MIT, Indian researchers cure mouse of autism

Researchers from Bangalore's National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience (NIMHANS) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have cured key symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. By altering a single gene, they have significantly alleviated a wide range of abnormalities due to fragile X syndrome (FXS).

The breakthrough is important as it helps researchers develop drugs to cure autism faster. FXS is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation and autism and scientists created a mouse in lab that had the same symptoms as humans.

The FXS symptoms include mental retardation, epilepsy, and abnormal body growth and there is no known treatment or therapy available to cure this disorder. The MIT researchers corrected FXS in mice modeling the disease. "These findings have major therapeutic implications for fragile X syndrome and autism," said study lead author Mark F. Bear, director of the Picower Institute and Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT. The FXS patients have mutations in the X chromosome's FMR1 gene, which encodes the fragile X mental retardation protein, FMRP. The MIT study found that FMRP and metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5) are at opposite ends of a kind of molecular seesaw. They keep each other in check, and without FMRP, mGluR5 signals run rampant. In FXS individuals, spines are more numerous, longer and more spindly than they should be. Thin spines tend to form weak connections.

The research team found that a 50 percent reduction in mGluR5 fixed multiple defects in the fragile X mice. In addition to correcting dendritic spines, reduced mGluR5 improved altered brain development and memory, restored normal body growth, and reduced seizures-many of the symptoms experienced by humans with FXS.

The work also indicates that a certain class of drugs could have the same effect. These drugs are not yet approved by the FDA, but will soon be entering into human clinical trials.

ClinTec International plans significant expansion of its Indian operations

ClinTec International, the UK based Contract Research Organization (CRO), is all set to foray into drug development and has announced plans to expand its Indian outfit in a major way. Located at Bangalore, the Indian arm of Clintec International will be developed into an important global center and serve as Asia's hub for its international operations.

Sharing details of the expansion plans in India, Dr Rabinder Buttar, president and founder, ClinTec International, said, "ClinTec International is focusing on India in a very big way and aims to bring many global projects to India. We plan to increase the head count in India from the existing 25 to about 100 employees in the near future. ClinTec India contributes about 25-30 percent of Clintec International's global revenues."

"The Bangalore arm of ClinTec will support and drive the work at ClinTec International's newly opened global clinical research Center of Excellence in Munich, Germany. We are proud to know that ClinTec International is perceived as the number one CRO by market analysts when it comes to advising the pharmaceutical industry," Buttar said.

Merck & Co. announces pact with HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies, a leading global IT services company, announced a multi-year, multi-service agreement with Merck & Co. Under the terms of the new deal, HCL will provide strategic support to Merck's key IT initiatives.

"Merck has embarked on a journey to leverage global delivery services to meet its business imperatives. We have chosen HCL as a strategic partner on this journey for its depth of technology and domain experience, coupled with its flexibility to engage and a commitment to deliver," stated Richard Branton, vice president, Merck Global Technology Services.

Veeda CR organizes workshop on Phase I clinical trials

Veeda CR, a Clinical Research Organization (CRO), organized a two-day workshop on the mechanisms of Phase I clinical trials of the CRO industry. The two-day event took place in Veeda's premises in Ahmedabad on December 3-4, 2007. This was the first time such an event has taken place in India.

The faculty of the workshop consisted predominantly of Veeda staff members including Dr Maurice Cross, Dr Richard Taylor, Dr Sanjay Sharma, John Allison and Dr Jinesh Shah. Veeda is strategically partnering with Advinus for pre-clinical services and Dr Vikram Ramanathan and Dr Nimish Vachharajani of Advinus also presented at the workshop.

Some of the broad areas that were discussed during the course of the workshop were preparation for clinical trials in the EU and US market, cardiovascular toxicity studies and evaluation of an anti-diabetic drug.

BAAP Diagnostics receives CAP accreditation

BAAP Diagnostics laboratory has been awarded an accreditation by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). The diagnostic laboratory is a part of BA Research India, a leading CRO, headquartered in Ahmedabad and specializing in conducting clinical phase and analyzing samples for bioequivalence and bioavailability studies. The studies conducted by BA Research have been approved by USFDA and AFSSAPS.

