Hungary: a regional first in biotechnology

Biotech 2010-Life Sciences: Adapting for Success, Burrill & Company's latest annual report on the life sciences industry, provides insight into biotech's changing environment and how not to just survive but succeed. The annual publication (24^th in the series) of the San Francisco-based firm of biotech analysts and investment consultants, provides thoughtful information and analysis on how companies need to adapt to major challenges to their business development in order to be successful in 2010 and beyond.

EuropaBio Press Release: CEOs and National Biotech Associations Meet Brussels Decision-Makers

Brussels 2 December, 2009

Yesterday 22 CEOs from Member State Biotech companies, together with representatives of 11 National Biotech Associations, converged on Europe's capital for EuropaBio Brussels Day and a series of meetings with EU decision makers. The aim of Brussels Day is to provide an opportunity to bring these groups and individuals together to meet and network with other stakeholders at EU level.

Tom Saylor, Chair of EuropaBio's SME Platform and CEO of Arecor, commented: "Biotech SME's provide a growing source of innovation both for larger enterprises and the health economy in general. But the ability to build a biotech industry in Europe is seriously hampered by a lack of finance which has been recently exacerbated by global economic instability. The SME Platform intends to work closely with national biotechnology associations and other stakeholders to realise Europe's potential as a global leader in biotechnology. Brussels Day enables us to draw together the collective experience of biotech executives throughout Europe to refine and communicate priorities to EU regulators."

EuropaBio counts 1800 SMEs amongst its members through 26 national associations. Topics for discussion at meetings held today will include the need to attract more venture capital, to work towards making the European Research Area a reality, and for the commitment of funding at EU level. In addition, there will be a special focus on the need to ensure that the process of applying for funding under FP7 and structural funds becomes simpler, faster and less resource intensive for SMEs, many of which consist of 10 or fewer employees.

Swedish EPP MEP Christian Fjellner who hosted the evening reception for the delegates on 1 December said: "Legislation has to work with, not against, innovative sectors such as Biotech. This sector has great potential to improve quality of life but it's a highly complex field and one which generates many questions. In many cases the expertise lies with industry itself and therefore it is vital that we keep the channels of communication open".

Also speaking at the event, Jan Wisse, Chair of the Committee of National Biotech Associations said "Our aim is to make sure that the innovation and development potential of biotech in Europe is greater than the sum of its national parts. We all have our own agendas and Centres of Excellence and that should not change. But only through co-ordinating our efforts and sharing the knowledge that we have within the Member States can we contend with our global competitors in finding solutions to the challenges of an aging population, climate change and food and energy security."

For further information on Brussels Day, please contact
Willy De Greef
Secretary General, EuropaBio
Tel: +32 2 739 11 71; Email: w.degreef@europabio.org

Press release: World Courier / GxP Compliance

In November 2009, World Courier officially announced that the transport side of its business had achieved GxP-compliant status.
When combined with our GMP-compliant CTSCS investigational drug storage network, World Courier is the first international express company able to deliver a fully GxP-compliant transport and storage supply chain system to biopharm customers.
This represents the logical "next step" in providing pharma customers with "a service no one else can deliver".

EuropaBio Press Release: Patient Power and the Role of Biotech in Europe

The new revolution in patient power was the topic of discussion at today's EuropaBio event in the European Parliament, Strasbourg.

  The event, hosted by Swedish EPP MEP Christofer Fjellner, highlighted the increasingly influential role played by patients in managing their own care and recovery. So far, more than 350 million patients have benefitted from medicines manufactured through biotechnology and gene technology to treat or prevent heart attacks, strokes, multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, leukemia, hepatitis, diabetes and other diseases. In addition, an estimated 50% of all new medicines will originate from biotechnologies. EuropaBio was pleased to organize the discussion in support of the evolution of patient-centred healthcare systems and the commitment to work together with patients towards providing answers to unmet medical needs.

