Biopharmaceutical Companies Risk Delays in Producing Targeted Treatment Solutions
A new survey released by IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Silico Research reveals that if biopharmaceutical - or life-sciences - companies fail to collaborate, they risk costly delays in the production of new medicines, medical devices, diagnostics and support services.
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Heart attacks linked with antiretroviral treatment
New research has helped to explain why patients being treated with antiretroviral drugs for HIV experience a greater incidence of heart attacks. The research was presented by doctors and researchers from the School of Medicine and Medical Sciences at University College Dublin, the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland at the Retroviral Conference in Montreal, Canada, on 11 February.
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Robot Scientist offers more "intelligent" approach to drug discovery
A robot scientist that can make informed guesses about how effective different chemical compounds will be at fighting different diseases could revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry by developing more effective treatments more cheaply and quickly than current methods.
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Gene therapy gives children a normal life
A small group of children that underwent gene therapy for a rare, inherited immune disorder are living normal lives years after the treatment, according to new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The pioneering work was partly supported by the EU-funded CONSERT (Concerted safety and efficiency evaluation of retroviral transgenesis in gene therapy of inherited diseases) and CLINIGENE (European network for the advancement of clinical gene transfer and therapy) projects.
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Study highlights tragedy of avoidable adverse drug reactions
Following the publication of a study into the frequency of Adverse Drug Reactions, First DataBank has spoken out at the tragedy of these avoidable and sometimes fatal errors. The study by PLos One entitled "Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospital In - Patients: A Prospective Analysis of 3695 Patient-Episodes" was covered this week by the BBC and highlighted that "one in seven hospital patients experience adverse drug reactions, half of which are completely avoidable".
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SmartCell to use plant cells as pharmaceutical factories
SmartCell, an EU-funded project, has been awarded EUR 6 million to develop tools to synthesise valuable pharmaceutical products using plant cells. The project is a consortium of 18 partners from the EU, Switzerland and the US. The partners include 14 leading research institutes and universities as well as 2 small- and medium-sized enterprises and 2 major industrial enterprises. The project has a total budget of EUR 8.5 million and is scheduled to run for 4 years.
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New EU-funded research reveals how influenza virus hijacks human cells
EU-funded scientists in France have defined an important drug target in the influenza virus. The study, published in the journal Nature, shows a high-resolution image of a crucial protein that allows the virus to 'hijack' human cells and multiply. The study is part of the FLUPOL (Host-specific variants of the influenza virus replication machinery) project, funded with EUR 1.97 under the Policy support budget line of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).
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