News in Brief

Published: 1-Jul-2003


An affordable catalyst has been discovered by a group of researchers at Kyushu University. The inorganic compound is highly durable and accelerates the reaction of asymmetric synthesis. The researchers, led by Professor Seiji Shinkai, plan to commercialise the new technology jointly with pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers.

US company Bioventure Iconix Pharmaceuticals is expanding its interests in the Japanese market via a partnership with Eisai to sell its gene analysis service for drug candidate profiling, and plans to offer the service to other local pharmaceutical makers. Iconix operates in the emerging field of chemogenomics, which combines chemistry with genomics to determine the chemical compounds that work best on a gene targeted for new drug development. The company will use its proprietary database to do the research.

Australian drug development company Amrad Corporation has sold the rights to its Emfilermin fertility drug to Swiss drug maker Serono, extending an agreement worth A$25m (€14m) signed between the companies in 2000. Ceo Sandra Webb said that Serono had agreed to exercise the option after proof of concept studies of the drug indicated it might increase the chances of successful embryo-implantation among patients undergoing assisted reproductive treatments. Serono will pay an undisclosed licence fee to Amrad, followed by scheduled payments based on development milestones and royalties if Emfilermin is ultimately sold as a drug.

PT Merck Indonesia, the pharmaceutical and chemical company, is to boost production capacity to reach Rp37bn (US$4.1m) by the end of this year by upgrading its machinery and renovating its plants, laboratories, office buildings and storehouses. It will also be targeting increased sales in the otc and multivitamin markets.

ExxonMobil Chemical has completed a significant upgrading project at its isopropyl alcohol (IPA) facility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Improvements made to the facility will increase plant efficiency by greatly extending turnaround cycles and expand annual capacity to 340,000 tonnes, making it the largest IPA plant in the world.

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