29-Jun-2009 - Equipment that enables cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies to reduce headcount and save floor space is in high demand as pressure to cut costs mounts.
25-Jun-2009 - Dutch biopharmaceuticals producer OctoPlus has begun manufacturing operations at its new facility in Leiden, the Netherlands.
24-Jun-2009 - US contractor Azopharma has added new GMP quality cytotoxics and high-potency manufacturing capacity at its facility in Hollywood, South Florida in a bid to strengthen its position in the trial materials sector.
23-Jun-2009 - Swiss drugmaker Helsinn has unveiled plans to add high-potency API R&D and manufacturing capacity to its facility in Biasca in the south of the country.
23-Jun-2009 - Emisphere has entered into a research agreement with Syracuse University, which will combine their respective oral drug delivery technologies to enhance absorption of an appetite-suppressing hormone.
18-Jun-2009 - Automation expenditures in pharma manufacturing are predicted to reach $3bn (€2.15bn) by 2012 because companies must invest in the current “adapt or die” environment, according to a report.
17-Jun-2009 - Large pharma companies will increase the level of supply chain activities they outsource in the next few years but smaller businesses are predicted to keep them in-house, according to a report.
17-Jun-2009 - Precision Stability Storage (PSS) is expanding its cGMP storage facility in Wilson, North Carolina, doubling its size and adding a room for bulk powder and liquid sampling and dispensing.
16-Jun-2009 - UK group RSSL has launched a Responsible Persons (RP) programme to help meet growing demand for EC directive 2001/83/EC trained staff.
16-Jun-2009 - Yissum is collaborating with Aurum, Ventures MKI to develop a nanotechnology controlled release delivery platform, which is designed to increase the bioavailability of orally administered lipophilic drugs.
15-Jun-2009 - Industry response to the H1N1 pandemic suggests that cell culture vaccine production is about to come of age with two firms that use the technique, Novartis and Baxter, claiming it will cut development and manufacturing timelines by months.
11-Jun-2009 - A South African importer of APIs that claimed to have deals with Pfizer, Teva and Merck & Co is accused of fraud, with investigators likening the case to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
09-Jun-2009 - Swedish CRO Syntagon has set up an office in Shanghai, China to forge stronger links with a broader range of local raw materials suppliers, saving its customers time and money.
09-Jun-2009 - CMO Kemwell is receiving technical assistance from Boehringer Ingelheim for the construction of its new biotech facility, which is designed to marry European technology with Indian low cost manufacturing.
08-Jun-2009 - Ireland’s API manufacturing sector suffered a blow on Friday with Corden Pharmachem’s announcement that it is phasing-out manufacturing at its facility in Little Island, Cork.
08-Jun-2009 - Following public consultation the European Commission (EC) has stopped the preparation of a directive on good manufacturing practices (GMP) for certain excipients.
08-Jun-2009 - At TIDES 2009 RXi Pharmaceuticals presented preclinical data on its RNA technologies, including research into sdRNA that is delivered without a vehicle and undergoes spontaneous cellular uptake.
04-Jun-2009 - Synthetech posted a $1.3m (€0.9m) operating profit in fiscal 2009, compared with a $1.1m (€770,000) loss the previous year, but warned that some biotechs and even major pharmas were cutting back.
03-Jun-2009 - At BIO 2009 Symyx was promoting its new CDMO offering, which it believes meets a “real need in the industry” and can save clients time and materials by leveraging its prior knowledge.
03-Jun-2009 - UK researchers have boosted the bioavailability of the tomato skin extract lycopene and produced a pill that they claim can reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol by more than 90 per cent.
02-Jun-2009 - The latest work on siRNA delivery is focused on in a special edition of Molecular Pharmaceutics, which details the techniques researchers are using to target cells and make more effective therapeutics.
02-Jun-2009 - SAFC is seeking to improve its large-scale supply of pharma raw materials through a partnership with Cherokee Pharmaceuticals, which will use its expertise to ensure the products meet cGMP standards.
01-Jun-2009 - US scientists at Harvard University’s Rowland Institute have described a way of making large numbers of controllable nano-propellers that, despite being at an early stage of development, may one day be used to deliver drugs.
28-May-2009 - Spire has received a patent for its nanophotovoltaic devices, which it believes could be injected into a tumour, be activated by light and generate electric fields to disrupt the cancerous cells.
28-May-2009 - Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines unit of French drug major Sanofi Aventis, has received a reference strain of the H1N1 swine flu virus from the US CDC and expects to complete work on an industrial “seed stock” in the next two weeks.