The Challenge of Change - Managing Excipients Control
Colorcon
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The expansion of a Russian laboratory exhibition highlights the growth in the Russian analytical and laboratory equipment market.
It's been a busy week for acquisitions in the sector, with Beckmann Coulter purchasing Biosite, Roche acquiring 454, and Shimadzu agreeing to buy the assets of Evolved Digital Systems.
A new inductively coupled plasma (ICP) optical emission spectrometer (OES) brings the technique into the hands of the non-expert for the first time.
Artel is sending three of their employees to the most extreme environments in the US to demonstrate the impact of environmental conditions on pipetted volumes.
Process development is the key when outsourcing clinical supply biomanufacturing to a contractor, according to an industry player.
UK firm SkyePharma has announced that it has finally completed the sale of its deadweight injectable business, freeing up the company to focus on the development of products that the company believes could rival those of the pharma big guns.
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) makes sensible recommendations in its recently released 'first-in-man' clinical trials guideline but is somewhat passing the buck, according to a statistician with expertise in clinical trials.
German packaging firm Gerresheimer has bought up the glass manufacturing operations of an American packaging company in its second significant acquisition in three months.
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.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tackled escalating concerns about the independence of its advisory committees by proposing more stringent criteria for avoiding potential conflicts of interest when considering potential committee members.
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.
Outsourcing is key for pharma companies and medical device manufacturers keen to develop and produce "combination products" - medical devices embedded with a pharma component - according to an industry player.
Microtest Labs has bagged a new contract with UK-based Antisoma to make clinical quantities of the firm's new cancer drug - just a few months after expanding its manufacturing capacity.
Novartis and Bayer Schering Pharma have come to an agreement regarding the production of multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Betaseron (interferon beta-1b), with Novartis planning to bring out its own version in 2009 and Bayer paying around $200m (€150.5m) for production equipment and capacity in the meantime.
Major chemical manufacturer Dow has struck a deal with long-term partner Colorcon forming an alliance to offer a unified package for the development and production of drug ingredients and products.
French chemicals company Rhodia has decided to shut down a local production site for its Rhodia Organics business, citing competitive pressures in the market for pharmaceutical and agrochemical intermediates.
The demand for international assistance in recruitment processes from pharmaceutical companies is set to boom in the next 12 months, according to an industry player.
Canada's Chromos Molecular Systems plans to step up the human resources behind its cell-line engineering business in anticipation of securing further clients within the next few months for its ACE (artificial chromosome expression) System.
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.
Eden Biodesign, Pharmatec Laboratories, and SAFC Pharma have all announced new contract manufacturing deals this week.
A Brazilian firm has signed a licensing deal to take advantage of a biopharmaceutical manufacturing technology which will allow the company to locally manufacture complex biopharmaceuticals destined for the South American market.
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.
UK drug delivery and orthopaedic devices company The Medical House (TMH) is entering the second phase of a development project for a European defence agency involving its AutoSafety Injector (ASI) disposable autoinjector technology for the administration of pharmaceutical products in prefilled syringes.
Both Agilent and Applied Biosystems (ABI) have announced new facilities in Asia and are looking to gain from the increasing pharmaceutical industry presence in the region.
MDS is nearing completion of its $615m (€461m) acquisition of the bio-analytical instrument maker Molecular Devices.
On the face of it, the UK's 2007 budget looks good for the technology sector with increased R&D tax relief - but is it all as good as it seems?
AstraZeneca is leveraging the process chemistry expertise accumulated in India's generics industry and universities by opening a $15m (€11.3m) process research and development (PR&D) laboratory next to its existing research centre for tuberculosis in Bangalore.
A UK company has launched what it believes is a unique safeguard against film contamination in the pharmaceutical and food industries.
A Canadian firm's vaccine technology platform with the potential to significantly boost global flu vaccine production has been granted its first patent.
Discovery Laboratories has announced that a shareholder lawsuit filed against the company was dismissed by a Pennsylvania court, marking the end of its two-year manufacturing nightmare.
A novel method of delivering a hydrophobic (water-insoluble) drug, in which the compound effectively acts as its own carrier, has shown comparable efficacy both in vitro and in vivo to the same drug formulated in a conventional delivery vehicle.
A small UK company has entered the contract manufacturing arena by offering services to develop and make oral dose drugs and sterile injectables from its new facilities in England.
Sanofi-Aventis is gearing up for the European roll-out of a new disposable insulin pen designed to address a broader spectrum of patient needs than currently available injection devices.
