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Bio-Buzz
No.06 / June 2008
IN THIS ISSUE
HEADLINE NEWS
INDUSTRY CORNER
EDITORIAL
EVENTS LISTINGS
On-line meeting now available!
BioApproaches Innovation to Enterprise meeting that took place in Exeter on the 24th of April is now available as a ‘virtual meeting’ please click HERE to view it.
Porton Down and Salisbury Showcase. Red Lion Hotel, Salisbury (16 July 2008)
The diverse and significant expertise and facilities at Porton Down will be showcased in a unique event aimed at bringing together research organisations and businesses. The event will be held at the Red Lion Hotel, Salisbury on wed 16 July 2008.
The event will be a very valuable opportunity to find out more about:
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the work of the Health Protection Agency and its contract manufacturing facilities
- the Tetricus bioincubator and
- the HPA cell culture collections.
- NHS Innovations SW, who are based in Salisbury, on how they are helping to support innovation in the NHS.
- Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) on their innovations and commercial opportunities. In particular, there will be in depth coverage of 3 important scientific areas: vaccines & therapeutics; detection & diagnostics and remote monitoring.
This unique event is an excellent opportunity to find out more about these important organisations and establish some valuable contacts. It will appeal to biotechnology and medical technology companies and researchers alike. Spaces are limited so please book early. For more information please click HERE
To register for this event please click HERE
For more information please contact Viv Daly
New voluntary scheme for pricing new medicines
On 18 June, the Government and the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) outlined a new voluntary scheme for the pricing of medicines in the UK and the start of a consultation process for a statutory scheme. The consultation document is available HERE
The package agreed between Government and industry aims to support uptake of new medicines - ensuring that patients benefit from access to innovative treatments as well as industry – helped secure a deal that will also deliver stability and predictability for the industry and achieve better value for money for the taxpayer.
The headline agreements with industry include:
- a saving of 5% in the cost of drugs sold to the NHS: In addition, a further price reduction of 2% will be available if growth in the drugs bill exceeds an agreed threshold. The 5% savings will be made up of a base price cut for all branded medicines of 2%, combined with measures to reduce the price of out of patent drugs (where a generic equivalent exists) and a further variable price cut to deliver 5% overall .
- action to support innovation so patients have faster access to new medicines that are clinically and cost-effective;
- a new non-contractual voluntary scheme providing stability and predictability in Pharmaceutical Pricing for the next 5 years
Further negotiations on the detail is required over the next few weeks, including on making sure that access to medicines reflects their value to patients, before the new scheme can be finalised and implemented. Both the Government and the industry are committed to taking this forward and reaching agreement.
Full press release click HERE
INDUSTRY CORNER
Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity to Increase 66% in Europe by 2012
BioProcess UK KTN recently highlighted a report of a recent study of Worldwide Biomanufacturing. The recently released report, “5th Annual Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production,” from BioPlan Associates, Inc. provides an on-going analysis of worldwide biomanufacturing, with data from 434 biopharmaceutical developers & contract manufacturing organizations from 32 countries. It indicates production capacity for biopharmaceutical manufacturing will expand an average of 46% over the next five years for mammalian production systems. The jump will be even more significant in Europe, where the average increase will reach 66% over the next five years. In comparison, US manufacturers will increase capacity only 36%. For more information click HERE
It’s time to re-assess GM crops
GM crops hit the headlines several times last week as UK Environment Minister Phil Woolas, called for a debate on genetically-modified crops. This centres upon the view that GM crops could be part of the solution to the food shortages and rising prices which have already caused rioting in several developing countries. Although GM crops are grown widely in the US, politicians in the UK and Europe have prevented GM crops almost entirely. For more information about the story and to read comments click HERE
UK Life Sciences Marketing Strategy Newsletter launched
The first edition of the newsletter was published in May and contained valuable information about the Board and it’s activity, updates on future direction and a Q&A section. To register for the newsletter or for more information please email
HERE
SMEs go Health
The main objective of the "SMEs go Health" project is to offer advice and support to SMEs and SME groupings and assist them in participating in EU-funded research projects in the Health thematic priority of FP7. The support aims to help improve the quality of research project proposals submitted in the Health thematic priority of FP7 and increase the participation rate of SMEs. You can use it to search for partners and projects.
This initiative provides SMEs as well as researchers with various services supporting the successful participation in FP7 EU research projects in the Health thematic priority.