Roxana Radulescu, Senior Policy Advisor for the European Patients' Forum, who spoke at the event said: "When a person becomes a patient with a chronic disease, often, one of their worst fears is a loss of control over the way they lead their lives.  Access to high quality, timely, objective information about their condition and possible treatments and support puts the patient in the driving seat and helps restore their confidence in the future.  Patients across the EU want equal access to better information and resources to be real partners in determining their care. This is what we strive for in our EPF Patients' Manifesto ' 150 million reasons to act'".

Host MEP Christofer Fjellner commented: "Today's session has helped raise awareness of the urgent need to update and modernize current legislation on information about medicines. It's evident that we need better access to information about medicines to empower patients all over Europe. To achieve this we need a broad commitment from all European institutions."

Speaker, Mr Thomas Bols, Chair of the Healthcare Council at EuropaBio, outlined how the complexities specific to biotech medicine meant that new insights needed to be thoroughly and openly discussed within society. Challenges, such as complex ideas to pass on to patients and new approaches to promote development of treatments, meant that maintaining the flow of information and dialogue would be essential, he said.  He also highlighted that, so far, 20 to 30 million Europeans and their families have benefitted from therapies for rare and very rare genetic diseases, which were developed and manufactured using biotechnology.

Chair of EuropaBio, Dr Andrea Rappagliosi, who concluded the session, summarized: "The future of healthcare is clear: patients must be placed at the centre of any medical, social, economical and ethical consideration. EuropaBio now calls on the European institutions to ensure that patients' needs, as well as their expertise, form the foundations for the development of future healthcare policy."

For further information, please contact

Julie Kjestrup
Manager, Healthcare, EuropaBio
Tel: +32 2 739 11 78; Email: j.kjestrup@europabio.org

Joanna Dupont Inglis
Communications Manager, EuropaBio
Tel: +32 2 739 11 84 Gsm: +32 476 607 135 Email: j.dupont@europabio.org

EuropaBio Press Release: Industrial Biotech: a major toolbox to help fight climate change

Today WWF (1) released the report "Industrial biotechnology - More than green fuel in a dirty economy?" (2). This groundbreaking report explores the transformational potential of industrial biotechnology in contributing towards a low-carbon economy. It concludes that the full climate change

mitigation potential of industrial biotechnology ranges between 1 billion and 2.5 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year by 2030. This is compared to a scenario in which no industrial biotechnology applications are available. However, the critical caveat to these findings is that the actual impact of industrial biotechnologies on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will depend upon the overall socioeconomic environment, the public policies and private sector strategies put in place to disseminate and support these technologies and biobased products.

EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, welcomes this report and fully supports WWF's assertion that the correct policies need to be put into place for these technologies to fulfill their potential and actively contribute to a sustainable low-carbon society.

Promoting Patients' Rights in the EU

Strasbourg, 22 April 2009
Taking the opportunity of the third European Patients' Rights Day, EuropaBio, the EU Association for Bioindustries, reiterates the call to European Institutions and national governments for the involvement of patients in all EU political debates about healthcare. The aim of this day is to start or continue a dialogue at European and national levels on how to implement patients' rights. Empowering European patients and placing their needs and concerns at the heart of all healthcare policies is the key objective of the Active Citizenship Network's (ACN) European Charter of Patients' Rights(1).

"Patients First," says biotech industry in new Healthcare Manifesto

Brussels, 21 April 2009
EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, announces its new policy priorities for 2009-2010 in a Healthcare Manifesto published today, promoting Patient-Centred Healthcare Systems (1).

5 December 2008, Brussels, EuropaBio Press Release: Changes in biotech regulations must not be an attempt to further delay the approvals process

Yesterday, EU Environment Ministers concluded a 6 month long process designed to reinforce the ongoing work by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the environmental risk assessment guidelines for ag biotech cultivation. EuropaBio welcomes the Council's support for ensuring that the EU biotech approval process works as designed and cautions against further delays to EU approvals for cultivation applications.

Commenting on the Council conclusions, Willy De Greef, Secretary General of EuropaBio stated, "EuropaBio welcomes Member State agreement that "it is necessary to look for improvement of the implementation of the existing legal framework in order to better meet the objectives of the EC legislation" and that any improvement of the implementation of the existing legislation would take "into consideration the necessity of continuing processing applications without undue delays and respecting the relevant EC international obligations" (1).

