News

The pace of forming academic spin-out companies picked up in the US in 2004 after a two-year slump, according to a survey released today.

"Basic research may seem very expensive. I am a well-paid scientist. My hourly wage is equal to that of a plumber..." Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel-winning chemist

When Google hired Kai-fu Lee from Microsoft to set up the internet company's new R&D centre in Beijing in July, it set off a legal battle that highlights how much is at stake in the rush to cash in on the country's booming economy and vast scientific labour force.

Shares in Oxford BioMedica, an Oxford University spin-out, fell 8.3 percent on news that the company was seeking up to £30 million to fund the Phase III trial of its a TroVax cancer immunotherapy product.

US biotechnology firm DOR BioPharma plans to build a bigger force in gastro-intestinal medicines by buying Copenhagen-based Gastrotech Pharma, a spin-out of Gothenburg University in Sweden.

Intercell, an Austrian biotechnology company, has received a $1 million milestone payment from Merck for progress in the development of a bacterial vaccine candidate.

Celoxica, an Oxford University spin-out that makes chip design software, blamed “depressive market” conditions for the company raising less capital than it initially expected in its initial public offering

British drug-delivery company Phoqus blamed "unfavourable market" conditions for meeting only its minimum target of £10 million in its initial public offering.

A spin-out from Sheffield University and Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research says it has created a compound using carbon monoxide that could save lives by helping with organ transplants.

A spin-out from Sheffield that uses stem cells to help with conventional drug discovery is looking for investment to continue pre-clinical research on therapeutic applications and business development activities.