Abstract
The present industry update covers the period 16 November to 15 December 2010, with information sourced from company press releases, regulatory agencies and patent search engines. A number of significant mergers took place with Novartis and Alcon set to form the largest eye company division in the industry. Roche announced the planned loss of 4800 positions to reduce operating costs, and focus on efficiency, productivity and strengthening their pipeline. US FDA approval of a Phase I/II study of embryonic stem cells for the treatment of macular degeneration represents an exciting proposition, with enormous potential benefits if this and any following studies are successful. The recently reported results of the pre-exposure prophylaxis study with Truvada® represents a major breakthrough in achieving significant reductions in the acquisition of the HIV virus by men and transgender women having sex with men. The potential development of an effective vaccine against ricin toxin is another exciting, if unsettling, development. Interesting journal articles this month include a description of the potentially low-cost development of nasally delivered vaccines derived from modified Bacillus subtilis, as well as the use of radiofrequency-mediated hyperthermic destruction of cancerous cells targeted with immunomodified gold nanoparticles.
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