Drug Discovery & Technology News articles from June 2000

Drug Discovery & Technology News archives from June 2000

BASIC SCIENCE: Lyme Disease Bug Requires No Iron.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... New research from scientists at the University of Georgia, led by microbiologist Frank Gherardini, demonstrates that Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease in humans, is the first pathogenic bacterium identified that...

MS May Be Multiple Diseases.
June 1, 2000... A report in this month's Annals of Neurology finds that multiple sclerosis (MS) cases can be divided into four broad categories, two that resemble autoimmune diseases and two in which viruses or toxins may be to blame. Therefore, treatments...

RATIONAL DRUG DESIGN Design of an HIV Inhibitor.
June 1, 2000... Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (777 Old Saw Mill River Rd., Tarrytown, NY 10591; Tel: 914/789-2800, Fax: 914/789-2817) has reported findings on the structure of PRO 542, an antibody-like molecule that is the company's most advanced HIV...

COMBINATORIAL CHEMISTRY Serotonergic Compounds Licensed.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Acadia Pharmaceuticals (3911 Sorrento Valley Rd., San Diego, CA 92121-1402; Tel: 619/558-2871) and ArQule, Inc. (200 Boston Ave., Medford, MA 02155; Tel: 781/395-4100, Fax: 781/395-1225) have signed a licensing agreement for serotonergic...

Compound Library Doubles in Size.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... ChemNavigator.com (6166 Nancy Ridge Dr., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 858/450-9740, Fax: 877/477-5721; Email: Support@chemnavigator.com, Website: www.chemnavigator.com) has exceeded 600,000 compounds in its iResearch System Library. The first...

Argonaut Launches Surveyor.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Argonaut Technologies (887 Industrial Rd., Suite G, San Carlos CA 94070; Tel: 888/598-1350, Tel: 650/598-1350, Fax: 650/598-1359; Email: info@argotech.com, Website: www.argotech.com) has shipped the first orders of Surveyor, its new...

Microreactor on a Chip.(to be developed by Symyx Technologies Inc. and Institut fuer Microtechnik Mainz GmbH)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Symyx Technologies, Inc. (3100 Central Expwy., Santa Clara, CA 95051; Tel: 408/764-2000, Fax: 408/748-0745) will collaborate with the Institut fuer Microtechnik Mainz GmbH (IMM, Mainz, Germany) in the development of microfluidic and...

Thousand-Dimension Chemical Diversity.(Tripos Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Tripos, Inc. (1699 S. Hanley Rd., St. Louis, MO 63144; Tel: 314/647-1099, Fax: 314/647-9241; Website: www.tripos.com) has been awarded a two-year, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant of $750,000 from the National Institute of...

SCREENING: Aurora to Screen for Cystic Fibrosis.
June 1, 2000... Aurora Biosciences Corp. (11010 Torreyana Rd., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 619/404-6600, Fax: 619/404-6714; Website: www.aurorabio.com) has entered into a drug discovery and development collaboration with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF)....

DARPA Microfluidics Grant Awarded.(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency )
June 1, 2000... Aclara BioSciences, Inc. (3906 Trust Ave., Hayward, CA, 94545-3716; Tel: 510/293-1855; Email: mfranklin@aclara.com, Website: www.aclara.com) and Cepheid (1190 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302; Tel: 408/541-4191, Fax: 408/541- 4192;...

Massively Parallel cDNA Assay.
June 1, 2000... The June issue of Nature Biotechnology (Website: www.biotech.nature.com) contains a paper describing the Lynx Therapeutics' (25861 Industrial Blvd., Hayward, CA 94545; Tel: 510/ 670-9300, Fax: 510/670-9302; Website: www.lynxgen.com)...

Nanogen Ships First Products.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Nanogen, Inc. (10398 Pacific Center Ct., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 619/546-7700, Fax: 619/546-7718) has recorded the first commercial sale of its NanoChip Molecular Biology Workstation. The NanoChip system was sold to Aventis Research &...

INFORMATICS: CuraGen Launches Discovery Unit.(CuraGen Corp.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... CuraGen Corp. (555 Long Wharf Dr., 11th Fl., New Haven, CT 06511; Tel: 203/401- 3330, Fax: 203/401-3331; Website: www.curagen.com) has launched the 454 Corp., a majority-owned subsidiary established to develop novel technologies for use in...

G-Protein Database Licensed.(Novartis AG and LifeSpan BioSciences Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Novartis Research Foundation, a subsidiary of Novartis Intl. AG (P.O. Box, CH- 4002, Basel, Switzerland; Tel: +41 61 324 2476, Fax: 41 61 324-3300; Website: www.novartis.com) has joined Pfizer in subscribing to the first database of...

The Stem Cell Database.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... In connection with a paper published in Science, the Stem Cell Database has been published online, providing access to the database of genes and outlining many aspects of stem-cell biology (Website: www. stemcell.princeton.edu). Mostly...

