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Global Biomanufacturing News
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Scientists create liver cells from patients' skin
Scientists have created liver cells in a lab for the first time using reprogrammed cells from human skin, paving the way for the potential development of new treatments for liver diseases that kill thousands each year.
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No Wheat? No Worries! Just Use Whiskey
Researchers at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland have found a way to produce biofuel using the two main byproducts of the whiskey distillation process, reports the Guardian's Kirsty Scott.
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GlaxoSmithKline strikes back over anti-ageing pills
Drugs designed to combat age-related diseases work as claimed, according to research published last week in the Journal of Biological Chemistry1. The authors, most of whom work for the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) subsidiary Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, hope that the findings will quell debates over whether the drugs activate a key anti-ageing protein called SIRT1.
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FDA finds problems at Sanofi vaccine plant
Sanofi-Aventis failed to follow proper manufacturing procedures at a vaccine plant in France, U.S. regulators said in a letter released on Thursday.
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Teva Targets Roche’s Rituxan in Biosimilar Drug Trial
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is testing a copy of Roche Holding AG’s second-biggest-selling drug Rituxan in what may be the first U.S. generic version of a monoclonal antibody, a protein-based medicine used to treat diseases ranging from arthritis to cancer.
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Neglected diseases fund touted
Initiative seeks billions of dollars to develop promising drugs and vaccines.
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Scientists Weigh Use of Bacteria for Cleaner Fossil Fuel Production
Much of the world's oil reserves lies in giant tar sand stretches in places like Alberta and Venezuela. While the oil industry uses an energy-intensive and fairly dirty process to make steam to cook the oil out of the tar sands, underground bacteria simply eat the crude oil and break it down into methane, or natural gas.
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Samsung to Spend $21 Billion on Health, Solar Cells
Samsung Group unveiled a 23.3 trillion won ($21 billion) spending plan to expand into health care, solar batteries and other markets benefiting from rising government investment in renewable energy and the environment.
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Norvatis and Roche to UK: We Might Quit You
In the Pipeline's Derek Lowe says Novartis and Roche are employing some "hardball negotiating" in their fight with the UK government over drug pricing and clinical trial regulations.
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Inkjet-like device 'prints' cells right over burns
Inspired by a standard office inkjet printer, U.S. researchers have rigged up a device that can spray skin cells directly onto burn victims, quickly protecting and healing their wounds as an alternative to skin grafts.
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Crohn's disease sufferers to benefit from stem cell trial in Galway
PATIENTS IN the west of Ireland who suffer from the chronic inflammatory condition, Crohn’s disease, will have the opportunity to take part in a cutting-edge clinical trial involving stem cell therapy later this year.
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Designer Biofuel Crops
Agrivida is trying to develop plants that help turn themselves into biofuel.
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Sanofi to invest $200 mln in French biotech plants
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) on Wednesday said it would invest 150 million euros ($201.4 million) over four years to build up its biotechnology manufacturing capacities in France.
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Camelina to Produce 1 Bil Gallons of Biodiesel by 2025
Researchers at Biomass Advisors say the non-food energy crop will be producing biofuels for the aviation and biodiesel sectors, accounting for 25,000 new jobs, more than $5.5 billion in new revenues and $3.5 billion in new agricultural income for U.S. and Canadian farmers.
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Economics Improve for First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plants
Many cellulosic fuel producers are working with enzymes to break down tough, inedible plant parts, such as corncobs or switch grass, into simpler sugars that can be fermented to ethanol. Now enzyme companies say they are near to breaking down another tough obstacle: the cost of enzymes that will make the next generation of low-carbon fuels.
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Thermo Fisher Opens New UK Facility in Cheshire
The center will be home to mass spectrometry and chromatography operations, as well as a base for advancing therapeutic research tools.
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Algae advocates praise EPA findings
The EPA in its Renewable Fuels Standard found that biofuels could have a significant impact on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when compared with gasoline or diesel fuel. The finding now classifies algae-based biodiesel and renewable diesel as an "advanced biofuel" under U.S. federal guidelines.
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The Bowels of FDA
If you’ve wondered about the inner workings of FDA, there’s a new spot on their website that introduces just what FDA does. According to NPR, this site is part of FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg’s three-phase plan to make the agency more transparent.
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FDA Approved 26 New Drugs In 2009 Compared With 25 In 2008
Federal regulators approved 26 new medicines in 2009 compared with 25 in 2008, though several key drugs that were expected to reach store shelves didn't. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved 26 first-of-a-kind medicines in 2009, more than in any of the prior four years, according to an analysis by the research firm Washington Analysis.
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The Ethanol Decade
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is calling the decade of the 2000’s "the era when biofuels came of age." The ethanol advocacy organization reflects on the last ten years.
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