The services offered cover the entire procedure; from project idea conception to matchmaking and consortium building, and submission of the proposal and the negotiation phase.
For more info go to: http://www.smesgohealth.org/common/home.asp
Green Grants Machine
The Green Grants Machine publish a regular newsletter and is a good source of information on the latest environmental funding news for businesses. There is also the option to subscribe to their free grants alerts facility. For more information go to www.greengrantsmachine.co.uk/default.aspx
South West R&D grant workshops
The Regional Development Agency are keen to hear from companies that have an interest in the R&D grant scheme. If you have not applied for these grants before they are definitely worth exploring. To find out more about the scheme click HERE. The RDA plans to hold some workshops and are inviting interested companies to come forward. This invitation provides you with an excellent way to find out more information about this very important opportunity. For more information about the workshops please contact Helen Kuhlman - click HERE.
SW Science and Industry Council newsletter
Have you registered for the Science and Industry Council Newsletter? The newsletter contains valuable information about regional activities. The June edition for example contained information about regional, national and European funding and business opportunities, including ICT and biotechnology calls from the EC, Silicon South West's fast-track programme for technology start-ups and the new London 2012 Business Network website. To find out more about the Council and how to register for the newsletter email editor@swsic.com
EDITORIAL
Press Release from one of our members:
Dolomite Conquers Quartz Microfluidics Fabrication
Microfluidics experts, Dolomite, have announced that they have now optimised the fabrication of quartz microfluidic chips, enabling instrument manufacturers to benefit from the many important qualities of synthetic quartz for use within bioscience and medical systems.
Dolomite is a leader in Microfluidics, a technology also known as ‘lab on a chip'. This is an exciting new field of science and engineering that enables very small-scale fluid control and analysis, allowing instrument manufacturers to develop smaller, more cost-effective and more powerful systems. With lab-on-a-chip technology, entire complex chemical management and analysis systems are created in a microfluidic chip and interfaced with, for example, electronic and optical detection systems.
"The standard material for this technology tends to be glass," said Gillian Davis. "However, the use of synthetic quartz in microfluidic devices enables natural fluorescence and detection of a wide variety of compounds, especially proteins, without labeling. This allows detection of proteins in native conditions, which is important not only for realizing on-chip CZE separation of proteins, but also for investigations aimed at protein interactions for diagnostics."
The fabrication processes used to create a microfluidic device have some similarity to those used in the electronics industry. The channels through which the fluids flow and interact are etched into materials such as glass or polymers using similar photolithography processes, for example. The patterned layers are then very accurately aligned and fused together and drilled to provide microscopic ports through which the chemicals or gases can enter and leave the device.
The advantages of quartz for microfluidics are due to the facts that it is hard, chemically inert, UV transparent, non-auto-fluorescent and non-porous - making it a preferred material for applications in the bioscience sector. However, much of the challenge of the microfluidic device fabrication in this material comes from the fact that quartz is much harder than glass. Engineers at Dolomite have been working for the past year to optimize the fabrication of quartz devices and they can now etch features with depths of up to 150microns. This is far deeper than most alternative solutions on the market that can only offer depths in the region of 20microns. The etching process optimized by Dolomite ensures that the channels are optically smooth.
"The main issue is that etch times with quartz are very long," said Gillian Davis. "We have made several important breakthroughs in the manufacturing process that have helped us optimize the process; it is now realistic for us to get depths of 50microns in regular production and maybe a maximum of 150microns for very specific projects."
Dolomite is a leader in this field and won £2m funding from the UK Department of Trade and Industry's Micro and Nano Technology (MNT) Manufacturing Initiative; this allowed Dolomite to establish excellent microfabrication facilities that include cleanrooms, precision glass processing facilities and applications laboratories. In addition to this, Dolomite has managed to attract top quality engineering and scientific staff with strong backgrounds across the broad range of disciplines required for success in bringing microfluidics applications to the market, including chemistry, biotechnology, control system development, electronics, physics and instrument design and supply.
For more information please visit Dolomites website HERE.
EVENTS LISTINGS
Covering Lifesciences (biotechnology) and Medical interests can be found at HERE
Contact Us
For further information on any of these items, please visit our website:
www.bioapproaches.co.uk or contact us directly.
Jade Fulbrook-Smith – Project Coordinator, BioBuzz Editor
Tel: 07715 856262 Email: Jade@BioApproaches.co.uk
Dr Pauline Lee – Network Manager
Tel: 07710 779548 Email: pauline@BioApproaches.co.uk
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