AstraZeneca has appointed BioCity Nottingham to establish a new bioscience hub at its Alderley Park R&D site in Cheshire.

The BioHub will provide high-quality laboratory and office facilities for small pharma and biotech firms involved in drug discovery and development.

The ‘hub’ model of bioscience R&D has already achieved great success in Nottingham, Cambridge, Abingdon and Glasgow, providing benefits to tenant companies, investors and the regional economy.

The first three client companies – Blueberry Therapeutics Ltd, Imagen Biotech Ltd and Redx Anti-Infectives Ltd (a subsidiary of Redx Pharma) have already moved onto the site.

A total of 36,000 square feet of innovation space is available at the BioHub, and tenant companies expect to achieve rapid growth.

The BioCity management team has established hubs in Nottingham and Newhouse, just outside Glasgow.

AstraZeneca is providing the BioHub laboratories and offices, as well as access to restaurants, meeting rooms and conference facilities and to technical equipment.

Dr Glenn Crocker (pictured), CEO of BioCity Nottingham, said: “We are delighted to have been chosen to advise and help establish the BioHub at Alderley Park. We bring many years of experience in developing thriving communities of successful life science companies, and look forward to working closely with the AstraZeneca management team.

“We now have a unique opportunity to build connections between tenant companies based at Alderley Park, Nottingham and Scotland, which could ultimately transform the way life science innovation is achieved.”

While the closure of AstraZeneca’s R&D facility at the Alderley Park site (formerly owned by ICI) caused much concern within the industry, the BioHub plan ensures that the classic site will continue to host pharmaceutical innovation.

CoCo Therapeutics, a new biotech company specialising in dementia treatment, has appointed Dr Steve Butcher as its Chief Operating Officer.

The London-based company has also appointed five clinical and scientific advisors, including Dr Butcher and Professor Jonathan Corcoran, the company’s founding scientist.

CoCo is developing innovative therapies for Alzheimer’s disease based on a novel target: the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-alpha) gene.

Dr Butcher was Scientific Director of the Fujisawa Institute of Neuroscience before holding executive positions in pharma (Pharmacia) and biotech (BioImage and TopoTarget).

Raj Parekh, CoCo Chairman and General Partner at Advent Venture Partners, said: “We are pleased that an individual of Steve’s calibre is now leading the programmes at CoCo Therapeutics. The Board looks forward to working closely with Steve to evaluate RAR alpha agonists in Alzheimer’s disease.”

In addition to Dr Butcher, CoCo has made four appointments to its Clinical and Scientific Advisory Group:

• Professor Clive Ballard – Co-Director of the Biomedical Unit for Dementia at the Institute of Psychiatry, Co-Director of the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, Kings College London and Director of Research for the Alzheimer’s Society.

• Professor Jonathan Corcoran – Director of the Neuroscience Drug Discovery Unit, Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, Kings College London.

• Roy Lobb – consultant to the biotechnology industry, specialising in early drug discovery research.

• Andrew Wood – Venture Partner at Advent Venture Partners, formerly involved in R&D and business development at Eli Lilly.

CoCo’s RAR-alpha agonist drug development programme is based on research by Professor Corcoran’s laboratory at King’s College London that implicated the RAR-alpha gene in Alzheimer’s disease.

Patent restrictions on drug trials in the UK will be lifted, making it easier for new drugs to be compared with the standard treatment.

The new exceptions enable companies to trial a new drug or a generic version against an established brand without violating its patent.

The changes to the Patents Act could both strengthen the UK as a base for pharmaceutical R&D and improve the medical value of clinical trial findings.

Life science industry trade associations have welcomed the new regulations for the boost they offer to innovative drug development, despite potential losses to established brands.

An Intellectual Property Office consultation showed overwhelming industry support for both changes to the patent law: the ‘research exception’ for trials of new drugs and the ‘Bolar exception’ for trials of generic drugs.

Not only does the rule that head-to-head clinical trials infringe patent make it harder to establish new drugs, it has also led to widespread criticism of clinical trials that compare a new drug with placebo – which no doctor prescribes.

Most EU countries exempt clinical trials from patent infringement, and the UK law has been a barrier to clinical trial work in the UK.

“The Government is keen to create a supportive environment for pharmaceutical research and development in the UK,” said Lord Younger (pictured), Minister for Intellectual Property.

“Helping the industry get their products to market as quickly as possible will benefit patients, the industry and the economy.”

Stephen Whitehead, CEO of the ABPI, commented: “This is a welcome development that will make the UK a more attractive place in which to conduct clinical trials, which in turn will encourage pharmaceutical companies to continue operating here.”

A scheme that used bogus figures for investment in vaccine research to exploit a tax loophole has been exposed by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Matrix Securities sold a scheme to investors whereby they could gain tax relief at nearly twice their level of investment, using a tax break designed to encourage medical research.

However, HMRC exposed their investment figures as fraudulent and refused most of their tax relief claim, forcing the Matrix Group into administration.

