News in brief
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US have isolated a chemical signal from tapeworms that may help prolong the time it takes for medicines to move through the small intestine. Known as cyclic GMP, the signal helps the tapeworm slow down the muscle activity of the fast-sweeping intestine. Professors John Oaks and Paul Bass believe the signal factor could possibly enhance drug absorption and so reduce the amount of medication that is taken.
The president of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has called for the creation of a database of plants used in his country for traditional medicinal purposes, to allow them to be researched and possibly exploited by the Indian pharmaceutical industry. He called for the development within India of a manufacturing base that could convert these resources into value-added medicinal products. These could be sold domestically and exported, he said, claiming that India's medical traditions were a 'unique resource,' especially for herbal products preventing and curing disease.
UK-based Argenta Discovery has entered into a comprehensive, multi-year collaboration with Corcept Therapeutics, of California, for the discovery and optimisation of a second generation drug candidate within one of Corcept's psychiatric disorder programmes. Under the terms of the collaboration, Argenta and Corcept scientists will work together in an interdisciplinary team to fully exploit the integration of biology and chemistry.
Dr Anthony Baxter, ceo of Argenta, said: 'This collaboration enables Argenta to deploy its full armoury of capabilities in chemistry, screening and eADME in an integrated approach to lead discovery and optimisation.'
The machine vision element of GSK's latest development project to increase automation of the research chemist's laboratory is being provided by SmartImage cameras from DVT Sensors. The project at Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) aims to come up with more robust automation solutions for GSK's research chemists.
According to project director Ken Young, automation solutions are available, but they are not robust: 'They tend to be put together by different engineers, so each has different a interface. We're trying to come up with a standard chemist's interface that talks their language,' he explained.