19-Apr-2007 - A research team at Northwestern University in Illinois, US, has found a new way of synthesising chiral forms of flavonoids that could make them easier to manufacture and enhance their potential as therapeutic compounds against cancer and other diseases.
19-Apr-2007 - Gelatine-based nanoparticles may offer a new delivery route for gene therapy that skirts the complications of viral-based vectors.
18-Apr-2007 - The Pharmaceutical Ingredient Verification Program offered by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has scored its first taker, with Indian firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories yesterday announcing that it had signed up to the scheme.
18-Apr-2007 - Pro-Pharmaceuticals is preparing to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) for its lead product candidate, Davanat, as a functional excipient that promises to hike the efficacy and cut the side effects of cancer drugs.
18-Apr-2007 - French bioprocess specialist LibraGen has released its first family of active molecules produced using the firm's biocatalysis technology onto the market.
18-Apr-2007 - Reports of a €200m expansion at Sanofi Pasteur's production plant in Rouen, France, have come hot on the heels of news that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the company's vaccine to protect humans against bird flu.
16-Apr-2007 - UK firm SkyePharma last week announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a filing for the extended release formulation of partner GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) drug Requip (ropinirole).
11-Apr-2007 - An experimental flu vaccine produced in insect cells could be a potential money-saver for pharma firms, and has proved just as effective as vaccines produced using conventional egg-based techniques.
05-Apr-2007 - A group of researchers at the University of the Basque Country in Spain has developed a method of synthesising thioether derivatives using a cheap, non-toxic and recyclable medium that could have significant cost and efficiency implications for the manufacture of some pharmaceuticals.
04-Apr-2007 - US-based Ajinomoto Aminoscience has launched AminoStable, an L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine dipeptide for use in pharmaceutical products and cell culture media.
03-Apr-2007 - A thin-film delivery system that looks like a postage stamp and dissolves rapidly on the tongue could give new momentum to Adams Respiratory Therapeutics' portfolio of prescription and over-the-counter medicines (OTC) for the treatment of respiratory disorders.
02-Apr-2007 - Excipient manufacturers and users are being encouraged to take part in an online consultation set up by the European Commission to assess the impact of kicking off formal good manufacturing practice (GMP) regulations for excipient production.
28-Mar-2007 - A new cellulose-based drug delivery system could be on the horizon, according to a research team presenting their work this week in the US.
28-Mar-2007 - Kyowa Hakko Europe is to increase prices across its range of L-amino acids by ten per cent as of April 1, in an effort to stave off margin deterioration and ensure long-term availability of the ingredients.
26-Mar-2007 - Active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) specialist ScinoPharm has been assigned a drug master file (DMF) number for its anti-cancer ingredient docetaxel, the first such designation for the API in the US.
26-Mar-2007 - New findings from The Scripps Research Institute in the US have challenged the conventional wisdom that protecting groups are a wearying yet unavoidable rung on the ladder to natural product synthesis.
21-Mar-2007 - Researchers have created a new strain of wheat with an inbuilt resistance to devastating scab blight which infects wheat heads - reducing crop yields as well as market value and quality.
14-Mar-2007 - Japanese firm Fuji Chemical has been assigned a drug master file (DMF) number for its new excipient for fast-dissolving oral tablets.
13-Mar-2007 - With a new drug on the market and its Massachusetts plant at capacity, British drug maker Shire is actively looking to buy more biomanufacturing space in the US.
12-Mar-2007 - 10 major pharmaceutical companies are taking part in an international data-sharing initiative to drive down the need for animal testing.
12-Mar-2007 - Drugs containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine could soon be reclassified as prescription-only the UK, in proposals drawn up last week by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
08-Mar-2007 - Operating profit has almost quadrupled at H&R Wasag's chemical-pharmaceutical raw materials division over 2006, hitting €82.4m for the year.
07-Mar-2007 - Biotech company ProNAi Therapeutics plans to use a new liposome technology to help deliver its new class of DNA interference (DNAi)-based drug.
05-Mar-2007 - A new nanotechnology-based vaccine delivery method could allow the development of single-dose vaccines as well as new vaccines in disease areas of unmet need.
27-Feb-2007 - Amino acid manufacturer Ajinomoto Aminoscience announced that increasing raw material and energy costs have driven the company to increase prices of its L-Arginine products by $1/ kg (€0.76/kg).