Biotechnology news from around the world.
- Bayer CropScience collaborate on plant expression system
- California discuss GMO pollution bill
- GSK buys Corixa
- GSK and AstraZeneca lead EU drug sector
Bayer CropScience collaborate on plant expression system
May 2 – Large Scale Biology Corporation and Bayer CropScience have entered into a collaborative research and development agreement to investigate the plant-based expression of lysosomal acid lipase (LAL), an LSBC proprietary pharmaceutical product for important Orphan and possibly other diseases. The research and development project will utilise LSBC's patented gene expression and biomanufacturing resources. LSBC currently biomanufactures therapeutic proteins and vaccines, and has a pipeline of products in development aimed at various markets, including cardiovascular, oncology and Orphan diseases.
[Source: Company Announcement]
California discuss GMO pollution bill
May 3 – Agriculture leaders have discussed implementing legislation that would make manufacturers of genetically engineered crops responsible for any contamination caused by their products. Organic grower organisations and anti-biotechnology groups support the Food Integrity and Farmer Protection Act, which would give producers, grain and seed cleaners, handlers and processors the right to sue if they suffer damage from the release, or subsequent contamination by a genetically modified organism. Assembly Bill 984 would also hold biotechnology corporations liable for the unintended contamination of conventional or organic crops by genetically engineered plant materials. Both the California Farm Bureau Association and the Western Plant Health Association, groups that have advocated the benefits of biotechnology for farmers, said they have not taken a position for or against the proposed legislation.
[Source: Capital Press]
GSK buys Corixa
May 9 – GlaxoSmithKline plans to pay US$300 million in cash and assume US$100 million in debt from Corixa, whose stock has dropped since the unsuccessful marketing of its cancer drug, Bexxar. It has been reported that the acquisition of Corixa and its immune-system-boosting MPL compound, already used in several GSK vaccines such as its experimental Cervatrix for treating cervical cancer, could prove an inexpensive option for the company to make its current vaccines more effective.
[Source: BIO SmartBrief]
GSK and AstraZeneca lead EU drug sector
April 29 – GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca have led the recent 1.9 per cent advance in the European drug sector, being its highest level in nearly three years. GSK shares rose more than six per cent following news that two withdrawn drugs should be back on the US market by the middle of 2005. Confidence in GSK has risen following strong quarterly earnings, and sales of asthma drug Advair and diabetes drug Avandia. AstraZeneca was reported as having seen a 34 per cent rise in earnings in recent times.
[Source: Reuters]
