News in a nutshell

- Is the US Food and Drug Administration's 2006 initiative to gain approval for old drugs that predate the current approval process boosting safety or just inflating the cost of such medicines, asks linkurl:an article;http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-unapproved-drugs18-2010jan18,0,7696622.story in the LA Times. - Researchers have launched linkurl:an open access database;http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2010/WTX058219.htm of more than 520,000 small molecule

Written byAlla Katsnelson
| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share
- Is the US Food and Drug Administration's 2006 initiative to gain approval for old drugs that predate the current approval process boosting safety or just inflating the cost of such medicines, asks linkurl:an article;http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-unapproved-drugs18-2010jan18,0,7696622.story in the LA Times. - Researchers have launched linkurl:an open access database;http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2010/WTX058219.htm of more than 520,000 small molecules and drugs -- a resource for both the biopharma industry and academic chemical biologists -- containing information on compounds' binding properties, toxicity and absorption, and effects on biological systems. The database, called ChEMBLdb, belonged to the Belgian biotech company Galapagos NV but was transferred to the public domain with the help of a grant from the Wellcome Trust and is now hosted by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute. -A physical chemist has been tapped to run France's chief national research agency, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Alain Fuchs, who has served as the director of Chimie ParisTech since 2006, may be confirmed as soon as Wednesday, linkurl:ScienceInsider reports.;http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/01/chemical-engine.html - The National Institutes of Health has put out the call to small businesses to apply for one of two categories of translational grants -- the Small Business Innovation Research grants and the Small Business Technology Transfer program. See the announcement linkurl:here.;http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-080.html -Finally, Elsevier is considering shutting down its journal Medical Hypotheses after AIDS researchers complained about an article it ran by AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg which stated that there was "as yet no proof that HIV causes Aids," linkurl:according to the Times Higher Education.;http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=409997 The journal, which is not peer reviewed, linkurl:aims to publish;http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/623059/description provocative ideas. The papers it publishes are chosen by its editor.
**__Related stories:__***linkurl:Morale mire;http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/12/1/67/1/
[December 2008]*linkurl:Changes to federal biotech grants?;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54441/
[ 20th March 2008]*linkurl:[CNRS reform opposed;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22643/
[5th April 2005]
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Share
Illustration of a developing fetus surrounded by a clear fluid with a subtle yellow tinge, representing amniotic fluid.
January 2026

What Is the Amniotic Fluid Composed of?

The liquid world of fetal development provides a rich source of nutrition and protection tailored to meet the needs of the growing fetus.

View this Issue
Human-Relevant In Vitro Models Enable Predictive Drug Discovery

Advancing Drug Discovery with Complex Human In Vitro Models

Stemcell Technologies
Redefining Immunology Through Advanced Technologies

Redefining Immunology Through Advanced Technologies

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance in AAV Manufacturing with Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance in AAV Manufacturing with Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Beckman Coulter Logo
Conceptual multicolored vector image of cancer research, depicting various biomedical approaches to cancer therapy

Maximizing Cancer Research Model Systems

bioxcell

Products

Sino Biological Logo

Sino Biological Expands Research Reagent Portfolio to Support Global Nipah Virus Vaccine and Diagnostic Development

Beckman Coulter

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Partners with Automata to Accelerate AI-Ready Laboratory Automation

Refeyn logo

Refeyn named in the Sunday Times 100 Tech list of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies

Parse Logo

Parse Biosciences and Graph Therapeutics Partner to Build Large Functional Immune Perturbation Atlas