Bio Screening Industry News

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, July 28 /PRNewswire/ — Nuevolution today announced the execution of a worldwide technology cross-licensing agreement with GlaxoSmithKline.

The agreement relates to a number of patented technologies for rapid synthesis and DNA-tagging of hundreds of millions of chemically diverse drug-like small molecule compounds and the efficient screening of these, facilitating the identification of potent drug leads. These technologies were developed by Nuevolution and Praecis Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline.

Under the terms of the cross-licensing agreement, GlaxoSmithKline will obtain a non-exclusive license under technology patents of Nuevolution, and Nuevolution will obtain a one time license fee and a non-exclusive license under technology patents of GlaxoSmithKline.

Further details of the agreement are not disclosed.

“By entering into this agreement, both companies are offered an optimal basis for continued development and application of the technologies” said Allen Oliff, SVP Molecular Discovery Research of GSK and Alex Gouliaev, CEO of Nuevolution A/S continued “our innovative technologies allow small molecule hit and lead discovery at an unprecedented scale. This agreement secures both companies the rights to operate these powerful technologies to their fullest extent”.

About Nuevolution

Nuevolution is a leading lead discovery company founded in 2001 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company has developed Chemetics(R), a unique, patent protected hybrid of proven wet chemistry and molecular biology which represents the ultimate fragment based lead discovery technology. Chemetics(R) enables rapid synthesis and DNA-tagging of hundreds of millions of chemically diverse drug-like small molecule compounds and the efficient screening of these, facilitating the identification of potent drug leads at unprecedented quantity, quality and speed compared to existing lead discovery technologies.

Nuevolution partners its technology with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and is also developing an internal pipeline by applying Chemetics(R) to validated cancer and cardiovascular targets. Nuevolution has demonstrated the power of Chemetics(R) by identifying highly potent and drug like novel ligands with the potential to address major unmet medical needs across a range of therapeutic areas and target classes.

Nuevolution is a privately owned company and has raised EUR 37 million in financing from key Scandinavian investors, including SEB Venture, Sunstone Capital, SLS Invest and Novo A/S. For more information about Nuevolution A/S, please visit the company’s website http://www.nuevolution.com

Horizon’s X-MAN (Mutant And Normal) cell-line technology provides the first genetically-defined and patient-relevant in vitro models of human cancer. These models are being used by a growing number of Pharma and Biotech companies to rationalize key steps of the ‘targeted’ drug development process, and thus accelerate and economize the burgeoning field of ‘personalised’ medicine.

Horizon Discovery is a translational genomics company founded in June 2007 and is headquartered at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK and with additional research laboratories in Torino, Italy. Horizon’s goal is to convert new information on the genetic causes of cancer into laboratory models that will facilitate the discovery of drugs that target these defects. Central to this aim is Horizon Discovery’s offering of X-MAN cell-lines, which represent accurate models of defined cancer patient populations and their matched normal genetic backgrounds – a missing link in the rational and efficient development of novel targeted anti-cancer agents.

Source: Cambridge Network

With increasing applications in research to provide sensitive quantitative measurements of gene expression, including SNP genotyping, mutation detection and quantification, and gene dosage studies, quantitative polymerase chain reaction technology (qPCR) could soon be the standard for determining the genetic changes in response to a pharmacological agent.

Topic Overview

* Biomarkers clinic
* Increasing through-put
* Solid Phase Gene Expression
* Data Management
* Whole Genome Expression Profiling

Why should you attend this event?

With equipment improving all the time to offer high assay throughput and shorter assay times there has never been a better time to review existing technology, and how it can be applied to research & development in your organisation.

Unique in the market place, the inaugural SMi Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) & Transcriptional Profiling conference brings together industry leaders to discuss opportunities, advances in technology and time saving strategies.  The agenda is case study led, allowing delegates to benchmark their own research against that of their peers.

The qPCR and Transcriptional Profiling event is exclusively designed for the senior level practitioners from the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

This exclusive event consists of world-class keynote addresses, panel discussions and case-study sessions on all aspects of qPCR and Transcriptional Profiling, Biostatistics, increasing through-put, microarrays, microRNA expression and an exclusive Biomarkers Clinic!

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to increase your throughput, decrease costs and time and make your qPCR really work for you.  Can your company afford not to attend?

qPCR - Quantitive Polymerase Chain Reaction & Transcriptional Profiling

How successful are you in patient recruitment and retention? When & how to partner with CROs to achieve greater efficiency in clinical trials?

Now it’s time to focus on strategies and innovations for improving patient recruitment and retention. It is the largest cause of study delays. Join us & understand, when to start when optimizing patient recruitment strategies.