The company raised £28m from 83 investors and borrowed another £86m from banks to fund research into vaccines against HIV, influenza and hepatitis B.

It claimed a first year trading loss of £193m and £77m tax relief, of which £50m would be paid to the investors.

However, HMRC established in a tribunal that only £14m had been spent on R&D and was therefore subject to tax relief.

Matrix Securities and other members of the Matrix Group have gone into administration – though another member, Matrix Asset Management, claims to have invested £107m in the development of a universal flu vaccine.

Clients who invested in the fraudulent scheme are claiming it was misrepresented to them.

David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, commented that HMRC “will take decisive action to close down schemes with the sole purpose of avoiding paying tax.”

Researchers in the UK and the US have developed a method of designing drugs that can act on multiple gene targets, enabling them to treat complex diseases.

The new drug development process could revolutionise the treatment of major diseases including diabetes, cancer and bipolar disorder.

Whereas current genetic therapies target individual genes, leading to a highly specialised or ‘personalised’ drug regime for the patient, the new drugs could be effective across a wide patient spectrum.

Susceptibility to complex diseases such as cancer is known to depend on a considerable number of genetic and non-genetic factors – so the impact of a drug that can treat all known genetic factors could be massive.

Ironically, this research breakthrough could reverse the trend of pharmaceutical innovation towards ‘personalised’ medicine over the last decade, renewing the role of broad-spectrum drugs in treating major diseases.

The research collaboration by scientists at the Universities of Dundee (UK) and North Carolina (US) has developed a method of computerised drug design, based on large databases of drug-target interactions.

The scientists tested 800 predicted drug-target interactions using new drugs designed by this method: 75% were confirmed by in vitro tests.

In addition, the concept of using one new drug to treat a complex disease across a range of genetic factors has been proven in mouse models.

A drug designed to treat ADHD was shown to be effective in preventing typical hyperactive behaviours in two mouse groups with different genetic defects: a missing dopamine receptor and a missing brain neuropeptide.

Study co-leader Brian L. Roth, Professor of Pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine, commented that for a complex disease, “we know there are likely hundreds of different genes that can influence the risk for disease and, because of that, there’s likely no single gene and no one drug target that will be useful for treating it.

“And so the realisation has been that perhaps one way forward is to make drugs that hit collections of drug targets simultaneously. Here we show how to efficiently and effectively make designer drugs that can do that.”

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has formed a global collaboration with ten leading cancer research institutions to develop drugs for immuno-oncology.

A unique global collaboration between industry and academia, the International Immuno-Oncology Network (II-ON) will focus on harnessing the body’s immune system to fight cancer.

II-ON will facilitate the translation of scientific research findings into drug discovery and development, clinical trials and new treatments.

As well as BMS, the network includes leading medical research institutions in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the US and the UK (the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Cancer Research, London).

Elliott Sigal, executive VP, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research and Development at BMS, described the II-ON as “a public-private partnership that will leverage intellectual capabilities across a global network,” with a shared commitment to developing “our understanding of immuno-oncology towards our ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes”.

In 2011 “evading immune destruction” was added to the ‘Hallmarks of Cancer’, a standard reference on the traits of malignant cancers.

BMS is developing a number of immunotherapeutic drugs for patients with different types of cancer.

US company Constellation Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery partner of Roche’s Genentech, has appointed Dr Keith Dionne as CEO.

Dr Dionne has held senior roles in the pharmaceutical industry, life science investment and life science academic sectors.

He replaces outgoing CEO Dr Mark Goldsmith, who will stay on as Executive Chairman.

Constellation discovers and develops small-molecule drugs for cancer and inflammatory/immune disorders based on epigenetics, the study of gene expression mechanisms beyond DNA.

Dr Dionne most recently served as entrepreneur-in-residence at life science investment firm Third Rock Ventures. His previous roles include CEO of Aurface Logix, CEO of Alantos Pharmaceuticals, and two VP roles (for R&D and technology) at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

In his previous academic career, Dr Dionne was Adjunct Professor in the Biomedical Department at Brown University.

“With more than 20 years of experience leading US and international biotech companies, research and development teams and successful strategic alliances between companies, Keith is ideally suited to lead this phase of our organisation and advance our leadership in epigenetics drug discovery and development,” said Dr Goldsmith.

Dr Dionne commented: “I’m delighted to join Constellation at this exciting time in the company’s growth and evolution as we approach clinical milestones in our internal programmes and continue to realise the full potential of our platform in conjunction with our broad discovery alliance with Genentech.”

Boehringer Ingelheim plans to invest €17 million in its biopharmaceutical drug development and manufacturing capabilities in Europe.

The expansion of its facilities in Biberach, Germany, and Vienna, Austria, will reinforce Boehringer’s position as the industry’s leading contract manufacturer.

By investing in cell culture and microbial technologies for drug development, Boehringer will also strengthen its relationship with the biotech sector.