There has not been one new GM crop cleared for cultivation in the EU for ten long years. The current de facto moratorium on new approvals has to end so that EU farmers can choose the technology that works best for them.

"The EU has talked, created legislation, re-drafted legislation and delayed approvals on biotech for years. It is now the time for action and we anticipate implementation of existing legislation to allow for the approvals of biotech crops for cultivation without further and unnecessary delay," concluded Willy De Greef.

20 November 2008., Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Biotech Revenues Rise 2% So Far This Year

More Biotech Companies Aim to Go Public; Taiwan Government Plans to Provide Additional Support to Industry Promising Strong Growth in the Future.
Taiwan's biotechnology companies reported a 2 percent rise in revenues during the first nine months of this year compared with the same period a year ago as government organizations are aiming for ways to help boost more rapid growth of the industry.

13 November 2008., Brussels: EuropaBio and EBE congratulate EU leaders on the Commission Communication on Rare Diseases and calls for European action to turn principles and proposals into reality

EuropaBio and EBE would like to congratulate the European Commission on its draft Communication and proposed Council Recommendation on Rare Diseases (1). These are timely and vital documents, not only for the rare disease community, but also for the European society at large. This is a unique opportunity to identify core areas where a concerted effort can make a real difference to the effective diagnosis, treatment and care for rare diseases in the EU. The most relevant topics include improving awareness about rare diseases; supporting national plans for rare diseases in the Member States; and strengthening cooperation and coordination for rare diseases at European level including on access to orphan medicines.

6 November 2008., Brussels: EuropaBio acknowledges need for review of the laboratory animal protection Directive but calls for a reduction of the bureaucratic burden the Directive will place on SMEs

EuropaBio, the European Biotech Industry Association, acknowledges the review of Directive 86/609, the laboratory animal protection Directive, but calls for a reduction of the bureaucratic burden the Directive places on SMEs. The legislation updates the rules and standards for breeding, use, housing and care of laboratory animals which were adopted over twenty years ago and now need to reflect advances in science and technology.

Discovering profound magic of AQUA

July 2008., Taipei, Taiwan: EPOCH is turning water into high efficient source of power; while realizing the quest of securing more energy with zero CO2 emission

As price of traditional fossil fuel continues to set record high, seeking an alternative energy has evidently becoming more critical than ever before; no matter for the sake of saving people's pocket or polar bear.

Smaller but smarter way to "Touch" your heart

July 2008, Taipei, Taiwan: HTC Touch Series: all the bells and whistles with only half the pocket space needed.

The realization of making advance technology so accessible, mobile and delightful to consumers has further drawn huge worldwide attention on the advanced, high tech instruments known as the Smartphone, or converged device, which in fact is one of the fastest growing segments of the technology industry that enjoy a 60% year-on-year growth.

Teijin acquires global structure database management licenses and switches over to JChem platform

September 5, 2006, Budapest, Hungary and Tokyo, Japan: ChemAxon and Teijin Pharma Ltd. announced the acquisition of ChemAxon's database structure management and search toolkits and the switch over of Teijin Pharma's chemical information platform to operate with ChemAxon's JChem technology.

Evotec acquires global all product ChemAxon license and announces multiple implementations across informatics platform.

September 5, 2006, Budapest, Hungary | Hamburg, Germany | Oxford, UK: Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX 30; Evotec) and ChemAxon, a software solutions provider for chemistry today announced Evotec's licensing of ChemAxon's complete product line, the successful implementation of selected ChemAxon toolkits and ongoing works to roll out further capabilities across Evotec's informatics network.

CHEMAXON LAUNCHES MARVIN 4.1 WITH .NET AND PUBLICATION FEATURE SUPPORT

August 25th, 2006, Budapest, Hungary - ChemAxon, a software solutions provider for cheminformatics, today announced the release of version 4.1 of its platform independent chemical editing and visualization suite, Marvin. The release sees the addition of new structure based calculations, extensive publication features and support for .NET.

