French pharmaceutical company, announced an agreement to develop and commercialize XOMA 052, XOMA’s anti-inflammatory drug candidate. XOMA 052 is designed to inhibit the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta believed to be a primary trigger of pathologic inflammation in multiple diseases. Under the agreement,…

  • Math Model Developed for Non-Economic Power Costs

    A doctoral student in Spain developed a mathematical model for calculating electrical power generation costs, including environmental and societal variables usually difficult to measure. Macarena Larrea at the University of the Basque Country in Usurbil, Spain devised the Electra II mathematical model, as she calls it, in her dissertation for a doctoral degree in engineering.…

  • Space Company Launches European Comm. Satellite

    International Launch Services (ILS), a commercial space services company, launched the Ka-Sat satellite (pictured left) to orbit for Eutelsat Communications of France on an ILS Proton rocket from its facility at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan. After a nine-hour mission, the KA-SAT was released into a geostationary transfer orbit. The Proton Breeze M vehicle used in…