Industry News
LCT diabetes technology makes debut in Italian trial
Italian researchers have transplanted insulin-secreting pancreatic islet cells into a 37-year old man with type 1 diabetes, in the first of a 10-patient pilot trial of a potentially revolutionary treatment for diabetes developed by Australian biomedical company Living Cell Technologies (NSX:LCT). [ + ]
Chemeq raises $10m
Perth pharmaceutical company Chemeq (ASX:CMQ) has raised AUD$10 million from a share placement to institutional and private clients with Bell Potter Securities. [ + ]
ASCO: Celgene says blood cancer patients respond to Thalidomide
Thalidomide, a cause of severe birth defects in children in the 1950's, and currently approved for the treatment of leprosy, was found to be effective in a clinical trial for treating patients with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. [ + ]
Sirtex to manufacture isotopes in US
Sydney biomedical company Sirtex Medical Ltd (ASX:SRX) has announced it has purchased a US manufacturing site in Wilmington, Massachusetts, at a cost of US$990,000, funded though a mortgage over the property. [ + ]
Panbio nets grant, moves most manufacturing to Brisbane
Medical diagnostics company Panbio (ASX:PBO) has been awarded a Queensland government grant towards the cost of developing its new R&D and manufacturing facility in Brisbane. [ + ]
Proteome Systems develops EPO test for drug cheat athletes
Sydney company Proteome Systems has developed a new test to unmask endurance athletes who try to gain an illegal aerobic edge with the red blood-cell booster erythropoietin (EPO). [ + ]
NSCC, Stem Cell Sciences to team up on ES cell lines
Stem Cell Sciences (SCS), the former Melbourne company now based in the UK, is to collaborate with Australia's National Stem Cell Centre on new human embryonic stem cell lines to be derived by SCS and Melbourne IVF. [ + ]
Ambri system makes clinical debut
The first diagnostic system to use an ion-channel switch, able to sense tiny concentrations of a specific molecule, has been installed in the pathology laboratory at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital. [ + ]
BIO 2004: Vics restate biotech dominance aim
Victorian premier Steve Bracks has used the BIO 2004 conference, which kicked off in San Francisco on Sunday, as a platform to reiterate the state's ambitious plan to become one of the top five biotechnology locations globally by 2010. [ + ]
Austin, Ludwig to run PII melanoma vaccine trial
The Austin Health/Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research (LICR) joint oncology unit has received a grant of US$600,000 from US-based cancer charity, the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), to conduct an international Phase II clinical trial that will test the effectiveness of a therapeutic vaccine for melanoma. [ + ]
International effort assists dairy research
A plant toxins expert from Iran is assisting CSIRO Livestock Industries' scientists in their search for the cause of a liver disease afflicting dairy cattle in southern Australia.
[ + ]EQiTX pain-soothing molecules show promise
Research by a University of Queensland research team suggests Melbourne-based biotech ZingoTX may have a lead compound for neuropathic pain in its synthetic derivatives of the mouth-burning molecules found in ginger and chillies. [ + ]
Bayer pulls plug on GM canola trial in NSW
At the last minute, Agbiotech giant Bayer CropScience has pulled the plug on its plan to conduct a 40-hectare demonstration trial of its genetically modified hybrid canolas in NSW. [ + ]
GTG to DNA-test 20,000 NZ sheep
Melbourne biotech Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) has signed its first contract with New Zealand agbiotech company Ovita in Dunedin for a pilot program to DNA-test up to 20,000 sheep. [ + ]
Amrad stunned as Serono drops emfilermin trial
Amrad (ASX:AML) has been dealt a blow with the news that Serono is abandoning further development of emfilermin following Phase II clinical trial results that showed the molecule was no more efficacious than the placebo. [ + ]