ComGenex changes its name to AMRI Hungary
Full Range of AMRI Services Now Available to ComGenex Customers

Budapest, Hungary (July 26, 2006) - ComGenex, Inc. has changed its name to AMRI Hungary. The name change results from the acquisition of ComGenex by U.S.-based Albany Molecular Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRI) in February 2006.

Located in Budapest, AMRI Hungary has become the European center for AMRI, a global pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing company with a full range of integrated services-from the identification of hit compounds, to powerful medicinal chemistry SAR optimization, to the production of pharmaceutical ingredients for clinical and commercial use.

Is your company trying to enter the U.S. Biopharmaceutical or Medical Device Industry?
Do you need training?
Join Us in Ireland 2006!

SPI USA, Inc. is in collaboration with the University College Cork hosting a CGMP for Biopharma training seminar on June 1st and 2nd, 2006 in Cork Ireland. Also on June 8th and 9th, 2006 SPI USA is hosting an FDA Medication Devices Regulations and Approval Process seminar in Dublin. Both seminars are open enrollment.

SECOND HUNGARIAN BIOTECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE

Budapest, 23 March 2006 - The Hungarian Biotechnology Association (HBA) and the Hungarian Investment and Trade Development Agency (ITDH) organized a joint conference for the second time on 23 March 2006 in Budapest. Besides dealing with important questions related to the industry sector, the one-day event also covered the issues of grant opportunities, governmental subsidies, and the effects of the Innovation Act.

COMGENEX ANNOUNCES A RADICAL EXTENSION OF THE MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY SYNTHESIS SPACE BY INTRODUCING ROOM TEMPERATURE OZONOLYSIS IN ITS LABORATORY PRACTICE

January 17, 2006, Budapest, Hungary -ComGenex, Inc., a leading drug discovery service provider, disclosed today that it has successfully tested and completed the initial phase of the integration of the first ever continuous flow, bench top ozonolyzis unit into its high-throughput organic synthesis technology line. The O-Cube™ is the newest member of the Cube-series developed by Thales Nanotechnology Inc., a former spin-out of ComGenex.

H-CUBE™-BENCH TOP HYDROGENATION UNIT BY THALES NANOTECHNOLOGY, INC. OF BUDAPEST RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS R&D 100 AWARD

5 October 2005, Budapest, Hungary - Thales Nanotechnology, Inc. announced today that its development has been recognized as one of the 100 most technologically significant and innovative new products of 2005 by R&D Magazine. The award winning development, H-Cube™, is the first in a new wave of continuous-flow hydrogenation reactors.

CHEMAXON LAUNCHES MARVIN 4.0 AND NEW 3D VISUALIZATION TOOL MARVINSPACE

ChemAxon, a software solutions provider for life sciences, today announced the release of version 4.0 of its platform independent chemical editing and visualization suite Marvin. The release includes the launch of MarvinSpace - a new tool for 3D molecular structure visualization.

THE IMPACT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY ON HUMAN HEALTHCARE AND THE HUNGARIAN CONTRIBUTION TO THIS EFFORT

Biotechnology is fulfilling the promise to improve the quality of human life by providing better and more effective drugs and, more importantly, making them available to millions of patients worldwide. This is the conclusion of the BioImpact study, a scientific study of the impact of biotechnology on human healthcare and life expectancy, which has just been published. The French Biotech Association and the French Pharmaceutical Association, in collaboration with their European partners Europabio and European Association of Bioindustries, supported this study.

HUNGARIAN BIOTECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION JOINS EUROPABIO

EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, unanimously elected the Hungarian Biotechnology Association (HBA) as its newest member. The decision paves the way for integrating the HBA, which will likely be followed by other EU candidate states' industry associations into the European biotechnology industry's leading forum.

LEADING HUNGARIAN BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES ESTABLISH NATIONAL INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

The Hungarian Biotechnology Association (HBA) has been established by 15 of Hungary's leading biotechnology companies with the aim of promoting the development and representation of the Hungarian biotechnology sector.