The European Parliament has backed proposed legislation to impose hefty fines and penalties on criminals taking part in piracy and counterfeiting activities.
An innovative new platform technology with a myriad of applications has been developed by a UK firm, and promises to be a novel arrow in the quiver of the pharma industry in its attempts to shoot down drug counterfeiters.
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.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed loosening requirements regarding certain types of recycling activities involving hazardous solid waste materials produced in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Packaging technology firm Bradman Lake is selling off recently acquired brands Albro, Dico and Gravfil only months after investing in a new multi-million pound manufacturing facility.
Pall has filed a patent infringement case in the US, claiming another firm is manufacturing and selling a device that violates patent protection of one of Pall's sterile connector products.
US contract manufacturer Cook Pharmica has won an industry award for its biopharmaceutical facility.
After a year of consultation, the European Commission has finally proposed guidelines for the implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in the EU.
Albany Molecular Research, Ranbaxy Laboratories, IBS Pharma, PhRMA and Globalpharma have all had people on the move in the world of pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The US District Court of Delaware returned a verdict in favour of Affymetrix in the first stage of its patent infringement case against Illumina.
A new mass spectrometer (MS) that is claimed will provide proteomics researchers with far more information than ever before, in dramatically reduced time frames, is now available.
A new licensing deal will allow Millipore to supply researchers with a commercial source of neural stem cells for the first time.
A new laboratory equipment trade show in London has been announced filling the gap in the UK's trade exhibition landscape.
The New Jersey facility of Icelandic firm Actavis has been slapped with a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following inspections that revealed a concerning lack of quality control measures.
Cambrex's Q4 results show that the life sciences company is finally beginning to make a comeback after deciding to sell its Biopharma unit, blamed for much of the company's financial difficulties last year.
In the latest of a rash of pharmaceutical plant closures, Sanofi-Aventis has announced proposals to cease operations at its Waterford, Ireland site.
The UK has become one of the first countries in the EU to issue draft proposals on enforcing the bloc's new chemicals controls law, due to add to the regulatory cost burden faced by industry.
A potential new law mandating the running of clinical trials before a "generic" biologic drug approval may seem like a potential goldmine for contract research organisations (CROs), however, this vision is premature.
In-PharmaTechnologist.com and Outsourcing-Pharma.com journalist Kirsty Barnes has received the honour of being announced among the place winners of the 2006 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism (AHCJ).
UK biopharmaceutical Cobra has joined an international consortium to develop a new drug delivery technique based on live bacterial spores.
US Oncology has implemented an electronic pedigree system to protect its cancer drug distribution system, bringing it firmly in line with federal drug pedigree requirements and ensuring a more secure supply chain for the company.
Japanese firm Fuji Chemical has been assigned a drug master file (DMF) number for its new excipient for fast-dissolving oral tablets.
After getting through a difficult 2006, separation technology specialist Whatman has made it through to the end of the year, reporting preliminary annual financial results and looking towards a more prosperous 2007.
MDS has reported a lower first-quarter profit for its Pharma Services unit as a result of a regulatory probe of its operations.
Hospira's US injectables contract manufacturing unit reported a sales jump of 32 per cent to $43.4m (€33m), however, this stellar performance is not indicative of the strength of the unit or the performance expected to follow this year.
Biotech company Grifols has announced the expansion of its US manufacturing capacity which will allow it to increase the production of its haemophilia therapies.
A new white paper is now available to offer drug manufacturers top tips on surviving a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection.
A twist on an existing security technology will use enhanced mobile phones to help establish the authenticity of pharmaceutical products in developing countries.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has extended its large contract manufacturing arrangement with Lonza by four years.
Novel needle-free injections that don't cause the pain and bruising common with existing needle-free devices have been developed by a team in California.
Patheon has managed to reduce its first-quarter loss as the company cut jobs and took steps to resolve issues at its troubled Puerto Rico plant.
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.
10 major pharmaceutical companies are taking part in an international data-sharing initiative to drive down the need for animal testing.
Qualicaps, Eurotherm, Acambis, Invetech have all had people on the move in the world of pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Crystallisation specialist Avantium is doubling its research capacity as demand for this type of services is set to grow.
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).
Amidst swirling concerns over the side-effects of oestrogen replacement therapy in postmenopausal women, new evidence suggests that using an oestrogen patch may be safer than taking a pill.
The editors and reporters pick of the new product launches made at this year's Pittcon, held last week in Chicago, Illinois.
