BIOTECH: Yet another drug company
in the US has linked its lot with a
biotech firm in a bid to expand its
product line. Schering Plough Corp
has forged a deal with COR
Therapeutics Inc, agreeing to pay a
whopping US $120 million to gain
access to COR's experimental heart
drug Integrelin. US $26 million will
be deposited as soon as & papers are
finalised and the additional pay-
ments will be tied to milestones in
the drug's, development, which is
expected to cost US $100 million.
Integrelin is being developed as an
agent to prevent and treat blood dots
in the coronary arteries.
PIGGING OUT: Stuff yourself with pork,
poultry and beef without fear, for the
last of the disease-causing bacteria
are. due to be taken care of, says
Frigo-sca"a, the frontrunning
Swedish food-processing equipment
manufacturer, which
recently joined hands
with Cargill Inc, the
US food processing
giant. The process of
a fooldeveloping
proof method of treating animal flesh uses a blanket of
steam to pasteurise the surface of
carcasses. This method, which can be
retrofitted easily, also uses considerably less energy and water than the
hot-water bath technology currently
in operation.
WIRELESS PUFFS: If you are staying in
the backwaters of the planet where
laying hands on even a couple of batteries is a miracle, don't worry - you
can still listen to the radio. This is the
message that the Johannesburgbased Bay-Gen Power Co is "transmitting" to wireless-buffs in the
backward nations. BayGen has just
launched a batteryless radio with a
handle on its back. A single twist of
the handle is required to get the unit
warbling. A steel spring unwinds and
the resulting torque drives a generator that powers an electric motor
capable of generating enough electricity to power a motor.
CONTRACT FARMING: In
a bid to implement
the newfangled concept of 'contract farming' in India, 20
men from Bombay
set up Garsons, a chicken farm in
Kadade village in Pune district, on
April 23. Promoted by Shirish and
Harish Garware, the complex is
located on a sprawling 50 acre spread
and is equipped with ultra-modern
poultry units for each of the 20
founder@shareholders. The farm 'will
primarily raise chicken and other
agro-assets.
Each shareholder will be involved
in raising flocks of 21,000 commercial broiler chicken every 6 weeks
with day-old chicks being provided
by a nearby chicken processing company. The contract includes a buyback agreement.
Modern techniques at the farm
includes chicks drinking from a driptype &-vice ensuring no wastage of
water. Each holder is expected to
make ks 20,000 a month and the project's turnover is estimated at an
annuafRs 10 crores.
PHARMACEUTICALS:
Even a rousing con
troversy has not
deterred Sandoz, the
Swiss pharmaceutical
company, from intro
ducing Leponex, an anti-psychotic
drug, in India, likely to hit the mar
ket in June. Recommended to treat
chronic schizophrenia, the drug ran
headlong into a controversy in the
'70s after 8 Finnish patients died
from agranulocytosis, a fatal side
effect of the drug which reduces the
number of white blood cells (WBC).
Patients on Leponex will be monitored and will have to undergo a
blood test weekly to check their WBC
count. The price of the drug is yet to
be fixed although it is available at Rs
80 per 100 mg in the international
market. For Sandoz, Leponex is
proving to be a real money-spinner
as it is the firm's 2nd largest selling
drug in the global market.
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