The new investment follows years of building the company’s capacity for contract manufacture of biopharmaceuticals through its cell culture facilities in Biberach and its microbial fermentation facility in Vienna.

The money will cover cell line and microbial strain development, as well as process development in contract drug manufacturing, and will be used to expand Boehringer’s Good Manufacturing Practice capabilities in these areas.

At the Biberach site, the investment will support the company’s ‘Lean to Clinic’ programme for monoclonal antibody projects, aiming to deliver drug candidates ready for clinical testing within 13 months.

At the Vienna site, it will advance Boehringer’s proprietary technologies, including its plasmid DNA manufacturing platform and its biotech collaborations with Pfenex and VTU Technology.

“The expansion has been tailor-suited to fully meet our customer demands in cell culture and microbial process science, especially for our rapidly expanding preclinical project portfolio with biotech companies,” said Dr Dorothee Ambrosius, Boehringer’s Senior VP for Biopharmaceuticals Global Process Science.

“This is another milestone within our contract manufacturing strategy, securing technology leadership and towards increased flexibility and customer orientation.”

Boehringer accounts for 23% of contract manufacturing capacity in the global biopharmaceuticals sector.

Sir Andrew Witty has accused the Government of delaying the use of new and innovative cancer drugs on the NHS in order to save money.

The GSK Chief Executive believes that the introduction of new products is being halted by the Government as part of measures aimed at lowering costs.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Sir Andrew said he was frightened that “governments are delaying the approval of innovative new drugs” to achieve increased savings.

He added that GSK were losing around £300 million per annum as governments across Europe reduced drug prices by approximately 5% a year.

On top of cutting healthcare costs, Sir Andrew said that drugs budgets were also being slashed and pointed towards a lack of new cancer drugs being used on the NHS.

“Cancer in the UK is a good example where we’re seeing oncology drugs being systematically delayed from introduction and reimbursement,” he said.

“We are seeing a variety of the more innovative and more expensive medicines being delayed in a whole series of different diseases across Europe.”

On top of the systematic delay of of new treatments, Sir Andrew also accused governments of treating the pharma industry as a “simple procurement business”.

“As governments have got more and more anxious about their debt positions and austerity agendas, what happened is quite predictable,” he said.

“If you are a minister and you need to cut costs, it is a lot easier to cut drug prices than it is to close a hospital or reduce the size of the Civil Service. I understand that.

“The issue here is, of course, if you don’t buy the new drug it is going to save you money in the drug bill. But the drug bill is only 8 per cent to 10 per cent of the total health care bill and what is being lost in this stampede for cost cut is any kind of strategic thoughtfulness.”

The Department of Health dismissed the accusations made by GSK’s CEO insisting spending has increased on medicines and that patients are receiving the latest treatments on the NHS. “The Government has increased spending on health, which includes new drugs, and thousands more patients are getting access to the most advanced treatments,” said a spokesman.

“This includes the 11,000 extra patients who have benefited from the setting up of our £650 million Cancer Drugs Fund. The need for careful assessment of drugs’ effectiveness by NICE is particularly important for patients and taxpayers during a time of economic austerity.

“The Government has not changed any assessment processes relating to cancer drugs. Furthermore, drug companies need to look hard at the high costs they are asking of the health service for their latest treatments.”

Novartis has entered into a strategic collaboration with biotech company Enanta Pharmaceuticals to develop, manufacture and commercialise a new targeted drug for hepatitis C.

The agreement gives US-based specialist Enanta the backing of Novartis for EDP-239, the lead drug candidate from its hepatitis C virus (HCV) inhibitor program targeting the NS5A genotype.

Enanta will receive an upfront payment of $34m, and stands to receive a further $406m in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.

The US company will also receive tiered double-digit royalties on global sales and retain co-detail rights in the US.

Novartis will be responsible for all costs of developing, manufacturing and commercialising EDP-239, and will fund Enanta’s further drug discovery work targeting the same genotype.

NS5A is a non-structural viral protein that is essential to viral replication. Drugs targeting it have been shown to have major antiviral effects.

EDP-239 was recently included in Windhover’s top 10 ‘Most interesting infectious disease projects to watch’ list.

“Novartis is a recognised leader in the field of HCV, and access to its global expertise combined with our shared vision for commercialising HCV therapies will support the successful development and commercialisation of products targeting NS5A,” commented Jay R. Luly, Enanta’s CEO.

“We believe EDP-239 has great potential as a potent ingredient in combination drug therapy, and our preclinical studies have demonstrated high potency against multiple genotypes of the virus, excellent safety profile and a preclinical pharmacokinetic profile amenable to once-a-day dosing in humans.”

Hepatitis C is a chronic and life-threatening disease that affects over 170 million people worldwide. Drugs to inhibit the virus are increasingly a major goal for the pharma industry.

Based in Massachusetts, Enanta Pharmaceuticals is a research and development company specialising in targeted drugs to combat HCV.