The mouse that doesn't get cancer
(Il Sole 24 ore: page 22, Libero: page 32, Corriere della Sera: page 29, la Repubblica: page 23 – 29 November 2007)
A group of researchers from the University of Kentuky has created a new breed of mice in the laboratory that does not seem to get cancer. In fact, thanks to the introduction of the Par-4 gene, a protein is produced that attacks the neoplastic cells without damaging the healthy ones. The anticancer effects of this protein have been highlighted against liver and prostate cancer and, according to some tests, there would also be positive implications in the case of breast, pancreatic, brain and neck cancer. It is estimated that within about ten years this protective gene will also be able to be inserted into humans through a bone marrow transplant.
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=15032
France-Italy: R&D collaboration agreement signed
(Bloomberg Finance & Markets: page 10 – 29 November 2007)
The representatives of the French competitiveness poles and of the Italian technological districts and science parks have signed an agreement to favor scientific and industrial collaboration between the research centers and companies of the two countries.
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=15040
"For Italian companies, the reform is slowing down the market"
(Il Sole 24 Ore: page 11 – 29 November 2007)
Yesterday the Senate converted into law Decree 159 linked to the 2008 Budget Law. Sergio Dompé, President of Farmindustria, takes stock in chiaroscuro: the price budget system is not going well, which should be replaced with 'a more flexible system, maintaining the objective of appropriateness, to interpret the dynamics and not the static nature of the market'. But also the obligation to pay the deficits: 'it is a paradox: we are both obliged to supply the medicines and to pay the consequences of the spending surplus'. Instead, cuts to corporate income tax and incentives for R&D have been promoted. According to Nello Martini, General Manager of AIFA, 'the market is not blocked at all and there will be no obstacle to innovation'.
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=15029
France: Solvay puts a factory up for sale
(Les Echos online – November 29, 2007)
Solvay is looking for a buyer for the production site in Fontaine-lès-Dijon (France). The plant, owned by the Laboratoires Fournier subsidiary, employs 213 people and the company would like to reduce its headcount by 26. Solvay intends to concentrate the production of capsules and tablets only in the factories of Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne (France) and Cork (Ireland).
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=15031
"El.En: Ebit and revenues better than expected"
(Free Market: page 23, Bloomberg Finance & Markets: page 9 – 29 November 2007)
Andrea Cangioli, CEO of El.En, a company specializing in the production of medical lasers, declared: 'we believe we will exceed both the expected Ebit and turnover at the end of the year, even if we are unable to give quantitative indications'. In the first 9 months of 2007, the company achieved revenues of 137 million euros and an operating result of 15 million euros. By the end of the year, El.En had estimated it would achieve a turnover of 185 million euros and an operating profit of 19 million
