The Challenge of Change - Managing Excipients Control
Colorcon
03-May-2004 - Chemical Synthesis Services of Northern Ireland has acquired a controlling interest in Albachem, a company specialising in peptide and protein synthesis based in West Lothian, Scotland.
03-May-2004 - The raft of US laboratory equipment and consumables companies reporting results for the first quarter of 2004 this week provides convincing evidence that demand for these products has returned among the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, reports Phil Taylor.
03-May-2004 - The market for RNA interference (RNAi) products used as research tools and therapeutics is still at an embryonic stage, but looks set to more than double in value by the end of the decade, according to new market research.
29-Apr-2004 - BASF and Merck KGaA have joined DSM in reporting encouraging first-quarter 2004 results, raising hopes further that the European chemicals sector may be about to move into recovery mode, writes Phil Taylor.
29-Apr-2004 - Manufacturers of custom synthetic oligonucleotides (oligos) could see competition from new entrants into the sector, according to a survey which finds that customers are not entirely happy with their suppliers.
29-Apr-2004 - Italy's Recordati has sold off Sophartex, a French subsidiary specialising in the contract manufacture of finished pharmaceutical dosage forms, continuing its strategy of divesting businesses outside its core focus of developing and marketing its own drug products.
28-Apr-2004 - DSM has said it expects 'clearly higher' net profit from ordinary operations in 2004, after reporting an unexpected increase in first-quarter operating earnings.
28-Apr-2004 - DMV International, the industrial ingredients division of the Netherlands' Campina, is planning to open a dedicated facility in Germany for the production of excipients for direct compression.
28-Apr-2004 - Lurgi, part of the mg technology group, has sold off a pharmaceutical and chemical engineering unit to two former executives in a management buyout.
27-Apr-2004 - Switzerland's Lonza, one of the leading contract manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients, has forged a collaboration with RNA-TEC of Belgium to provide broad-ranging contract production of oligonucleotides, a new class of drug that looks set to explode onto the marketplace in the next few years, reports Phil Taylor.
27-Apr-2004 - St Louis, USA-based KV Pharmaceutical says that the US District Court for the District of Minnesota has denied a motion for a preliminary injunction by two rival drug delivery companies in a patent dispute centring on its technology for fast-dissolving oral drug technology.
26-Apr-2004 - Switzerland's Novartis has decided to withdraw from any negotiations with Aventis over a possible merger, after official discussions with the latter and fellow French-based company Sanofi-Synthelabo got underway.
26-Apr-2004 - French chemicals company Rhodia has announced three new deals which keep it on track to divest €700 million-worth of businesses by the end of the year as it aims for a return to profitability in 2006.
22-Apr-2004 - The US-based Cook Group is to enter the biomanufacturing sector, revealing an initial $45 million investment in a state-of-the-art facility.
22-Apr-2004 - Filtration specialist Millipore has reported impressive growth in sales in the first quarter of 2004, suggesting that the strength of the biopharmaceutical industry - Millipore's primary customer - may be on the up.
21-Apr-2004 - The Netherlands-based pharmaceuticals, coatings and chemicals firm Akzo Nobel has posted a 7 per cent rise in net income to €176 million for the first quarter of 2004, a little more than expected, but has warned that its pharmaceuticals division is in for a rough ride this year, writes Phil Taylor.
20-Apr-2004 - The global market for nanocatalysts will amount to $3.7 billion in 2004 and is expected to reach $5.0 billion in 2009, according to soon-to-be-released market research.
20-Apr-2004 - Germany's MG technologies has agreed to sell the bulk of its Dynamit Nobel chemicals division, sealing the fate of a company that has been on the block since last November, writes Phil Taylor.
20-Apr-2004 - Israeli press reports say US generics company IVAX is close to finalising a merger with local firm Agis, which manufactures generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
19-Apr-2004 - The Internet search engine Google has launched a pilot project with 17 universities around the world, including institutes in Italy and the UK, aimed at improving access to research papers.
19-Apr-2004 - Germany's Merck KGaA has completed the $1.65 billion (€1.32bn) sale of its laboratory distribution business, VWR International, to US investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
15-Apr-2004 - UK fine chemical company Ultrafine is to be acquired by Sigma-Aldrich of the US in a move aimed at strengthening the latter's offerings for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
15-Apr-2004 - The global generics industry is growing at such a rate that it can now support billion dollar companies, with activities crossing into active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production and R&D. This shift in the sector - from a national to an international level - is also having profound effect on API suppliers reports Phil Taylor.
14-Apr-2004 - Top 10-ranked generics company IVAX has bid to acquire Polish pharmaceutical company Polfa Kutno, already the subject of an offer by Italy's Recordati. Israel's Teva is also rumoured to be interested in the company.
14-Apr-2004 - France's Sanofi-Synthelabo has announced plans to sell two of its products to GlaxoSmithKline in a deal which forms part of its strategy to take over Aventis.