Godfrey’s Schnapps gets chocolate boost

UK schnapps maker Godfrey’s has broken a three-year drought with the launch of a new chocolate and spice-flavoured schnapps. This complements its existing range of Butterscotch, Apple and Peach, and introduces new packaging.

MD Martin Godfrey says London-based Design Motive designed the new flavour and packaging. He plans more launches including a “rather different Vanilla Jazz”.

Godfrey's Chocolate Spice is made from dark chocolate with Jalapeno peppers. It delivers a smooth, creamy taste with a chocolate aroma, combined with a subtle spicy tingle at the back of the throat. 

Moss to provide new drugs
Proteome Systems win top award
Coca-Cola – for adults only?
IRI wins Pfizer UK deal
The dark side is better for you
System removes perchlorate from water

Research

Moss to provide new drugs

Moss could become a source for new drugs if collaboration between American and German researchers works out.

Many high-value therapeutic proteins need specific glycan or sugar structures to be fully effective and work safely in humans. Glycoproteins produced by plants have structures similar but not identical to those produced by mammals.

Scientists from Dow Chemical and greenovation Biotech in Freiburg, Germany plan to use a modified moss to produce therapeutic antibodies that are fully comparable to those produced in mammalian cell systems. They will use greenovation's successful double-knock-out of plant-specific sugar residues in moss for the investigation. The focus is on optimising galactosylation, the major step for achieving mammalian-like glycosylation for monoclonal antibodies.

Innovation award

Proteome Systems win top award

Australian genetic research firm Proteome Systems has won the 2003 Frost & Sullivan technology innovation award in the proteomics automation market.

The annual award goes to the company that has best shown technological superiority in its industry, plus the ability to develop and introduce new technology, formulate a well-designed product family, and improve product performance. Chairman and chief executive Keith Williams said "Our technology has been developed by practitioners of proteomics, specifically for proteome research, and has been rigorously tested in our in-house projects in cystic fibrosis, cancer, infectious diseases and ageing. We are honoured to be recognised for our innovations."

System removes perchlorate from water

A patented system that converts perchlorate into benign chloride ions cost effectively is now available from San Diego's Pure-O-Tech, a provider of ozone-based treatments for water and food security applications.

Perchlorate in the water supply restricts the thyroid gland's ability to make essential hormones. For foetuses, infants and children, disruptions in thyroid hormone levels leads to lower IQs, mental retardation, loss of hearing and speech, and motor skill deficits.

Pure-O-Tech aims to commercialise the technology, which it licenses from the San Diego State University.

Marketing

Coca-Cola – for adults only?

The growing move to outlaw child-focused marketing tactics has prompted Coca-Cola to include healthier alternatives such as milk-based drinks, juices, water and energy drinks to its school vending machines alongside the sweet brown fizz.

The company this week issued new guidelines that govern current and future relationships between Coke and K-12 schools in the US regarding vending machines and signage. These often provide essential revenue to schools. The rules seek to retain Coke’s ability to sell branded products to kids but to put more stress on healthier patterns of consumption and exercise.

Market research

IRI wins Pfizer UK deal

Market research Information Resources (IRI) is to provide UK market information to Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (PCH) until the end of 2006. The information will help the company market, sell and distribute its over the counter and consumer products, such as Nicorette, Listerine and Benadryl. The deal means PCH has now moved all its OTC retail tracking business from ACNielsen to IRI.

Nutrition

The dark side is better for you

A daily dose of dark chocolate may lower your blood pressure, say US researchers who examined the effect on adults aged 55 to 64 with hypertension of eating a 100g bar every day.

The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that test patients were prescribed a white or dark chocolate bar daily for two weeks. Those who ate the dark bar enjoyed a significant drop in blood pressure compared with those who ate the white chocolate. Researchers point out that dark chocolate, but not white, is rich in "heart-healthy chemicals called polyphenols."