BASEL, Switzerland - The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) has recently awarded a 2 Million CHF research grant to a team of scientists from the Biozentrum and the Department of Biomedicine in Basel. Their new project focuses on T lymphocytes and their role in autoimmune diseases such as Diabetes, Multiple Scleros...

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Genentech, Inc. announced today that the Phase III study BRAVO showed Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) improved vision, as measured by the primary endpoint of mean change from baseline in best-corrected visual acuity at six months, in patients with m...

The first doses of an H1N1 swine flu vaccine have been produced in Europe - but it will be around two months before any is distributed. The doses were produced by Novartis at a plant in Marburg, Germany.

MADISON, WI, USA - Roche NimbleGen has entered into a partnership with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and Macrogen, Inc. to conduct an 8-month intensive Copy Number Variation (CNV) study of Korean individuals. This two-phase study will include large-scale characterization of CNVs in Korean...

MUTTENZ, Switzerland - Clariant is pleased to announce the successful placement of a CHF 300 million senior unsecured Convertible Bond offering due 2014 (the Convertible Bonds). The final terms have now been determined:

Fukuda Denshi Co., Ltd. announced that a loss on valuation of investment securities was recorded in its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year ended March 2010 as follows.

BASEL, Switzerland - Roche Pharma Switzerland tonight receives the sixth Walter Siegenthaler MMV Award in Davos. The Award is being given for Avastin, a monoclonal antibody that inhibits angiogenesis, i.e. the growth of blood vessels that supply tumour tissue with nutrients and o...

BILLERICA, MA - BD Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), announced today the launch of its new line of BD PureCoat cell culture surfaces designed to help life science researchers in the pharmaceutical and biotechnolo...

TOKYO - Japan has confirmed its first case of a genetic mutation of the new H1N1 flu virus that shows resistance to Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug, a health ministry official said on Thursday.

EAST HILLS, N.Y. - Pall Life Sciences, a global leader in filtration, separation and purification, received the 2008 Supplier of the Year Award from the European segment of VWR for its commitment to helping VWR provide quality products and services to Europes research laboratories.

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON - The Healthcare & Science business of Thomson Reuters today announced the availability of three Pharma Matters reports covering the time period January - March 2009. The quarterly Pharma Matters series covers all aspects of the pharmaceutical pipeline, leveraging strategic intelligence and comp...

CARLSBAD, Calif. - Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) announced today it will report its second quarter 2009 financial results on Tuesday, July 28, 2009, after market close. The company will also hold a conference call on the same day at 4:30 p.m. EDT to discuss operating results.

The debate over whether or not lower cost, "generic" versions of biologics and biotechnology drugs ought to be brought to market has been a very long and contentious one. However, rising healthcare costs and demands for greater access to biotechnology drugs have finally induced Congress to consider legislation to guide approval of these products.

LONDON - U.K. shareholders have been incensed by big pay packages for executives during the current recession, decrying them as rewards for failure as company earnings nose-dive. The latest sector to attract their ire is the beleaguered biotechnology industry.

MADISON, Wis. - Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) and Roche announced today a significant expansion of their existing agreement to test drug development candidates for their potential to cause cardiotoxicity, or damage to heart tissue. The two-year collaboration aims to enhan...

Rarely do I even acknowledge biotech equities due to the inherent risk and uncertainty in the industry. But as of late, one biotech firm has garnered my attention, due to extremely high margin of safety at their current market value. I have also watched this company grow over the last 4 years, and their successful execution of what has been an increasingly ...

CEO Dan Vasella's growth mantra for Novartis is follow the science, not the financials

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced it has jointly developed a method to detect and identify perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in water and soil using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (HPLC/MS) with the China National Environmental Monitoring Center (CNEMC).

LONDON - Solvay SA (SOLB.BR), the Belgian chemicals, plastics and drugs company, is set to receive a range of proposals for its pharmaceutical unit by Friday's deadline for indicative bids, people familiar with the matter said.

Indian drugmaker Dr Reddy's has entered into a licensing agreement for over 100 of its branded pharmaceutical products to be sold by multinational firm GlaxoSmithKline in emerging markets across the world, excluding India.

INDIANAPOLIS - Roche announced today the launch of its new eVoucherRx(TM) pilot program in Florida, designed to make it easier for patients with diabetes to receive their co-pay savings on ACCU-CHEK test strips. The program, active now at participating pharmacies, ensures patients with diabetes that their co-pay for ACCU-CHEK(R) test strips will not exceed $...

LEVERKUSEN, Germany Dr. Andreas Resch, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bayer Business Services GmbH (BBS), will end his employment with Bayer effective December 31, 2008 to join the management board of a Berlin-based consulting company. His successor as head of BBS will be announced at a later date.

INDIANAPOLIS - Roche, the maker of ACCU-CHEK(R) blood glucose monitoring systems and insulin pumps, announced today the availability of two new tools that can help patients pinpoint food and lifestyle choices that have the biggest impact on their blood glucose levels, giving them greater control in their everyday battles against diabetes.

Local doctors are enthusiastic about having another weapon in the arsenal for fighting a disease that kills many of its victims within a year of diagnosis. The Food and Drug Administration last week approved Afinitor for the treatment of advanced renal cell cancer, the most common type of kidney cancer. Afinitor, which is manufactured by Switzerland-based N...

BASEL, Switzerland - In collaboration with the MCSG structure genomics center in Argonne, USA, researchers at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, have revealed the structure and mechanism of one of the key enzymes determining the level of the second messenger c-di-GMP in bacterial cells. This sets the basis for the rational design of novel antibiotics. The ...

ZURICH - Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) said late stage data showed its Sandostatin LAR drug helped fight tumuors of the mid-gut, while other drugs showed benefits for treating advanced melanoma.

Hoffman La Roche is severing its ties to Big Pharma.

LONDON - The world's six biggest-selling drugs in 2014 will all be biotech products, underlining the importance of the sector for the global pharmaceuticals industry, according to an analysis published on Wednesday.

ZURICH - Novartis AG's pending acquisition of eye-care company Alcon Inc. is looking increasingly costly, cramping Novartis's ability to make acquisitions amid an acquisition spree in the pharmaceutical sector.

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. - Boehringer Ingelheim today announced that it plans to launch REAL-AF (Registry to Evaluate AnticoaguLation in Atrial Fibrillation), a U.S. based registry to evaluate patterns in the present practice of anticoagulation in 2,500 patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF).(1) The registry, which will be led by an outside committee o...

BASEL, Switzerland - Today, the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics announced the winners of the SIB Young Bioinformatician Award and the 2009 SIB Best Graduate Paper Award at the 7th annual [BC]2 Basel Computational Biology Conference. The SIB Bioinformatician award went to Lukas Burger from the Biozentrum for his protein interaction prediction software.

At the University of Basel a large number of researchers in many different institutes and clinics work on the development of novel therapeutics or on the improved use of existing ones. To foster communication and collaboration across the borders of these institutions a new center for excellence in pharma sciences has been created the PharmaCenter.