The Challenge of Change - Managing Excipients Control
Colorcon
15-Sep-2005 - UK-based Stanelco says it has developed a starch-based alternative to gelatine hardshell capsules that could also offer cost benefits for dietary supplement makers.
15-Sep-2005 - BioSante Pharmaceuticals has licensed its calcium phosphate (CaP) nanotechnology - used for drug delivery and as an adjuvant for vaccines - to an unnamed European pharmaceutical company.
14-Sep-2005 - DelSite Biotechnologies has filed a Drug Master File (DMF) with the US Food and Drug Administration for an excipient used for drug delivery - called GelSite - used to formulate vaccines, proteins and peptide drugs that are delivered across mucosal surfaces, such as the nasal cavity.
13-Sep-2005 - Sugar is a useful excipient for use in medications because of its ability to mask bitter tastes, but its use in drugs intended for chronic use, or which reside in the mouth for an extended period, raises the risk of dental caries.
13-Sep-2005 - Switzerland's Lonza has boosted its ability to make active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) at its Visp site in response to what it said was 'ever increasing hygienic and regulatory requirements'.
13-Sep-2005 - Biovitrum has initiated phase I trials for its glaucoma drug candidate that aims to improve over existing current treatments and satisfy the need in the market for new drugs with novel active mechanisms of action.
13-Sep-2005 - The news that Pfizer had been granted an approval recommendation in the US for its inhaled formulation of insulin, Exubera, has been swiftly followed by the news that a rival formulation in development at Eli Lilly has cleared a Phase II clinical trial.
12-Sep-2005 - A novel painkiller in development at Pain Therapeutics - based on a technology that both improves dosing and prevents drug abuse - has done well in a Phase III clinical trial.
09-Sep-2005 - Diabetics moved a step closer to having an alternative to injections for their insulin therapy yesterday, after a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee gave its backing to an inhaled formulation of the drug developed by Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and Nektar Therapeutics.
08-Sep-2005 - Anglo-German company Evotec has reorganised its pharmaceutical development services business by integrating its ProPharma subsidiary, based in Scotland, into a new structure alongside its in-house activities.
08-Sep-2005 - A clinical trial will shortly get underway to see if insulin, delivered intranasally using an atomiser developed by Kurve Technology, can improve short-term memory in Alzheimer's disease patients.
07-Sep-2005 - Scientists in the US have developed a way to rapidly generate libraries of gold nanoparticles that could have an array of applications in the pharmaceutical industry, from target and drug discovery studies to drug delivery.
07-Sep-2005 - Excipients, often overlooked by pharmaceutical companies with their attention firmly focused on active pharmaceutical ingredients, are benefiting from an increasing awareness of their potential to cut the costs of drug development.
06-Sep-2005 - MonoSolRx is planning to develop controlled drugs such as opioid analgesics in its dissolving films, an emerging dosage format for the oral delivery of drugs and nutritonal products.
06-Sep-2005 - French drug delivery company Flamel Technologies suffered another blow yesterday when it was revealed that TAP Pharmaceutical Products has pulled out of deal to develop a formulation of its big-selling gastrointestinal drug lansoprazole based on Flamel's Micropump technology.
02-Sep-2005 - New techniques aimed at directly controlling the expression of genes by activating or inactivating them at the DNA level could lead to drugs for the treatment or cure of almost any disease, say researchers
02-Sep-2005 - Scentists have employed a new technique to manipulate the sugars that power many front-line drugs, which has resulted in the enhancement of a drug for heart disease. Manipulating the natural sugars in a drug could help make natural products more appealing to the pharmaceutical industry.
01-Sep-2005 - Sigma-Aldrich launches its DNA polymerase product for PCR amplification, which aims to minimise DNA contamination, making it ideal for researchers looking for a more accurate method in mutation scanning techniques, and wanting to prevent the amplification of undesired DNA sequences.
31-Aug-2005 - Researchers in Japan have discovered a nickel-alloy coating with antibacterial properties, which is believed to be effective at reducing the SARS coronavirus. The use of this antibacterial material has the potential to radically alter the quality and cleanliness of laboratory and pharmaceutical workplaces.
31-Aug-2005 - Targeted Genetics has announced the issuance of an Additional-Associated Virus (AAV) vector technology patent, which describes a technology that may help to maximise gene expression efficiency with little or no loss in viral payload.
30-Aug-2005 - A group of researchers in the US have enhanced the abilities of molecules they are creating to deliver medication to cancer cells. The man-made molecular complexes enter cancer cells and, when signalled, deliver killing medicine or cause the cell to change.
29-Aug-2005 - Scientists in the US have been using DNA buckyballs as a nanoscale building material, constructing geometric shapes and even working mechanical devices with the hope of developing this technology for drug delivery, using synthetic DNA as building blocks.
25-Aug-2005 - Researchers have developed a unique approach that predicts protein separation behaviour. The approach may reduce the time it takes to bring pharmaceuticals to market and may have significant implications for drug discovery.
24-Aug-2005 - Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi has said it plans to sell its capsule subsidiary Shionogi Qualicaps to private investment group the Carlyle Group in order to focus on its drug development activities.
23-Aug-2005 - Pharmaceutical outsourcing firm Quintiles Transnational Corp is selling three of its business units, covering preclinical services, pharmaceutical sciences and clinical trial supplies, to newly formed company Aptuit.