Drug Discovery News and Research

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The drug discovery process begins with recognizing a disease or clinical condition in which there is a lack of adequate medical treatment. Once a potential drug has been identified, pre-clinical research can begin. This process includes several stages; the first of which involves identifying and validating the prospective drug’s target through assay development, high throughput screening, hit identification and finally, lead optimization. Once the pre-clinical process is complete, the newly synthesized drug candidate is selected for future clinical development.

Sigma-Aldrich scientists to leverage proprietary gene editing technology to develop genetically-engineered rodent research models

Sigma-Aldrich(R) (Nasdaq: SIAL) announced today that scientists at its new Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering (SAGE(TM)) Labs in St. Louis will leverage its exclusive CompoZr(TM) Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) gene editing technology (www.compozrzfn.com) to define, develop and offer a new generation of genetically-engineered rodent research models. Such models are commonly used to study disease states in humans and play a key role in the drug discovery process.

24 Aug 2009

Ron Demuth of ChemDiv announces extension of collaboration with Lilly

ChemDiv, Inc. announced the expansion of its drug discovery collaboration with Eli Lilly through 2010. Under the terms of the agreement, the partners will identify and develop leads for an additional therapeutic target using ChemDiv's small molecule resources (the industry's largest commercial collection) and Discovery outSource™ drug discovery and development platforms.

21 Aug 2009

Nutra Pharma launches Cobroxin for chronic pain relief

Nutra Pharma Corp. (OTCBB: NPHC), a biotechnology company that is developing treatments for Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), HIV and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), has announced today that it has launched an over-the-counter (OTC) pain reliever, Cobroxin, for the treatment of Stage 2 (moderate to severe) chronic pain.

21 Aug 2009

Southern Research's Birmingham campus to have a Comprehensive Chemical Biology Center

Southern Research Institute today announced that it has been selected as one of 11 organizations to help establish the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC)--a program meant to coordinate and accelerate the discovery and development of new therapeutic agents to treat cancer patients. Southern Research will establish one of NCI's five Comprehensive Chemical Biology Centers at its Birmingham campus.

21 Aug 2009

New antimalarial drug discovery project funded by European Commission

The European Commission is funding a two year, -500,000 project to co-ordinate European and international research into the development of new drugs to treat malaria.

21 Aug 2009

Shape-changing in proteins opens new avenue for drug discovery

Computational biologists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have shown that proteins have an intrinsic ability to change shape, and this is required for their biological activity. This shape-changing also allows the small molecules that are attracted to a given protein to select the structure that permits the best binding. That premise could help in drug discovery and in designing compounds that will have the most impact on protein function to better treat a host of diseases.

20 Aug 2009

Fluxion Biosciences receives a $1.8 million NIH grant for developing microfluidic platform

Fluxion Biosciences, a leading developer of microfluidic systems for functional cell analysis, today announced that it has received a $1.8 million NIH grant for the development of a high-throughput screening platform for anti-microbial drug discovery.

From Fluxion Biosciences 20 Aug 2009

USPTO grants MultiCell Technologies patent for its Fa2N-4 and Ea1C-35 immortalized human hepatocyte cell lines

MultiCell Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: MCET) announced today it has been granted U.S. patent 7,566,567 by the United States of America Patent and Trademark Office covering its Fa2N-4 and Ea1C-35 immortalized human hepatocyte cell lines.

20 Aug 2009

Vanderbilt enters Chemical Biology Consortium as a Chemical Diversity Center to develop cancer treatment drugs

Vanderbilt University has been selected as one of 10 centers in the nation to participate in the Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC), a major new initiative to facilitate the discovery and development of new agents to treat cancer.

20 Aug 2009

Young innovators Andrea Armani and Ellis Meng to feature in Technology Review magazine's 2009 TR35 list

The University of Southern California today announced that two faculty members from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have been recognized by Technology Review magazine as some of the world's top innovators under the age of 35. Andrea Armani, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and Ellis Meng, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, will both appear on the prestigious 2009 TR35 list.

19 Aug 2009

Xceleron to acquire an Accelerator Mass Spectrometry instrument under agreement with GlaxoSmithKline

XCELERON, a leader in the field of ultra-sensitive bioanalytical studies supporting clinical research, today announced that it has signed a second Master Service Agreement with GlaxoSmithKline. Under the terms of this agreement, Xceleron will provide analytical support to GlaxoSmithKline and its affiliated research organizations. As part of the deal, Xceleron will increase capacity through the acquisition of an Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) instrument.