Facing a difficult global operating environment, Pharma companies are looking to consistently increase the CRO efficiency and performance. Learn from first hand experience, how to build and benefit from long-term strategic partnerships with CROs. Reveal the new approaches to CRO selection and relationship management. Benchmark how far & how effective are leading Pharma companies in clinical outsourcing.
This Clinical Trials Forum brings you 20 industry experts from leading Pharma & Biotech companies delivering case studies in 2 streams on the best practices & the latest trends in patient recruitment and clinical partnerships.

Clinical Trials Forum

The European region is composed of a diverse range of markets, all at different stages of development. Many of these markets exhibit fast growth rates, and the region as a whole is expected to grow. The inclusion of new member states into the European Union is opening up markets for medical devices. The member countries adhere to the regulations and rules, increase in standardization and conformity, and funding from the EU resulting in greater capital investments.

Medical devices have become an increasingly important health care area in relation to their impact on health and health care expenditure.

Speakers from leading medical device companies will share their knowledge and experience. Join them in Vienna! You will meet experienced professionals and discuss views on latest challenges and trends for medical devices in Europe.

Medical Devices in Europe, 17th & 18th

What is a balanced portfolio today? How do we ensure, that it’s going to be a balanced one tomorrow?

In current highly regulated and limited resources environment, it is crucial to understand, how to build an optimal mix of innovative projects within a portfolio, bring them forward quickly and manage them effectively.

Reveal new approaches and tools for portfolio prioritization and project selection. Learn from first hand experience, how to select the best portfolio, measure and improve project & portfolio performance.
This event will bring together the experts from the pharmaceutical industry to benchmark their best practices in executing effective project & portfolio management.

5th Annual Project & Portfolio Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Kiev, Ukraine, August 23 - 27, 2009

ASMC09 in Kiev is being prepared by EFMC (European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry) and ChemBridge Corporation, in the series of events which started with ASCMC04 Moscow followed by ASMC07 St. Petersburg.

Prof. Erick Carreira, ETH Zurich, Switzerland and Dr Scott Biller, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, USA, have kindly accepted to be the Chairmen of the Symposium.

The scientific program of the International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry will include:

* 28 invited plenary lectures, presented by highly recognized scientists from academia and the pharmaceutical and biotech industry from Europe, USA and former USSR countries.
* 10 short oral communications which will be selected from submitted abstracts
* poster sessions

The scientific program will be complemented by an attractive cultural program in Kiev.

The topics to be covered during this symposium include:

* New Synthetic Methodologies, Total Synthesis of Natural Products and Heterocyclic Chemistry
* Diversity- and Target-Oriented Synthesis and Chemical Biology
* Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery & Development

The program will also include a commercial exhibition and a half-day Business Mini-Symposium “Small Molecule Screening Libraries in Drug Discovery: Experience and Trends”.

The official language of the symposium is English.

http://www.ldorganisation.com

The upcoming edition of the RICT, the annual symposium of the Société de Chimie Thérapeutique (SCT), will be held in Orléans (France). This prestigious International Conference on Medicinal Chemistry will be organized by the University of Orléans and the Institute of Organic and Analytical Chemistry (ICOA).

Aim of the Symposium
The major change which has occurred in drug discovery during the two last decades has clearly been the tremendous increase in data availability. Years ago, the medicinal chemist relied on very limited information on his compounds provided mainly by pharmacologists. Today, he is in danger of being overwhelmed by the flood of data generated by High Throughput technologies of all kinds, structural and physico-chemical, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology or pharmacokinetics. Even if computer-aided data management is of great assistance during the multiparameter optimization process that will allow going from a hit to a drug candidate, drug design remains an art. More than ever, the training of a medicinal chemist is based on experience and requires multiple confrontations with trial and error. In this regard, while SAR “structure-activity relations” remain specific for a pharmacological target (or family of targets), SPR “structure-properties relations”, such as solubility, permeability, plasma protein binding, metabolism, toxicophores… are generic and can be extrapolated from one series to another. Thus, sharing experiences on SAR and SPR at a precompetitive stage should eventually decrease attrition rates at both clinical and preclinical levels. It is the goal of these 45th RICT in Orleans which, like the 43rd RICT in Lille in 2007, will have as theme “Drug Discovery and Selection”, with a particular spotlight on imaging, to provide a stimulating forum for these exchanges.

More information
To find out more about the topics of the conference, we kindly invite you to visit the symposium website http://www.LDOrganisation.com

Saffron Walden, UK and Heidelberg, Germany; 24 April 2009 – BioFocus DPI, a leading provider of gene-to-candidate discovery services, and TET Systems Holding, a privately-held, German-based biotech company, announced today that they have entered into an agreement to apply TET System’s inducible gene technology in high-throughput screening campaigns performed for BioFocus DPI customers.