PROTEOMICS: The Worm, the Yeast and the Fungus.(DoubleTwist Inc. team up for web information)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Proteome, Inc. (100 Cummings Ctr., Suite 435M, Beverly, MA 01915; Tel: 978/922- 1643, Fax: 978/922-3971; Website: www.proteome.com) and DoubleTwist, Inc. (1999 Harrison St., Ste. 1100, Oakland, CA 94612; Tel: 510/628-0100, Fax: 510/628-...

Myraid Joins with Hitachi.(Myriad Genetics Inc.; proteomonic screening)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Myriad Genetics, Inc. (320 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108; Tel: 801/584- 3600, Fax: 801/584-3640; Website: myriad.com) and Hitachi, Ltd. (Nihon Bldg., 2- 6-2, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; Tel: 03-5201-5003; Website:...

DIAGNOSTICS: Peptide Nucleic Acid Probes.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... PE Biosystems (335 Menhaden Ct., Foster City, CA 94404-1932; Tel: 650/571-6603), a PE Corp. business, and Boston Probes, Inc. (BPI, Bedford, MA; Tel: 781/271- 1100, ext. 222) an affiliate of the Danish life sciences company DAKO A/S, have...

Dopamine Transporter Is a Marker for ADD.(Boston Life Sciences Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Results of a human clinical study using Boston Life Sciences' (31 Newbury St., Suite 300, Boston, MA 02116; Tel: 617/425-0200, Fax: 617/425-0257) Altropane to detect abnormal increases in dopamine transporter (DAT) levels in the brains of...

NEW COMPOUNDS: Program Based on Melanocortin Receptors.(Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (3050 Science Park Rd., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 619/658-7600; Website: www.neurocrine.com) has announced that the company has achieved early milestones in its melanocortin receptor research program in obesity...

Anti-Fungal Agent Stops Cancer Cells.(NuChem Pharmaceuticals Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... On behalf of its 80%-owned subsidiary, NuChem Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Lorus Therapeutics (7100 Woodbine Ave, Suite 215, Markham, Ontario L3R 5J2, Canada; Tel: 905/305-1100, Fax: 905/305-1584) has chosen NC 381 as its lead anti-cancer drug for...

Kinase Inhibitor Is Anti-Cancer Agent.
June 1, 2000... AstraZeneca, plc (15 Stanhope Gate, London W1Y 6LN, U.K.; Tel: 171-304-5000, Fax: 171-304-5151; Website: www.astrazeneca.com) released final results from Phase I clinical trials of its novel anti-cancer compound, known as Iressa (ZD1839). In...

Plant-Derived Diabetes Compound.
June 1, 2000... Calyx Therapeutics (3625 Breakwater Ave., Hayward, CA; Tel: 510/780-1020, Fax: 510/780-1025; Email: info@calyxther.com, Website: www.calyther.com) released Phase Ib results of a new class of anti-diabetic drug at the American Diabetes...

Drug for CF Patented.
June 1, 2000... SciClone Pharmaceuticals (901 Mariner's Island Blvd., San Mateo, CA 94404; Tel: 650/358-3456, Tel: 800/724-2566, Fax: 650/358-3469; Website: www.sciclone.com) has been granted a patent concerning the use of DAX (3-diallyl-8-...

Sea Squirt Compound May Fight Cancer.
June 1, 2000... Early trial results indicate that ET-743 (ecteinascidin), a novel marine compound, may play an important role in treating certain soft-tissue sarcomas and other cancers. Preliminary results from Phase II trials of ET-743 were presented at...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Guilford Buys Gliatech.
June 1, 2000... Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (6611 Tributary St., Baltimore, MD 21224; Tel: 410/631-6300, Fax: 410/631-6338; Website: www.guilfordpharm.com) and Gliatech, Inc. (23420 Commerce Park Rd., Cleveland, OH 44122; Tel: 216/831-3200, Fax:...

Molecular Devices Buys LJL Biosystems.
June 1, 2000... Molecular Devices Corp. (1311 Orleans Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94089; Tel: 408/747- 1700, Fax: 408/747-3601; Website: www.moldev.com) and LJL BioSystems, Inc. (404 Tasman Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94089; Tel: 408/541-8787, Fax: 408-541-8786; Website:...

COLLABORATIONS: Chemdex Integrates Ecommerce.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Chemdex (3950 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, CA; Tel: 650/813-0300, Fax: 650/813-0304; Website: www.chemdex.com), a Ventro life sciences company, and DoubleTwist, Inc. (1999 Harrison St., Ste 1100, Oakland, CA 94612; Tel: 510/628-0100, Fax:...

Microcide Teams with Coelacanth.
June 1, 2000... Microcide Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (850 Maude Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043; Tel: 650/428-1550, Fax: 650/428-3550, Website: www.microcide.com) and Coelacanth will collaborate under a joint research agreement in which Coelacanth will provide...

Plasmon Resonance for Drug Discovery.
June 1, 2000... Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (640 Memorial Dr., Cambridge, MA 02139; Tel: 617/679-7000, Fax: 617/374-9379; Website: www.mlnm.com) and Biacore Intl. AB (Rapsgatan 7, SE-754 50 Uppsala, Sweden; Tel: +46 (0) 18-675700, Fax: +46 (0)18-...