The Netherlands has updated the rules governing the dispensing of pharmaceuticals, as well as the responsibilities of the national regulator, the Medicines Evaluation Board (MEB), in a major revision of its medicines legislation.
Silence Therapeutics Plc, which specialises in the technology of RNA-mediated interference for the treatment of disease, has begun a three-year research and development collaboration with AstraZeneca Plc valued at up to £200 million.
The European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration have agreed to exchange information from companies about their proposed studies of paediatric medicines in order to avoid unnecessary trials involving children.
Zeta Biotech, which specialises in products for the separation of molecules through the use of gel electrophoresis, is raising about €1 million with an initial public offering of 206,065 shares on the Euronext’s Marché Libré in Paris.
The Medicon Valley Academy changed its name to Medicon Valley Alliance, effective 1 July 2007.
The European Commission is to consider ten new medicinal products for orphan designation. The products are:
Intercytex Group Plc announced on 26 June, 2007 that its replacement for skin grafts was successful in a Phase I trial, representing the first time that laboratory-made, living human skin has been fully and consistently integrated into the human body.
The Wellcome Trust, Britain’s biggest medical charity, has allocated £79 million from 2007 to 2010 for seed projects that commercial investors would not ordinarily touch.
The European Commission has issued a call for proposals to carry out a series of projects under its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) on health, including proposals specifically targeted at small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), according to Ludovica Serafini of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Research.
Two orphan designated medicinal products have been recommended by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for licensing in Europe, according to an agency press release.