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Chemists adopt new approach to optimise enzyme for practical applications

Engineers are unlikely to tinker with the cooling system if they want to increase the size of an engine. Yet chemists at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research have adopted an approach similar to this in their efforts to optimise an enzyme for practical applications. They

16 Feb 2010

Merck announces global sales of $27.4 billion for full-year 2009

Merck & Co., Inc. today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2009 which include the results of legacy Schering-Plough operations from the close of the merger on Nov. 3, 2009 through Dec. 31, 2009.

16 Feb 2010

TB's mechanism to evade body's immune system identified

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have identified a mechanism used by the tuberculosis bacterium to evade the body's immune system and have identified a compound that blocks the bacterium's ability to survive in the host, which could lead to new drugs to treat tuberculosis.

16 Feb 2010

Malaria: Nose of mosquito transplanted

Scientists at Vanderbilt and Yale universities have successfully transplanted most of the "nose" of the mosquito that spreads malaria into frog eggs and fruit flies and are employing these surrogates to combat the spread of the deadly and debilitating disease that afflicts 500 million people.

16 Feb 2010

AstraZeneca, Rigel Pharmaceuticals announce exclusive worldwide license agreement for R788

AstraZeneca and Rigel Pharmaceuticals today announced an exclusive worldwide license agreement for the global development and commercialization of fostamatinib disodium (R788), Rigel's late-stage investigational product for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and additional indications.

16 Feb 2010

Researchers discover chemical compound to combat malaria and bacterial diseases

Researchers report that they have discovered - and now know how to exploit - an unusual chemical reaction mechanism that allows malaria parasites and many disease-causing bacteria to survive. The research team, from the University of Illinois, also has developed the first potent inhibitor of this chemical reaction.

16 Feb 2010

Potential cancer-killing compounds synthesized

Yale University scientists have streamlined the process for synthesizing a family of compounds with the potential to kill cancer and other diseased cells, and have found that they represent a unique category of anti-cancer agents. Their discovery appears in this week's online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

15 Feb 2010

Researchers discover Dab2 protein that switches on EMT process

Reporting in Nature Cell Biology, researchers describe the discovery of a specific protein called disabled-2 (Dab2) that switches on the process that releases cancer cells from the original tumor and allows the cells to spread and develop into new tumors in other parts of the body.

15 Feb 2010

Debiopharm receives AFSSAPS approval of CTA for Debio 0932 inhibitor, triggers milestone payment to Curis

Curis, Inc., announced today that its licensee Debiopharm S.A. has received approval from France's regulatory authority Agence Française de Securité Sanitaire des Produits de Santé (AFSSAPS) of a Clinical Trial Application (CTA) for small molecule heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitor Debio 0932, formerly called CUDC-305. Under the terms of Curis’ and Debiopharm’s August 2009 license agreement, Curis will receive an $8 million milestone payment from Debiopharm for the achievement of this development objective.

12 Feb 2010

EMBL-EBI hosts ChEMBLdb online database

ChEMBLdb, an online database of information on the properties of more than half a million drug and drug-like small molecules and their targets, has been launched.

12 Feb 2010

Viral Genetics: Company update

Our mission is to bring new drug compounds to the marketplace. And we've never been in a stronger position to deliver on that promise. We've built the solid foundation needed to take drug therapies from the laboratory to the marketplace. After years in development, we believe several of our most promising compounds are moving closer to clinical trials.

12 Feb 2010

Chemical compound found in blood shows promise in preventing intractable form of heart failure

A chemical compound found normally in the blood has shown promise in treating and preventing an intractable form of heart failure in a mouse model of the disease, report researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

11 Feb 2010

Neurotoxin study may help find new therapies to block hyperactive ion channels

There are approximately 500 species of cone snails, each producing 50 - 200 different conotoxins. A similar number of peptide toxins are produced by snakes, spiders, sea anemones, scorpions and other venomous animals. The animals use the neurotoxins to paralyze their prey.

11 Feb 2010

4SC AG announces the first treatment in Phase I clinical study of 4SC-205

4SC AG a drug discovery and development company focused on autoimmune and cancer indications, today announced the first treatment in a Phase I study evaluating 4SC-205, an oral Eg5 kinesin spindle protein inhibitor, in patients with solid tumours or malignant lymphomas.

11 Feb 2010

ExonHit Therapeutics S.A. selected to participate in the European IMI consortium

ExonHit Therapeutics S.A. is pleased to announce that it has been chosen to participate in the European Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) consortium focused on identifying biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (PharmaCog).

11 Feb 2010

Drug used to treat parasites in animals may offer new treatment for river blindness, study finds

"Closantel, an older drug used to treat a parasitic liver disease in animals, may prove effective at combating river blindness in humans, a major cause of infection-related blindness, U.S. researchers said on Monday," Reuters reports (Steenhuysen, 2/8).

10 Feb 2010

Medicinal chemistry paper related to the discovery of CUDC-101 published

Curis, Inc., a drug development company seeking to develop next generation targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer treatment, today announced that a medicinal chemistry paper related to the discovery of CUDC-101, Curis’s HDAC, EGFR and Her2 inhibitor, was published online in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and also will be published in an upcoming print version of the journal.

10 Feb 2010

Positive results from Naurex's Phase I clinical trial of GLYX-13 reported

Naurex Inc., a clinical stage company developing innovative treatments for depression and other CNS disorders based on its novel glycine site functional partial agonist (GFPA) NMDA receptor modulators, today reported positive top-line results from its Phase I clinical trial of lead compound GLYX-13.

10 Feb 2010

Kinexus Bioinformatics announces the commercial release of Protein Kinase Microarray

Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation announced the commercial release of its novel Protein Kinase Microarray with 200 recombinant human protein kinases for screening. The microarray has wide utility including applications for drug target counter screening, to identify novel kinase substrates, establish kinase antibody specificities, and for the discovery and testing of protein kinase-protein and protein kinase-compound interactions.

10 Feb 2010

QR Pharma commences clinical trial of Posiphen in early stage AD patients

QR Pharma, Inc. , a developer of novel drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, announced today that it began a clinical trial of its lead compound, Posiphen, in early stage AD patients.

10 Feb 2010