Bionow Newsletter March

Companies

Positive clinical data continues to be generated across product portfolio
Intercytex Group plc announced its results for the year ended 31 December 2007, on 18 March 2008. The company, which is a leading regenerative medicine company developing innovative products to restore skin and hair, details a placing of new shares in May 2007 which raised £12m gross and a comprehensive supply agreement signed with Baxter Healthcare for the use of Tissell® in ICX-POR and ICX-SKN.

Vernacare invests £1.5 million
Medical products manufacturer Vernacare has invested £1.5 million in automating its Bolton-based factory to improve efficiency, boost quality and increase capacity for major export growth. Six new robotic production lines are being installed as part of a wider business improvement drive, which has seen the company increase productivity by 20% in the past 12 months.

Renovo announces Juvista® Phase 2 trial results in scar revision and breast augmentation surgery
Renovo Group plc, the Manchester based biopharmaceutical company developing drugs for the reduction of scarring and acceleration of healing announced two Phase 2 clinical trial results for its lead drug Juvista in scar revision and breast augmentation surgery. Renovo was pleased to announce that the scar revision trial, where Juvista was dosed twice, met its primary endpoint with statistical significance. The breast augmentation trial, where Juvista was dosed once, did not meet its primary endpoint. Based on these results Renovo plans to commence the European Phase 3 programme with a scar revision surgery trial.

Commercial drug discovery service for UK life sciences launched
The University of Manchester Incubator Company has announced that it has helped to launch a new commercial service for biotech and life sciences companies on 1 April. Based in Manchester, Discovery2Medicine offers specialist consultancy and brokerage services across the UK for life sciences companies working on their next pharmaceutical therapeutic breakthrough. Discovery2Medicine aims to become central in new drug development and in particular medicines, comprising both drug discovery and diagnostics.

Gentronix launches new Genotoxic Metabolite Detection Assay
Manchester based Gentronix announced its new GreenScreen HC assay kit with S9 metabolic activation on 10 March. The product was launched at the SOT Annual Meeting & ToxExpo in Seattle 16-20 March. GreenScreen is a human cell-based genotoxicity screening assay used in drug discovery programmes during lead compound optimisation and candidate selection. The utility of GreenScreen HC has now been extended to detect pro-genotoxins as well as all common mechanistic classes of genotoxin including mutagens, clastogens, aneugens, as well as both topoisomerase and polymerase inhibitors.

Verna Holdings Group buyout
Bolton based healthcare business Verna Holdings Group, has had a second management buyout. Verna is a provider of infection control solutions to the hospital and care-home sectors. The buyout will help Verna realise its growth ambitions of expanding into international markets as a global infection control business, while maintaining its market position in the UK.

Eden Biodesign and Stealthyx Therapeutics Ltd sign deal to develop enhanced treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Speke based Eden Biodesign, one of the UK's leading contract bio manufacturers and Stealthyx Therapeutics Ltd, announced on 6 March that they have entered into an agreement to develop and produce Stealthyx's lead therapeutic candidate, that the company is evaluating for treatment of a range of inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis. Prothyx harnesses the properties of a naturally occurring peptide to confer stability and disease targeting biological therapeutics resulting in improved efficacy and lower side effect profile. The project has been funded by the National Biomanufacturing Centre (NBC) Access Fund administered by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

People & Jobs

Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
Dr Sharon O'Kane, co-founder and Research Director of Renovo, one of the LSE's and the region's leading biotechnology companies was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year at the Inaugural NW Women in Business Awards. The event which was prinicpally sponsored by NWDA was held at Haydock Race Course on 27 March. Sharon led an impressive field and was one of the few nominees in the science and technology field.

Events

Using Health Economics to Value Technology
Nowgenare hosting a workshop for participants to learn about the importance of health economics and understand the methods of how to measure the value of health technologies and interventions using health economics and economic evaluation tools. If you are a researcher or business who is developing products for the healthcare market, and wish to attend please email Zoe Talks at zoe.talks@cmmc.nhs.uk or tel 0161 276 5956.

Life Science Businesses Networking Event
Merseyside has a fast growing life science sector and Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF) has supported a number of businesses within the industry, particularly since the launch of its Liverpool Seed Fund. MSIF in association with 2Bio are co-hosting an event which takes place on 17 April from 6pm at the Radission SAS in Liverpool. The speaker for the evening will be Dr Kevin Cox. To confirm your place please email events@msif.co.uk, Please note this event is for business only.

Making the most of your IP - A workshop on Intellectual Property
The SCI Bioactive Sciences Group is hosting a workshop on Intellectual Property on Thursday 24 April in London. It aims to provide an informative and thought-provoking series of presentations to enable delegates to improve their knowledge on the 'nuts and bolts' of capturing intellectual property within their organisation. To register visit www.soci.org 

Strategies for Life Science Cluster Development Conference
The Strategies for Life Science Cluster Development Conference is taking place on 10 & 11 April 2008 in Freiburg, Germany. The conference will feature speakers from life science clusters, regional development agencies, including NWDA's Dr Linda Magee and legal, financial and market research specialists. It will cover a range of topics within the framework of life science cluster development. For further information and to register contact Tom Mulligan at tom@avakado.eu or tel 01403 220755.

Bionow Event system updated
The Bionow website now has a fully integrated events registration page for all our forthcoming events including networking evenings and the Merseyside Biomedical Conference. For further information email bionow@nwda.co.uk or visit www.bionow.co.uk/events to register for access.