A CAP audited diagnostic laboratory, is often an advantage as the facility is already benchmarked to be of globally approved standards and thereby fastens the process of approvals from global regulatory bodies. It also enables the CRO to conduct tests in a protected environment, making its services more cohesive.

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) is a medical society serving nearly 16,000 physicians members and the laboratory community worldwide.

IFAD supports biofuels project led by ICRISAT

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) of the United Nations has committed $1.5 million funding for a three-year biofuels research-for-development project led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

IFAD is the first among the development investors supporting international agricultural research institutes under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) that has committed support for a biofuels project. The project will facilitate farmers and entrepreneurs to utilize sweet sorghum stalks and cassava roots in producing ethanol, and seeds of jatropha in producing bio-diesel.

The Inter-Center project, involving ICRISAT, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the appropriate national agricultural research centers, will involve popularization of the cultivation of sweet sorghum in India, the Philippines, China and Mali; cassava in Vietnam and Colombia; and jatropha in India and Mali. Research results on producing ethanol from the juice of stalks of sweet sorghum and roots of cassava, and bio-diesel from the seeds of jatropha are quite encouraging.

According to Dr William Dar, director general of ICRISAT, the project will support the farmers of the drylands with the latest research and research products and link them with the biofuel market. Thus they will be able to improve their incomes and livelihoods from the biofuel revolution. He thanked IFAD for committing support to this unique project that linked multiple crops and institutions across multiple continents.

The project facilitates entrepreneurs to utilize sweet sorghum stalks and cassava roots in producing ethanol, and seeds of jatropha in producing bio-diesel. The above program will be implemented by sensitizing farmers, research partners and other stakeholders in the production and supply chain about biofuel production. This will enable them to work together and make use of project's research outputs.

BioServe launches ControlMATCH for biomarker validation

BioServe, a leader in the processing, development, and validation of diagnostic tests for the practice of personalized, predictive and preventive medicine, has introduced ControlMATCH, a new line of fully annotated control DNA and serum samples designed to help biomedical researchers efficiently validate new biomarkers and early stage clinical trial drug candidates. Leveraging BioServe's global repository of 600,000 human biological samples, ControlMATCH allows researchers to select and match control samples to the specific needs of their own DNA and/or serum-based studies.

ControlMATCH DNA and serum controls will initially cover type II diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and extend to other disease states in early 2008.

Sanofi-aventis opens center in India

Sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, has opened its first Asian pharmaceutical development center in Goa.

Set up at an approximate cost of Rs 100 crores (US $25.54 million) the Goa Development Centre (GDC) represents the group's single largest investment in India to date and is testament to sanofi-aventis' strategy to expand its presence and accelerate growth both in India and in Asia.

As sanofi-aventis' first Asian hub for analytical and pharmaceutical formulation development, the 2,600-sqm Goa Development Centre (GDC) will have the capacity to develop up to 12 pharmaceutical compounds per year.

Olivier Charmeil, senior vice president, Asia Pacific said, "The Goa development center will serve to expand sanofi-aventis' capacity to develop and produce medicines adapted to local market needs in an efficient and cost-effective manner."

Suven obtains product patent

Suven Life Sciences has been granted its first product patent in the US. The granted claims of the patent include the class of selective Serotonin receptor affinity compounds discovered by Suven and being developed as therapeutic agents. The compounds are useful in the treatment of neuro-degenarative disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson, Schizophrenia and Huntington's.

Suven has so far filed 29 product patent applications through PCT covering more than 145 countries, out of which five product patents are granted in various countries. There are several other patent applications from Suven Discovery Research in the pipeline that have completed the administrative and technical diligence from the patent offices from major countries and would be granted shortly.

Suven has filed its first Investigational New Drug (IND) application with DCGI to conduct the clinical Phase-I study on its developmental candidate SUVN-502 and several other candidates are in discovery pipeline undergoing GLP pre-clinical studies.