WASHINGTON – The director of biotechnology at the European Patent Office (EPO) hailed a "breakthrough" in the interminable effort to create a single European patent, after ministers last week rubber-stamped two draft regulations embodying the new patent. (BioWorld International)

LONDON – A UK start-up has unveiled plans to form a £39 million (US$62 million) cancer research center after reaching proof of principal for a technology, originally developed at AstraZeneca plc, which makes it possible to generate patentable analogues of existing drugs. (BioWorld International)