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The Eden team will be attending BIO 2008 International Convention, San Diego, 17-20 Jun 2008. Come and visit us at Booth #1043 and find out what incredible promotional gifts we have managed to obtain this year!. If you’d like to set up a meeting please contact Jo
Roger will be at Cell Line Development & Engineering, San Diego, 23-25 Jun 2008. Come and visit us at Booth #7. Or if you’d like to set up a meeting with Roger please contact Jo
Roger will be attending Next Generation Vaccines, MD, 17-18 July 2008. Come and visit us at the Eden stand. Or if you’d like to set up a meeting with Roger please contact Jo
As Liverpool is proudly enthroned as Europe’s (undisputed?) Capital of Culture, it seems only appropriate that I take this opportunity to describe some of the City’s fine dining establishments!
It’s a pretty established fact that the two restaurants that vie for the title of Liverpool’s top eatery are the London Carriage Works, part of the celebrated Hope Street Hotel, and 60 Hope Street. In the views of the critics that count, The Carriage Works has recently moved ahead with the award of its first Michelin star. It is indeed a fantastic place to have a very special meal - at an equally special price. I last went before the award of the pointy emblem and it was eye wateringly expensive then, so I shudder to think what the prices have risen to now. My only criticism, and it’s a common one amongst its diners, is that it’s a rather sterile environment with everyone on their very best ‘eating out posh’ behaviour. If you a drop a fork onto the plush carpet the muted noise will be enough to turn every head. Whilst I clearly don’t have the sophisticated palate, or waistline, of a Michelin critic - if you fancy somewhere with food that’s just as good, if somewhat less contrived, but with some background buzz, I would recommend popping next door to 60 Hope Street.
One of my favourite places for taking visiting clients (not least because it’s a lot cheaper than the two above!) is Alma de Cuba. Of all the many fantastic restaurants and bars I’ve been lucky enough to visit around the world (…the silver lining of my previous role in sales), Alma de Cuba is the best and most visually arresting venue I have ever dined, or consumed a beer, in. It’s a converted church, but the conversion to a Cuban bar and restaurant has been spectacular. See it for yourself. The service is world class, and the food is seasonally good. There is a great range of South American bottled beers (Modello Negro being favourite), cocktails and some very good, reasonably priced wines.
Finally, if you have ever been a student living in, or visiting Liverpool, you will undoubtedly be familiar with the Blue Angel nightclub, or the Raz, as it’s often still referred to. This was always the fallback when every other night club had refused you admission, or you only had £2 to get in and buy a drink. With bouncers that didn’t know how to close a door and a liberal attitude to Health and Safety, particularly with respect to overcrowding, this was every students haunt at one time or other. It has a tiny dance floor in a weird cavern like room that was always uncannily decorated like the inside of a stomach. The effect was only added to by the sweat and condensation that formed on the low, uneven ceiling and dripped onto the dancers as they crammed shoulder to shoulder together, trying to lift their feet out of the sticky pool of spilt drink on the floor. Well, I’m very sorry to report that the cultural glamorisation of Liverpool’s city centre has not been to everyone’s benefit. Following complaints from the residents of the new, des res city centre apartments that overlook it, the Blue Angel this week lost its appeal and had it’s late license revoked. Thus ending a Liverpool nightlife institution.
Derek Ellison
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Welcome to the latest edition of our e-newsletter.
Why would 70 biotech professionals gather in a darkened cellar to debate fermentation comparability in hushed tones? – find out below!
We have had a hectic time over the past few months with a number of major development, commercial, capital and promotional projects coming to fruition. This an exciting time for Eden and we look forward to sharing these developments in the very near future.
There was major news regarding the successful development of biopharmaceuticals in the UK this month. UCB’s Fab fragment drug Cimzia (formerly Celltech’s lead candidate CDP870), has been approved in the US for the treatment of moderate to severe Crohn’s disease. The FDA approved Cimzia which is a PEGylated anti-TNFα (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha) antibody indicated for reducing signs and symptoms of Crohn’s disease. The successful development has been led and largely performed by the ex-Celltech team at Slough, UK.