BioFocus DPI will offer TET Technology as part of its drug discovery screening service.  Through this technology, the activity of individual genes can be controlled quantitatively and reversibly in cellular assays.  This approach is particularly powerful in cases where the target is not well tolerated in the cells, since the protein will not be expressed until required for screening.

“The TET Technology allows us to build on the proven compound screening service that we offer clients.  This powerful approach will benefit discovery programs that are hindered by difficult to express targets.  Using this technology, we will be able to perform more efficient, extensive compound screening on these problematic targets,” commented Dr. Kate Hilyard, VP Biological Sciences, BioFocus DPI.

“We are very pleased to sign this agreement with BioFocus DPI, one of the leading drug discovery service providers worldwide.  TET Technology has been used successfully for many years by most of the major pharmaceutical companies.  Through this new partnership with BioFocus DPI, a broader range of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will gain access to TET System’s gene expression technology,” stated Dr. Ernst Boehnlein, CEO of TET Systems Holding and IP Merchandisers.

German researchers have unveiled the first fully automated carbohydrate synthesiser, which they hope will advance development of carbohydrate-based vaccines for the developing world.

The new machine was announced at this week’s meeting of the American Chemical Society in Salt lake City, Utah, and could significantly reduce the amount of time it takes for researchers to build complex carbohydrates for vaccine research. Currently, synthesis of multiple carbohydrates for screening causes a bottle neck in efforts to discover new carbohydrate-based vaccines.

‘A chemical synthesis of a single carbohydrate typically takes months to years,’ explains Peter Seeberger from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam. His team has now revealed a next generation synthesiser, building on an earlier partially automated model announced in 2001, that Seeberger says is ‘entirely reliable, very fast and can be operated by somebody with no experience of chemistry at all’. And when he says fast, he means fast: ‘we have repeated a synthesis of a carbohydrate that initially took two years in the lab in less than 20 hours.’ He also claims to have fixed protection and deprotection issues, major hurdles in carbohydrate synthesis, that plagued the earlier version of the synthesiser.

The concept of the machine is very simple, solid phase chemistry. The starting point is a polystyrene bead with a single sugar attached and ‘we add to that one sugar at a time like threading beads on a necklace,’ explains Seeberger. ‘The bead’s only role is to stop the sugar from being dissolved, and using this methodology we can build up chains between six and 15 sugars. The addition of each sugar takes about two hours, meaning that in 1.5 to two days we can make pure, useable quantities of carbohydrates.’ In a single run they can make 25-50mg of carbohydrate. Seeberger also claims that the sugar building blocks can be made easily in 50-100g bulk quantities.

Carbohydrates surround every cell in humans, bacteria and viruses and play a crucial role in the body’s immune response to disease-causing viruses and bacteria. They have been used for medicinal purposes before, including in some blockbuster vaccines used to inoculate small children against bacterial diseases, such as meningitis, explains Seeberger. The current vaccines are based on isolated carbohydrates - meaning drug companies have to grow bacteria, harvest the carbohydrates, isolate mixtures of compounds and put them into a carrier protein - and Seeberger is looking to simplify this process by using carbohydrates that can be chemically synthesised and therefore help drive down the cost of these vaccines.

The 2001 version of his machine was used to develop a carbohydrate-based vaccine for malaria, scheduled to enter clinical trials in 2010. Malaria kills two million children a year in the developing world, explains Seeberger, and ‘we have a cost target of under $1 per child’. Using their technique the team now have ‘approximately 15 carbohydrates that are entering different phases of development for potential clinical purposes such as tuberculosis.’

The price is pretty attractive too - according to Seeberger the machine itself will cost somewhere in the region of $25,000 (£17,000), approximately one quarter the price of the analogous peptide synthesiser owned by most labs.

Geert Jan Boons, University of Georgia, Athens, US, an expert in carbohydrate synthesis, says that this technology is ‘very sophisticated and has great potential’. Explaining that there is nothing similar available, he says ‘most complex carbohydrates are made in solution, and any solid phase chemistry that is done uses manual approaches - where you add the reagents one by one yourself.’ Seeberger’s fully automated system handles everything, including cooling and warming of each step as required, he adds. Boons does however say that he is not entirely convinced that the chemistry is yet robust enough to make every type of carbohydrate, but adds that Seeberger does claim to have fixed these issues in research he is yet to publish. ‘I think the biggest hurdle will be when he tries to make a bigger molecule,’ he explains, adding that the separation of the desired product from its isomeric compounds is another hurdle that needs to be overcome.