Information

Government announces new biomedical research centre for Manchester
Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced on 19 March, the creation of a new Biomedical Research Centre of excellence in Manchester to drive the development, testing and uptake of new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat ill health. The BRC will be run by a partnership led by the Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Manchester. The partnership has the support of Manchester City Council and the Northwest Development Agency, plus leading healthcare businesses including AstraZeneca, Renovo and GlaxoSmithKline, and other partners such as the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility.

SEMTA - Lab & Biomanufacturing Standards
Semta is creating new people standards for science skills. The goal is two suites of standards that describe the key competences (the 20% of skills that companies need for 80% of workplace circumstances) that bioscience companies need for the laboratory and biomanufacturing roles. With guidance from Northwest companies such as AstraZeneca, Eden Biodesign, Avecia and Novartis. Semta has identified their key occupational roles and written 100 draft competency standards for laboratory roles and 60 draft standards for biomanufacturing roles. For details of individual standards, please contact John Ryalls on 01275 462212.

Merseybio welcomes new incubator company
Bradford Pharma, a new research company aiming to exploit existing intellectual property to develop novel pharmaceutically-active compounds and demonstrate their biological activity, has joined the University of Liverpool's Merseybio Business Incubator. The company has secured seed funding for its initial 15-month proof of concept study from Merseyside Special Investment Fund via Liverpool Ventures, and has additionally won a research grant fromNorthwest Development Agency.

Bionow Network Evenings - why are there different arrangements for Manchester & Liverpool events?
We have received a number of enquires asking why the Liverpool event is free to all while attendance at the Manchester evenings requires a modest annual membership fee for all non-core companies (eg professional advisors, consultants and suppliers). This split process relates to the special 'ring fenced' funding we have in Merseyside until the middle of this year. This funding covers the full cost of the events in Liverpool whereas we have to raise the majority of the basic costs for our Manchester network evenings (excluding the venue itself, which is kindly provided free of charge by UMIC Ltd). This is done through the membership fees but we ensure it is FREE for core companies. It is expected that similar arrangements for both events will apply once the Merseyside fund expires and we will advise accordingly. Please note that we now have a new web-based registration system which we hope will streamline the process for all events in the future.

Please also note that we often sponsor other events throughout the year to allow free or reduced attendance and particpation for the northwest biomedical community.

Research

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to lead $30 million research programme into malaria in pregnancy
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has received a $30 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the control and treatment of malaria in pregnancy in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The five year programme will directly benefit the 50 million women who face exposure to malaria whilst pregnant every year. The grant will fund research at Liverpool and at 38 partner institutions in 27 countries around the world. The research consortium is also supported by the European Union, and is seeking additional funding from other donors.

Breakthrough in birth-defect research
Scientists have discovered how to prevent certain craniofacial disorders in what could ultimately lead to at-risk babies being treated in the womb. University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas, have successfully treated mice with Treacher Collins syndrome - a rare genetic disorder characterised by underdeveloped facial bones, absent or deformed ears and occasionally cleft palate. The team had previously found that the condition was caused by a mutation in a single gene called TCOF1.

New risk factors for lung cancer
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have developed a model which can predict the risk of any person developing lung cancer within a five-year period. This is an important development: lung cancer is the cancer with the highest mortality rate worldwide - partly because half of all cases are diagnosed when the disease has reached an advanced stage. It is believed that the Liverpool Lung Project (LLP) risk model could predict two-thirds of lung cancer in the UK by screening only 30 percent of the population.

Datamonitor

Datamonitor is pleased to support the work of Bionow. By reporting on the shape of the Biotech industry, Datamonitor aims to help Northwest firms stay one step ahead in the global marketplace.

Acambis has extended its ChimeriVax-JE vaccine licensing agreement with Sanofi Pasteur to include India and the Indian subcontinent. Acambis will receive an upfront payment, a milestone payment on licensure of the vaccine in India and royalties on sales in these territories from Sanofi Pasteur. Acambis has also announced that it has terminated its agreement with Bharat Biotech, although the UK vaccine specialist will compensate the Indian company for its significant contribution to the development of ChimeriVax-JE.

Hunter-Fleming has received good news in relation to its study with HF0220 in patients with Alzheimer's disease. The independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has given its recommendation to continue a Phase II safety and tolerability study of the Alzheimer's treatment. The DSMB concluded that the data collected to date justifies the initiation of a second on month treatment phase, which, in addition to safety and tolerability, will also assess the biological markers that may be used in future efficacy trials in Alzheimer's disease.

Acambis extends vaccine licensing agreement with Sanofi Pasteur
Acambis has extended its ChimeriVax-JE vaccine licensing agreement with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the Sanofi-Aventis Group, to include India and the Indian subcontinent. Read full article

Hunter-Fleming receives positive DSMB opinion for Alzheimer's drug
Newron Pharmaceuticals and Hunter-Fleming have reported that Hunter-Fleming has received a recommendation from the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board or DSMB to continue a Phase II safety and tolerability study with HF0220 in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Read full article

PharmAthene to acquire Avecia's biodefense vaccines business
PharmAthene and Avecia Biologics have entered into a definitive sale and purchase agreement under which PharmAthene will acquire all of the assets and intellectual property related to Avecia's biodefense vaccines business. Read full article

Sareum announces new drug discovery program
UK-based Sareum Holdings has reported an additional in-house drug discovery program that targets the enzyme Fatty Acid Synthase or FASN. Read full article

Filings to increase in 2008, forecasts EMEA
The European Medicines Agency has predicted that 2008 will see an increase in applications and enhanced focus on advanced-therapy medicines, according to PharmaTimes. Read full article

For your free biotechnology report please click here.
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