22-Aug-2006 - Buoyed by lucrative biodefense contracts, Emergent BioSolutions has showcased a new large-scale vaccine production facility in Michigan which it will use to make Biothrax, the only vaccine approved in the US for the prevention of anthrax infection.
16-Aug-2006 - Pennsylvania environmental regulators have accused Merck of hampering their investigation of a chemical discharge from its West Point facility that resulted in a major fish kill on the local creek and threatened the water supplies for the city of Philadelphia.
15-Aug-2006 - Agricultural firm Embrex has installed its in ovo delivery system and egg remover at the production facility of Shenzhen Neptunus Interlong, believed to be the largest and most advanced human influenza vaccine manufacturing plant in China.
15-Aug-2006 - More problems at Patheon's Puerto Rican production facilities in the third quarter of 2006 are expected to reduce the contract manufacturer's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by more than $9m (€7m) compared to last year, forcing it to negotiate its credit agreement with its lenders.
14-Aug-2006 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has censured three American national pharmacies for using the traditional practice of compounding as a ruse in order to operate as drug manufacturers, producing thousands of unapproved copies of commercially available nebuliser medications that do not meet good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards.
14-Aug-2006 - US biotech firm Genzyme has been given a green light by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin manufacturing its kidney drug at its Waterford facility in Ireland.
10-Aug-2006 - Drug manufacturers are increasingly turning to specialised providers of analytical services for the solid state characterisation of their formulations, seeking answers to processing issues, drug delivery challenges and even protecting drug patents.
09-Aug-2006 - The excipients used in a protein formulation and the method of production can impact not just the physical and chemical stability of biologics but also their in vitro and in vivo performance, cautions Durect's executive director of biopharmaceutical R&D.
09-Aug-2006 - The global demand for virgin activated carbon is tipped to rise five per cent per year to reach 1.2m metric tons by 2010, fuelled by increased use in the pharmaceutical sector.
08-Aug-2006 - Niro Pharma Systems has launched a new spray-drying nozzle to produce commercial quantities of fine powder drugs for inhalation.
07-Aug-2006 - Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) has invested $100m to expand its manufacturing plant in Singapore, bringing the drug giant's investment in this budding region to over S$1bn (€0.5bn).
07-Aug-2006 - Failure to get it right in designing and implementing a manufacturing process results in the loss of time and money, but the risk of this can be minimised if some basic organisational steps are followed, argues Brookwood's director of manufacturing.
03-Aug-2006 - Cambrex's Q2 results show that the life sciences firm is slowly making a comeback after being crushed by a $140.3m (€116.7m) loss in Q4, however, it has failed to completely stem the bleed from its Biopharma unit, blamed for much of the company's woes.
02-Aug-2006 - Nektar Therapeutics has closed its processing plant in Bradford, UK as it shifts its focus to developing its own drug products using its own drug delivery technology.
01-Aug-2006 - Most pharmaceutical companies know little about how to make biopharmaceuticals on a large scale and so they need to develop in-house expertise as well as outsource several steps in their production chain, advises the head of chemistry and production at Genzyme Pharmaceuticals.
31-Jul-2006 - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said it has developed a vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu strain that can trigger an immune response at a much lower dose than other vaccines in development.
27-Jul-2006 - In a controversial move, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the final nod of approval to pharma companies who want to add colourful pearlescent pigments to their drugs to give them that "special something."
26-Jul-2006 - Omnia Biologics has sealed a deal to help the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation in its quest to make quantities of a new TB Vaccine that will "fulfil all the needs of the developing world."
25-Jul-2006 - A new specialty chemicals company, Vertellus Specialties, has been created in the US to make high-growth and high-value pharmaceuticals.
25-Jul-2006 - Israeli biopharma firm Kamada will manufacture transferrin for an undisclosed European pharma firm embarking on the first ever clinical trials of a drug that includes the substance.
24-Jul-2006 - Rentschler Biotechnologie has heralded the start of a €50m expansion to increase its capacity to produce antibodies and mammalian cell culture-derived proteins on a commercial scale.
20-Jul-2006 - As it consolidates its manufacturing operations in the US, Watson Pharmaceuticals has received a warning letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accusing it of using the wrong ingredients in the production of capsules, failing to prevent contamination and botching testing procedures.
20-Jul-2006 - Momentum is growing at the UK's new National Biomanufacturing Centre (NBC) as its operator Eden Biodesign inked a second contract at the centre - set up to establish England's Northwest as one of the top biomanufacturing hubs in Europe.
18-Jul-2006 - Looking to expand its laboratory testing and consulting services, PharmEng has acquired Rootlink Tecknic, a laboratory instrumentation automated solution sales and service company based in Toronto.
11-Jul-2006 - The Immune Response Corporation (IRC) claims it has developed a cell culture medium that can double viral antigen yields in HIV vaccine development.