The Pittcon 2007 gold-award winning mass spectrometer allows the differentiation of sample ions not only by charge and mass but also by size and shape.
A recent article published in the journal Stem Cell has advocated the patenting of isolated stem cell lines.
The broadest ever survey of the human cancer genome has revealed that the number of mutated genes that can cause the disease is even greater than previously thought.
Proposed legislation to allow cheap drug imports into the US met with opposition this week as representatives from the pharmaceutical industry resisted the move saying there are 'better, safer alternatives' to imported drugs.
A Swiss firm is offering the first process risk management and safety certification for pharma companies working with nanoparticles and technologies.
Operating profit has almost quadrupled at H&R Wasag's chemical-pharmaceutical raw materials division over 2006, hitting €82.4m for the year.
A two-year-old lab equipment company has beaten off competition from more established rivals to scoop an award for its new UV detector.
Omnicare has picked Cardinal Health to be its contract repackager for the drugs previously produced at its troubled Ohio facility.
AstraZeneca has opted for unit-level mass serialisation in a bid to protect its drug supply chain from tamperers and counterfeiting.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed in its attempt to revamp its flawed drug safety tracking system, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing a report commissioned by the agency.
Biobanking firm Asterand has launched a new online service to offer researchers access to human RNA samples via the internet that it claims could potentially speed up the early stage drug discovery process.
UK drug goliath GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is ramping up drug production at its Polish site as it prepares to more than double the number of markets the plant will supply.
Alcoa Flexible Packaging has introduced a range of new child-resistant blister-lidding packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical market.
A new dry power inhaler has been developed to deliver potent anti-influenza drug treatments that last longer and require only a single dose.
The second generation of a new class of HIV drugs have entered clinical trials and could prove more difficult for HIV to develop resistance to, according to developers Panacos.
In-PharmaTechnologist takes an indepth look at the new radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that will soon revolutionise pharmaceutical supply chain management.
Biotech company ProNAi Therapeutics plans to use a new liposome technology to help deliver its new class of DNA interference (DNAi)-based drug.
Revenues for Alpharma's active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) division went up by around $30m over fiscal 2006, over half of which was generated by products previously part of the company's divested generics business.
Dalton Pharma Services, Granules India and Lonza have all announced new contract manufacturing deals this week.
Contraceptives delivered by a simple spray onto the skin are being developed in a bid to offer easier, more convenient pregnancy protection.
Eisai has today begun building a £100m (€147m) European headquarters in the UK which will include a new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility - its first production plant in Europe.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Zentiva has signed a deal acquiring 75 per cent of Turkish Eczacibasi's generic pharmaceuticals business for €460m, making it the third largest generics company in the country.
Two US companies have teamed up to develop a prototype patch to deliver an existing anti-psychotic drug through the skin.
The flood of fake drugs now available in many countries must be tackled as it could have fatal consequences for consumers, a new UN report shows.
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.
Canadian contract manufacturer Patheon has announced a $150m (€114m) investment by a private equity firm - a move the company sees as the best viable option to end its financial misery.
Bayer Healthcare last week confirmed that 6,100 jobs will be cut in the reshuffle following Bayer's takeover of Schering announced last year.
A new rapidly dissolving oral strip for ondansetron, the active ingredient in GSK's anti-emetic drug Zofran, has been developed in a Swiss-German collaboration.
Agilent looks to maintain its strong market presence in the gas chromatography (GC) sector with the launch of two new instruments.
The market for molecular diagnostics is predicted to grow to over $92.1bn (€70m) by 2016, a significant jump from $17.9bn in 2006.
An anti cancer therapy that emits the most lethal from of radiation has successfully made it through second stage human trials.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staffing and timetabling problems have delayed the re-inspection of Wyeth's Puerto Rico site, the company said this week.
Lonza, Athersys, TyRx Pharma, JFC and Precision Pharma Services have all announced new contract manufacturing deals this week.
MediGene's six-month dosage of its prostate cancer drug Eligard (leuprolide acetate) is now available in Germany, the company announced today.
The implantable/injectable drug delivery market generated record revenues of $9.8bn (€7.4bn) worldwide in 2006 but is set to continue growing, driven by growing demand for novel drug delivery technologies.
A new label film designed for narrow neck containers, can combine high-shrink properties with a tamper evident seal, its manufacturer claims.
A precision batching system for dry goods can be monitored from abroad, providing diagnostics and performance reports to managers working remotely, its manufacturer claims.
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