10-Mar-2005 - Johnson & Johnson is planning to acquire TransForm Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company that specialises in the discovery of improved formulations and novel crystalline forms of drug molecules, in a cash-for-stock deal valued at around $230m (€171m), reports Phil Taylor.
03-Mar-2005 - BioProgress of the UK says that the commercial version of its TABWRAP tablet-coating machine should be launched at this year's Conference on Pharmaceutical Ingredients (CPhI) meeting in November, reports Phil Taylor.
22-Feb-2005 - UK processing and packaging machinery specialist Isopak has added to its product range with a spiral jet mill - intended for pharmaceutical laboratories and R&D departments - that can micronise very small batches of powder.
21-Feb-2005 - Cerestar Food & Pharma Specialties Europe has launched an excipient that it claims allows tablets to be produced using lower compression force, which should result in reduced wear and tear on tabletting machinery and operational downtime, writes Phil Taylor.
16-Feb-2005 - UK laser marking specialist Sherwood Technology now has two pharmaceutical companies evaluating its DataLase technology, an additive that can be used to mark tablets.
17-Jan-2005 - A new safety training scheme, designed to deliver accredited 'safety passports' for service engineers and other outside contractors working in pharmaceutical, healthcare, toiletries and cosmetics factories has been introduced in the UK.
21-Dec-2004 - Irish biopharma firm Alltracel Pharmaceuticals has reinforced its position in the dissolvable film market with a reverse takeover of London firm Westone Products.
20-Dec-2004 - Researchers at AstraZeneca in Sweden have been granted a US patent on a new film coating for tablets that can be carried out in water-based conditions, doing away with the need for use of organic solvent-based systems.
14-Dec-2004 - A non-animal alternative to gelatin capsules made its European entry as Capsugel used the CpHi show to launch the latest addition to its range of two-piece capsules. The product claims to offer customers better control with no slow down of drug release.
13-Dec-2004 - German chemicals group BASF has launched two new pharmaceutical film-coating products, cementing its position in a market estimated to be worth about €200 million and growing at 5 to 6 per cent a year.
07-Dec-2004 - A new weighing system developed by BOC Edwards Pharmaceutical systems can be used in a pharmaceutical filling line but does not come into contact with the weighed materials.
02-Dec-2004 - Niro Pharma Systems recently launched a new laboratory fluid bed - the STREA-1 - for the processing of fine powders, pellets, granules, crystals, tablets and organic solvents. The system, developed by Aeromatic-Fielder, is designed to offer a flexible route to processs optimisation.
02-Dec-2004 - AstraZeneca has started construction a €30 million tablet manufacturing plant in Egypt that could form a springboard for an expansion into emerging markets.
19-Nov-2004 - In-Pharmatechnologist.com's periodic round-up of manufacturing developments from around the world sees Fujisawa expanding in Ireland, Solvay partnering in Russia, Vietnam's machinery firms undercutting competitors and a US plant purchase.
04-Nov-2004 - UK cellulose film specialist BioProgress has won another round in its patent dispute with Stanelco Fibre Optics over the use of radiofrequency welding to make polymer capsules.
25-Oct-2004 - BioProgress, a developer of film strips and cellulose-based capsules for drug and vitamin delivery, is increasing its international presence, signing its first agreement for a line of products for the Chinese market.
25-Oct-2004 - Novis, now with almost half a million readers, last week earned broad industry recognition with two further publishing awards, following on from its best publication prize earlier this year.
11-Oct-2004 - GEA, a subsidiary of mg technologies, today announced that it has acquired the business of Messo-Chemietechnik, which specialises in crystallisation technologies for the biotechnology, pharmachem and food industries.
06-Oct-2004 - The US Food and Drug Administration will start using a risk-based approach for prioritising site inspections for certain pharmaceutical products, the agency has announced in a final report on its current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) initiative.
04-Oct-2004 - In a dispute with Stanelco Fibre Optics, Bioprogress Technology has been awarded outright ownership of a master patent giving it exclusive rights to the process of making capsules from non-gelatine materials by means of radio frequency (RF).
23-Sep-2004 - In contrast to conventional wisdom, stirring a mix of granular ingredients faster or longer in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals is not the key to getting a smooth blend.
21-Sep-2004 - Freeman Technology is gearing up to launch the first in a new range of accessories for its FT4 powder rheometer that are designed to bring it into the age of industrial automation.
02-Sep-2004 - Niro Pharma Systems is launching a new tablet coating system that promises to achieve a step forward in the evenness of tablet coating and make the production of small batches for R&D more cost effective.
19-Aug-2004 - In-Pharmatechnologist's periodic round-up of personnel moves in the pharmaceutical sector includes a change in leadership at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and a new managing director at tabletting and tooling company I Holland.
12-Aug-2004 - Mettler Toledo, the world's largest manufacturer of weighing instruments, has reported a healthy 8 per cent hike in sales for the first half of 2004, helped by favourable currency factors.