Meanwhile, Abbott Laboratories announced first-quarter net profits reaching nearly $1 billion. The 35% increase in net profit is driven by the growth of its key pharmaceutical Humira (originally licensed from CAT, UK). The product is the company’s best performing drug with worldwide sales of $878 million and also received approval in Japan for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in patients with inadequate response to conventional therapy.
At the end of last month, AstraZeneca announced that it’s development candidate Recentin, has shown preliminary efficacy in recurrent glioblastoma in small Phase II trials and the company now plans to start Phase III trials in the indication.
In other news, GSK has launched a bid to acquire Sirtris Pharmaceuticals for $270 million. The reasoning is to enable access to new ways of treating metabolic and age-related diseases. The company will become part of GSK’s drug discovery organization. Also, in a second deal worth up to $600 million, the company also signed a therapeutic alliance with Reglus Therapeutics to develop and commercialize microRNA focused therapeutics for immuno-inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
As large pharma increasingly turns towards outsourcing to reduce production costs and provide flexibility, US drug giant Pfizer last month announced that it plans to close or sell an additional 13 manufacturing facilities as part of an effort to cut its number of production plants to 44 by the end of 2009. Lilly also announced that it is cutting up to 500 jobs in a bid to streamline its manufacturing operations in Indianapolis, Indiana after pulling its AIR inhaled insulin product.
Firstly we welcome two new members to the Eden team, Linda Randall who joins as cGMP Production Manager. Linda was previously Head of Product Development at Sanofi-Aventis in the UK. We also welcome Michael Faughnan, who joins as Business Development Director based in Southern California. Michael is responsible for North American Business Development activities and was previously Manager of Sales and Business Development for Cytovance Biologics.
We also held our fourth joint London based networking event with SAFC Biosciences at Berry Brothers & Rudd Wine Merchants. Both Crawford Brown, Eden’s CEO, and Archie Cullen, Vice President Sales & Marketing, SAFC Biosciences opened the event attended by nearly 70 guests. The feedback received proved the event was a good opportunity to meet up with old friends and colleagues within the industry who joined us on the night.
On 16th April 2008, Eden hosted a visit from Mid Cheshire College - 24 students studying a BTEC in Applied/Forensic Science. The students had a great opportunity to see, as David Copsey, accompanying lecturer in Chemistry put it - ‘the pots and pans’ and how science operates in the “real” world. The students were given a presentation on Biopharmaceuticals and a conducted tour of the facility. Dr Richard Dennett, Head of Eden Consultancy Services said ‘it’s fantastic to be able to give undergraduates a first hand insight into biomanufacturing and to discuss potential careers opportunities with the students’.
In other news, once again a few members of the Eden Team took part in the Active Knowsley 5K Challenge on Sunday 18 May 2008. Although the weather was a little cooler compared to last year we still “enjoyed” (not sure if that’s the right word for the aching limbs afterwards) but we managed to raise a few pounds for our chosen charity, Zoe’s Place, along the way! Congratulations to all the runners - Alex, Alison, Andrew, Anita, Ashley, Aysha, Emma, Fiona, James, Jemma, Jo, Karolin, Kassim, Katherine, Liam, Louise, Mike, Pete, Phil, Ralph, Rob, Sabiha, Scott and Suzy who completed the course.
On a sad note, we say goodbye to Dr Tamara Tugal, Business Development Manager who leaves Eden at the end of this month. Tamara is moving to a biotech company based in Amsterdam - we wish her well in her new role.
Over the last few months we have had several technical articles published.
Derek Ellison’s ‘Outsourcing Biologics Manufacturing’, appeared in April’s Pharmaceutical Technology Europe as their 20th Anniversary special feature. Click here to view the article.
Whilst Crawford Brown and Roger Lias had their article entitled ‘Bridging Vaccine Translational Research’ published in EBR’s Spring Issue. Click here to view the article.
This newsletter is prepared by Eden Biodesign and comments and suggestions are most welcome.
Please address them to: Johanne Tabern (Tel: +44 (0)151 728 1750)
Eden Biodesign
National Biomanufacturing Centre, Estuary Banks
Estuary Commerce Park, Speke Road, Liverpool L24 8RB
www.edenbiodesign.com
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future, please email Johanne to be removed from the mailing list.
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