27-Oct-2006 - Gerresheimer has announced it will launch a new plastic syringe range in January to cater for highly-sensitive medications and also for high-volume injections.
27-Oct-2006 - Inhalable insulin is unlikely to achieve the blockbuster status the industry had hoped for, according to a new Datamonitor report.
25-Oct-2006 - Although manufacturing is the most established of the pharma outsourcing segments, many service areas are still rapidly evolving. OutsourcingPharma.com gives a brief run down of the current state of play.
24-Oct-2006 - A new dry powder inhaler that may cost less than a syringe and deliver 40 per cent more active drug than current inhalers has been unveiled by its maker, Cambridge Consultants.
17-Oct-2006 - LifeCycle has signed three collaboration agreements with big pharma companies for the development of new anti-cholesterol products using its novel drug delivery technologies.
11-Oct-2006 - US drug heavyweight Pfizer is pushing through into the increasingly profitable vaccine market with the purchase of privately held UK firm PowderMed for an undisclosed sum.
10-Oct-2006 - British pharma company Shire has opened a new $6m (€4.7m) pharmaceutical technology centre at its Baltimore, Maryland plant in order to improve its manufacturing capability.
09-Oct-2006 - Prosonix has launched a new particle engineering technology in an attempt to reach the inhaled drug delivery market - at the same time the British firm has extended an agreement with UCB for the use of its existing sonocrystallisation technology.
09-Oct-2006 - Japanese firm Ebara and Berlin-based Capsulution NanoScience are now working together to develop a new time-controlled release technology for pharmaceuticals.
09-Oct-2006 - Injection molder and contract manufacturer Tech Group is relocating its Grand Rapids plant to a new molding facility in nearby Walker, Michigan, which will be expanded to cope with the high demand for medical devices and components.
06-Oct-2006 - In a deal worth up to $19.9m (€15.6m), US drug delivery company Inyx has acquired contract pharmaceutical packaging firm Pharmapac, seeking to enhance its secondary-packaging capabilities for a wide range of dosage forms.
04-Oct-2006 - Biotechnology firm Apollo claims to have achieved mission impossible in the oral delivery of insulin by successfully lowering blood glucose levels in diabetic rats using its proprietary oral delivery technology.
03-Oct-2006 - Merck has been forced to delay marketing plans for its combination cholesterol drug MK-0524B following problems in formulating its top-selling statin Zocor (simvastatin) with a new promising compound under development, MK-524A.
03-Oct-2006 - Researchers have discovered a new method for delivering drugs to the eye using biodegradable polymer nanoparticles that promise controlled release and better bioavailability than eye drops.
28-Sep-2006 - The use of synthetic DNA formed into crosses can produce biodegradable and inexpensive hydrogels that have applications in the controlled release of drugs, new research indicates.
27-Sep-2006 - Nastech Pharmaceutical Company has received a new $1.9m (€1.5m) research grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop its RNAi therapeutics to fight and prevent bird-flu.
27-Sep-2006 - UK research organisations, biopharmaceutical and food manufacturers, along with those in other industries are been asked to voluntarily provide any information on nanotechnologies they are working on, under a programme launched this week.
26-Sep-2006 - Ferro Pfanstiehl Laboratories has commissioned a new validated current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) supercritical fluid-based particle engineering pilot facility, offering sizing, purification and formulation services to its pharmaceutical customers.
25-Sep-2006 - Bang & Olufsen Medicom has unveiled a new disposal breath-actuated inhaler which uses a reservoir technology that reduces the daily cost of pulmonary drug delivery.
22-Sep-2006 - Bentley Pharmaceuticals has announced it will use the North Carolina facilities of US-based services provider Cardinal Health for the scale-up and manufacture of the clinical supplies of its new intranasal insulin product.
21-Sep-2006 - Eager to find a formulation that will give Pfizer's inhalation device Exubera (insulin rDNA) a run for its money, Nastech is initiating a Phase I study to compare Exubera to its insulin nasal spray and to an approved injectable product.
20-Sep-2006 - AstraZeneca have entered a deal with drug delivery device service provider Bang & Olufsen Medicom to develop a new electronic monitor that can tell whether patients are correctly taking their medication or not.
14-Sep-2006 - A small spin-out company formed by the University of Colorado has been awarded a $850,000 (€670,000) grant from the US government to develop a dry powder inhalable version of Nabi's investigational injectable vaccine for nicotine addiction, boosting the product's appeal by eliminating needles.
11-Sep-2006 - The world's most prescribed product for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) could soon be formulated with a new propellant-free device following an observational study on a soft mist inhaler (SMI) that Boehringer Ingelheim plans to use with its blockbuster drug Spiriva (tiotropium bromide).
11-Sep-2006 - Danish biopharmaceutical firm Bavarian Nordic has received approval from Denmark's government to begin large-scale commercial production of smallpox vaccine based on its Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) virus strain which demonstrates superior safety.