News for September 2011

News Archive

Jean-Pierre Garnier elected as Chairman of Actelion's Board of Directors Jean-Pierre Garnier elected as Chairman of Actelion's Board of Directors

Actelion Ltd announced that Jean-Pierre Garnier has become Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss biopharmaceutical company. The Board of Directors elected him at their meeting today, 27 September 2011. To ensure a smooth transition, Robert Cawthorn, who has been Chairman since the inception of the company, will stay on the Board as planned until the 2012 Annual General Meeting.

Silence Therapeutics signs siRNA delivery collaboration with top 10 pharma company Silence Therapeutics signs siRNA delivery collaboration with top 10 pharma company

Silence Therapeutics, a leading RNA interference therapeutics company, announces that it has entered into an agreement with one of the world's leading global pharmaceutical companies to investigate the application of Silence's proprietary DACC delivery technology for intravenous delivery of short interfering RNA sequences to the pulmonary vascular endothelium.

The path towards personalised medicine The path towards personalised medicine

Pharmacogenetics is the theme of this month’s edition of Drug Discovery Today Editor’s Choice. This coincides with the Drug Discovery Today special issue, ‘Pharmacogenetics and Stratified Medicine’.

Catching up on Circulating Tumor Cell Technology Catching up on Circulating Tumor Cell Technology

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells that ‘escape’ from primary tumor cells and migrate into the bloodstream, where they circulate through the body. CTCs were first identified in the 1980s as cells that had the morphology of tumor cells but were found in the blood. Over the past two decades technological innovations have eased the detection and analysis of CTCs. The resulting investigations of CTCs are an important area of clinical research because they are demonstrating that CTCs have potential clinical value as warning signals of cancer progression.

Global pharmaceutical industry contributes action plan and research to fighting non-communicable diseases in the developing world Global pharmaceutical industry contributes action plan and research to fighting non-communicable diseases in the developing world

To coincide with the United Nations High-Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the research-based pharmaceutical industry has outlined the steps it is taking to address the rise of NCDs in the developing world.

Prosensa advances three exon skipping candidates for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy into the next development stage Prosensa advances three exon skipping candidates for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy into the next development stage

Prosensa, the Dutch biopharmaceutical company focusing on rare diseases with an unmet medical need, announced today that they have agreed with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to advance three further exon skipping compounds (PRO044, PRO045 and PRO053) into the next development stage under their ongoing collaboration relationship in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

Oxford scanner reveals secrets of documents, ancient and modern Oxford scanner reveals secrets of documents, ancient and modern

A scanner which combines the convenience of a desktop scanner with the functionality of a powerful laboratory imaging device has been developed at the University of Oxford’s Classics Department, and is now being commercialised by a new company Oxford Multi Spectral Limited which was today spun out by the University’s technology transfer company Isis Innovation.