Chemistry World Blog

18 October 2010: Have something to say about an article you’ve read on Chemistry World this week? Leave your comments below…

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PHARMACEUTICAL

Drug implant that combats addiction

Phase III trial results are in for Probuphine (buprenorphine), the implant developed by Titan Pharmaceuticals for the treatment of addiction to opioids, such as heroin and some prescription medications. Probuphine is fitted under the skin so that buprenorphine is delivered around the clock – with up to six months between renewals.

‘By providing a sustained blood level of active medication, Probuphine helps diminish the daily fluctuation of the medication effects – and potentially side effects – and reduces the total exposure of buprenorphine over time,’ said Walter Ling, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, US, and lead author of the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) paper in which the work is described. (more…)

Chemistry and the big questions (C) University of Leicester, UK

After the Economist questioned the value of chemistry last week, today I read with keen interest seeking chemistry in the special article in New Scientist titled ‘50 ideas to change science forever’. Although they have only released 25 ideas in the current issue, I could find at least 10 ideas which were either all chemistry or had a heavy connection to chemistry.

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PHARMACEUTICAL

Royal appointment for Pfizer

Pfizer has agreed to buy King Pharmaceuticals for $3.6 billion (£2.3 billion) in cash, equivalent to $14.25 per share. According to the US pharma giant, the deal represents a 40-per-cent premium based on the price on 11 October.

‘We are highly impressed by King’s innovative products and technology in the pain relief disease area, as well as by its success in advancing promising compounds in its pipeline,’ said Jeffrey Kindler, Pfizer chief executive. The company says the deal will bring cost savings of at least $200 million by the end of 2013.

King is a traditional pharma company that works with small molecules, which makes this an interesting move for Pfizer. The big pharma players are typically chasing biotechs to refill their pipelines. The reason? The large molecule drugs developed at biotechs are arguably likely to be less adversely affected by generic competition. King is perhaps best known for buying Alpharma for $1.6 billion in 2008, giving it access to Embeda (morphine-naltrexone), a pain reliever for patients in need of around-the-clock treatment. (more…)

In this week’s Chemistry in its element podcast, Durham University’s Jon Steed explains just why you might want to put a toxic heavy metal like platinum into your body

Human activity has skewed the balance in the earth’s nitrogen cycle. But how did the modern nitrogen cycle evolve? A recent review published in Science tries to answer that question and make suggestions about the future.

How did the nitrogen cycle of the earth start?

Most of the nitrogen in our atmosphere came from  the mantle (which still has a large amount of nitrogen stored in it, see image) in the chemically reduced ammonium (NH₄⁺) form. The earliest organisms had nitrogen delivered to them from the earth’s core. Ultraviolet oxidation of ammonium salts to nitrogen gas helped increase the concentration of nitrogen in the atmosphere.

— Nitrogen Contribution

(C) Science

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Giorgio De Faveri is a PhD student in the school of biological and chemical sciences at Queen Mary, University of London

I am not British, my name probably gives that away. I obtained my degree in chemistry in Italy, my home country, and I moved to London for my PhD. It was not an easy decision at the time, leaving friends, family and my old life behind to move to a different country, to a different language; to start everything again from the beginning.

I moved to the UK because I saw more opportunities than I had back home; more funding for research, better career chances and, let me be a bit venal here, better money for my PhD. I can very easily relate with the fear induced by the impending cuts to education and research proposed by the current government, to the possibility of a ‘brain drain’ like the one that has been happening in my country for years.

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11 October 2010: Have something to say about an article you’ve read on Chemistry World this week? Leave your comments below…

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On the whole, scientists are probably perceived as a relatively mild-mannered bunch. They chip away at the world’s problems, solving the great questions, many simply because of a love of research. Rarely do they throw their toys out of the pram.

Until now, that is. A storm has been brewing in the UK, and researchers have finally had enough. Fine, criticise peer review. Make research assessments an admin-filled nightmare. Pay them peanuts. But threaten to cut funding for science by as much as 25 per cent, and they ain’t going to sit back and take it.

The results of the government’s comprehensive spending review are due in less than two weeks, and government departments have been warned to prepare for significant budget cuts of up to a quarter.

The scientific seed of rebellion was planted when Jenny Rohn, a cell biologist at University College London, UK, wrote a blog post declaring war: ‘No more Doctor Nice Guy, no more hiding behind our work, no more just taking things lying down like we take everything else in our profession,’ she cried. ‘If they are going to bleed us dry, we might as well try to do something before it’s too late.’ (more…)

PHARMACEUTICAL

World pharma market to increase growth

The global pharma market will grow 5-7 per cent to $880 billion (£554 billion) in 2011, according to a report. This would be an improvement on the expected 2010 growth of just 4-5 per cent. According to the report from market intelligence company IMS Health the industry will rebound from the global economic downturn, but underlying problems, such as the impact of generic competition, will hamper the recovery.

Much of the market growth will be in the newly-wealthy developing countries. For example, IMS says the market in China – already the third largest – will grow 25-27 per cent to over $50 billion. The major limiting factor will be the expiration of key drug patents. In 2011, products with sales of more than $30 billion are expected to face the prospect of generic competition in the major developed markets, according to the report. Reduced government spending on drugs is also likely to have an effect. (more…)