In September, scientists from the Europe, Japan and the US announced the formation of the International Alliance for NanoEHS Harmonization (IANH). Using round robin experiments, the IANH will develop standard protocols for the toxicological testing of nanomaterials at the cell and animal levels. The protocols will be used for hazard assessment and to rank the […]

The FDA and prescription benefits manager Medco Health Solutions have entered into a two-year agreement to study pharmacogenomics. Using reports produced by Medco based on the pharmacy claims of its 60 million members, FDA will assess the use of genetic tests for prescribing drugs and determining drug safety, as well as how doctors utilize such […]

Patent-application filings rose 4.9% in 2006 to over 1.76 million due to more filings by China, Korea and the US, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. China’s share of patent filings increased 32.1% to 7.3%, compared to shares of 6.6% and 6.7% for Korea and the US, respectively. Filings for drug patents rose 1.7%, […]

BASF and Dow hold the top two spots in this year’s Chemical & Engineering News survey of the top 50 chemical producers, with 2007 chemicals sales of $65.04 billion and $53.51 billion, an increase of 20% and 9%, respectively. The aggregate profit margin for the top 50 firms was 10.4%, up from last year’s 9.5%. […]

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of Laboratory Standards, over 200,000 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-certified labs conduct around 6.8 billion tests annually and account for 2.3% of healthcare funding. Total lab testing revenue was $52 billion for 2007, 54% of which was from hospital-based labs. Of the CLIA labs, […]