The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), currently the largest public-private partnership in the biopharmaceutical sector, launches its second wave of research projects which address key areas including cancer, immune-mediated diseases, infectious disorders and electronic health.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that faculty from Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital will use IBM business analytics technology at the core of new research that examines the effectiveness of prescription drugs and spots potential safety issues.

Researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Turku have discovered four metabolic enzymes regulating prostate cancer cell growth. Inhibition of these enzymes prevents prostate cancer cell growth in cultured cells.

Pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research recently released the ePharma Consumer® v10.0 study, which explores the online behaviors of ePharma Consumers, or U.S. consumers using the Internet for prescription drug information.

The value of the global pharmaceutical market is expected to grow 5-7 percent in 2011, to US$880 billion, compared with a 4-5 percent pace this year, according to IMS Health. The forecast, included in the latest release of IMS Market Prognosis™, is the leading annual industry indicator of market dynamics and therapy performance.

First DataBank's new online medicines reference tool, FIRSTLight, is now live and First DataBank is offering a free extended trial until the end of January 2011. FIRSTLight provides instant access to reliable medicines information, empowering clinicians and supporting safer, faster clinical decision making.

Scientists working at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France have developed a new technique that enables them to introduce up to 15 fluorescent markers to a mammalian cell in one go. They say their findings could help speed up drug development and screening.