19 Aug 2009

Algos Therapeutics changes name to Algos Preclinical Services

Following a shift in its business model from developing proprietary pain therapy products to pure contract research, Algos Therapeutics has changed its name to Algos Preclinical Services. The company's new tagline, "Expertise in pain. Legendary service. Definitive results. For better quality of life." reinforces its repositioning as the go-to-CRO (Contract Research Organization) for drug discovery and product development.

19 Aug 2009

Labcyte awarded 2nd Japanese patent for acoustic-based cell sorting system

Labcyte, the company that developed and commercialized the acoustic transfer of liquids today announced that the Japanese patent office has granted patent 4309131 that covers the design of an acoustic-based system that can sort cells based upon acoustic or other properties and then eject them specifically from a mixed population.

18 Aug 2009

4SC starts phase 2 trial in hepatocellular carcinoma with 4SC-201 (resminostat)

4SC AG, the German drug discovery and development company, today announced the dosing of the first patient in its Phase II trial with 4SC-201 (resminostat), a pan-histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, as a new potential treatment option for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most frequent form of liver cancer.

18 Aug 2009

Acacia subsidiary acquires rights to biosensor patent

Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq:ACTG) announced today that its subsidiary, Acacia Patent Acquisition LLC, has acquired rights to a patent for biosensor technology.

13 Aug 2009

Discovery of compounds that selectively kills cancer stem cells

The cancer stem cells that drive tumor growth and resist chemotherapies and radiation treatments that kill other cancer cells aren't invincible after all. Researchers reporting online on August 13th in the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, have discovered the first compound that targets those cancer stem cells directly.

13 Aug 2009

Ranbaxy receives approval to market Sumatriptan Succinate tablets

Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL), announced today that RLL has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Sumatriptan Succinate Tablets, 25 mg (base), and 50 mg (base).

12 Aug 2009

PTC Therapeutics achieves milestone in Schering-Plough hepatitis C collaboration

PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTC) today announced that it has reached a major research milestone in its collaboration with Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) receiving a $2 million payment in connection with the designation of a development candidate for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

11 Aug 2009

Upstream Biosciences actively seeking licensors or acquirers for anti-parasitic drug discovery portfolio and cancer diagnostic platform

Upstream Biosciences Inc. (OTCBB: UPBS) has announced that the company is actively seeking licensors or acquirers for its novel anti-parasitic drug discovery portfolio and cancer diagnostic platform.

11 Aug 2009

New class of molecules capable of blocking formation of tau protein fibrils

A new class of molecules capable of blocking the formation of specific protein clumps that are believed to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease pathology has been discovered by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. By assaying close to 300,000 compounds, they have identified drug-like inhibitors of AD tau protein clumping, as reported in the journal Biochemistry.

11 Aug 2009

Drug Discovery News and Research

Further Reading

Sigma-Aldrich scientists to leverage proprietary gene editing technology to develop genetically-engineered rodent research models

Ron Demuth of ChemDiv announces extension of collaboration with Lilly

Nutra Pharma launches Cobroxin for chronic pain relief

Southern Research's Birmingham campus to have a Comprehensive Chemical Biology Center

New antimalarial drug discovery project funded by European Commission

Shape-changing in proteins opens new avenue for drug discovery

Fluxion Biosciences receives a $1.8 million NIH grant for developing microfluidic platform

USPTO grants MultiCell Technologies patent for its Fa2N-4 and Ea1C-35 immortalized human hepatocyte cell lines

Vanderbilt enters Chemical Biology Consortium as a Chemical Diversity Center to develop cancer treatment drugs

Young innovators Andrea Armani and Ellis Meng to feature in Technology Review magazine's 2009 TR35 list

Xceleron to acquire an Accelerator Mass Spectrometry instrument under agreement with GlaxoSmithKline

Algos Therapeutics changes name to Algos Preclinical Services

Labcyte awarded 2nd Japanese patent for acoustic-based cell sorting system

4SC starts phase 2 trial in hepatocellular carcinoma with 4SC-201 (resminostat)

Acacia subsidiary acquires rights to biosensor patent

Discovery of compounds that selectively kills cancer stem cells

Ranbaxy receives approval to market Sumatriptan Succinate tablets

PTC Therapeutics achieves milestone in Schering-Plough hepatitis C collaboration

Upstream Biosciences actively seeking licensors or acquirers for anti-parasitic drug discovery portfolio and cancer diagnostic platform

New class of molecules capable of blocking formation of tau protein fibrils

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