Agilent launches Advanced Paperless System in India

Agilent Technologies has introduced its updated compliance portfolio to the Indian market to help pharmaceutical and medical research companies meet global laboratory compliance regulations.

Agilent's Compliance Enterprise Edition, an advanced paperless qualification service that can be used across a variety of major vendors' laboratory systems and instrumentation, will help Indian pharmaceutical companies comply with regulations and guidelines such as GMP, GCP, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and GAMP4.

"This is a major coup for Indian labs that have laboratory equipment from a range of vendors, including Agilent, that needs to undergo compliance testing according to international standards," said Sanjeev Dhar, India country manager, Agilent Life Sciences and Chemical Analysis. "Agilent's Compliance Enterprise Edition will streamline and simplify compliance processes, accelerating entry into global markets.

Agilent's portfolio of compliance services includes Classic Edition and Software Edition qualification products for all-Agilent labs, Network Edition for network validation projects, and now Compliance Enterprise Edition.

Currently, India follows the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) principles for the (voluntary) Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) certification issued by its National GLP Compliance Monitoring Authority. India's Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) recently endorsed the view of the Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) to make GLP mandatory for all drug laboratories in the country.

Accelrys launches NanoBiology initiative

Accelrys has launched its NanoBiology Initiative to accelerate the development of computational modeling and informatics software that will enable scientists and engineers to apply nanotechnology to key areas of biological research including diagnostics, biosensing, drug delivery and biomaterial design.

The Initiative aims to enhance nanobiology R&D, extending the use of nanotechnology into new areas of research. It will bring together experts from industry, government and academia who will work towards the common goal of identifying and prioritizing critical business and technical issues in the area of nanobiology such as design and safety concerns. Dr Leroy Hood, president and co-founder of the Institute for Systems Biology and a leading proponent of biological applications of nanotechnology, will chair the Initiative's Scientific Advisory Committee.

Accelrys' core strengths in life science modeling, materials modeling, informatics and workflow technology will be used to develop a comprehensive infrastructure of nanobiology software solutions. These solutions will enable researchers to design novel nanoscale delivery platforms for drugs and diagnostics, nanoscale devices for biosensing and detection, and products for targeted medicine, systems biology and biodefense. Special emphasis will be placed on the smart design of nanosystems and architectures as well as on safety and toxicology issues. The development of customizable, easy-to-use workflows that help researchers streamline their work in nanobiology will also be an objective of the Initiative.

Labvantage's Sapphire Biobanking solution supports diabetes research

LabVantage Solutions, a provider of enterprise solutions tailored for laboratories, serves discovery, development, formulation, process research, raw material testing, and quality management laboratories across multiple industries, has announced that Amylin Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, CA, has licensed its Sapphire BioBanking Solution. Amylin selected Sapphire for its robust functionality, leading edge technology, and vast flexibility. Sapphire will enhance Amylin's ability to track the increasing number of samples used in research and development of treatments for diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.

The Sapphire BioBanking Solution is designed to address the unique challenges of specimen collection and banking for pharmaceutical discovery and clinical operations, academic and biosciences research centers, medical institutions, and contract research organizations. The solution provides intricate chain-of-custody functionality, detailed location and shipment management, aliquot/derivative and pooled sample tracking, and electronic signature capture upon transfer and disposition. It offers a browser-based user interface and built-it Evergreen configuration tool to tailor the same solution to the needs of each laboratory within the organization. This flexibility also allows it to readily adapt to a variety of data capture, result management, storage and specimen handling circumstances.

The solution is seamlessly integrated with Sapphire's existing laboratory information management solution for life sciences R&D to manage experiments and track vital genomic, proteomics, phenotypic and other result information about samples. Furthermore, it can easily be integrated with third party public databases, instruments, clinical trial management systems, electronic data capture systems, and existing laboratory information management systems.

TNT Express to use RFID on a global scale

TNT Express, announced the second phase of its Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) program, becoming the only integrator to use RFID to track shipments on a global scale. Following the successful trials of phase one and with ongoing system upgrades, the RFID equipment is now ready to fully integrate with TNT's existing systems.

RFID readers are able to supply more tracking information than barcode scanners and since they can operate remotely and without human intervention, they allow greater control over shipments. Furthermore, readers are positioned at crucial points in TNT's transit locations to monitor movements, thus enabling tighter security and process control.

For the second phase of the program, TNT has formed a partnership with one of the world's largest manufacturers of medical diagnostic products and will design and deliver an RFID solution to monitor the temperature integrity of life-critical chemical re-agents. They will be transported from the TNT-managed regional distribution center in Singapore, to two strategic distribution points in Bangkok and Shanghai, using TNT's newly launched Asia Road Network.

Onno Boots, director, global account management, TNT Express, said, "TNT has had to respond to the changing requirements in the life science and high tech markets. Combined with the increase in supply chain complexity, this creates the demand for a system which offers more accurate and reliable tracking of shipments. By adopting more sophisticated RFID technology, TNT has been able to satisfy this demand and further enhance its position as an innovative leader in these markets."

Stratagene, Strand to develop next generation bioinformatics tools

Stratagene Corporation, a developer, manufacturer and marketer of specialized life science research and diagnostic products, and Strand Life Sciences, have entered into a strategic partnership to develop a suite of next generation bioinformatics software tools.

Under the terms of the agreement, Strand and Stratagene will collaborate on the design and development of innovative software tools to address the increasingly complex demands of biological data analysis for life scientists. Stratagene will exclusively market and sell the jointly developed products, which will utilize Strand's award-winning AVADIS technology.

"We are very excited about integrating Strand's AVADIS platform into our software solutions product line. This relationship with Strand strengthens our commitment to delivering powerful and easy-to-use bioinformatics tools to the life sciences community," said Joseph Sorge, president and CEO, Stratagene.

Stratagene and Strand expect to shortly release two sophisticated yet extremely intuitive software packages that address the two fastest growing bioinformatics software markets today - systems biology - focused pathway analysis and analysis of the new generation of Affymetrix GeneChip Arrays.

"We believe that this partnership for informatics solutions will enable Strand and Stratagene to take a strong position in the functional genomics informatics vertical as the leading provider of comprehensive solutions to the research biologist," said Vijay Chandru, chairman and CEO, Strand Life Sciences.