Choosing the Right Dimension of Purity
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24-Dec-2003
New credit lines buy time for Rhodia
24-Dec-2003 - French chemicals company Rhodia has finally reached an agreement with its creditors to refinance its considerable debt burden, buying much-needed time to continue its restructuring operations.
MOCON expands into Europe
24-Dec-2003 - Instrumentation company MOCON has unveiled plans to acquire Germany's Paul Lippke Handels, which markets process and laboratory test systems to companies in the pharmaceutical, food and packaging industries.
Abbott puts house in order
24-Dec-2003 - Health care major Abbott Laboratories says has received a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) letter giving its diagnostic manufacturing operations, in Lake County, Illinois a near clean bill of...
23-Dec-2003
SkyePharma chief calls it a day
23-Dec-2003 - The executive chairman of UK-based drug delivery specialist SkyePharma, Ian Gowrie-Smith, will step down at the firm's next annual general meeting in 2004 and seek reappointment as non-executive chairman.
PDUFA ''has no impact on approval times''
23-Dec-2003 - For the past 10 years, drug companies have paid the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fees to review each drug they want approved, on the grounds that the increased...
India gets tough on drug fakers
23-Dec-2003 - The Indian government has proposed draconian new penalties for individuals found making counterfeit pharmaceuticals, after a number of fatalities associated with bootleg drugs.
22-Dec-2003
An apple a day…
22-Dec-2003 - A small US company has been granted a patent on a novel delivery vehicle for pharmaceutical agents: fresh fruit and vegetables.
Nautilus collaboration bears first fruit
22-Dec-2003 - France's Nautilus Biotech says that it has achieved a key technical milestone in a collaboration with Aventis Pasteur, designed to improve the productivity of the latter's vaccine manufacturing process.
New owner for plant cell production firm
22-Dec-2003 - DFB Pharmaceuticals has acquired fellow US company Phyton to gain access to the latter's plant cell fermentation technology for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.
19-Dec-2003
Biotech blasts back in 2003
19-Dec-2003 - 2003 was the second best year of all time for the biotechnology industry, and 2004 looks set to be even better. This is the verdict of James Burrill, head of...
Tough times at MeadWestvaco
19-Dec-2003 - US packaging giant MeadWestvaco has started the second phase of a restructuring programme aimed at improving productivity at the firm and boosting both earnings and cash flow, at the cost...
Covance under fire in Germany
19-Dec-2003 - A UK-based animal rights group has passed video footage of alleged animal cruelty at a facility in Germany run by US contract research company Covance to the Ministry of Environment...
Haplotype team unveil goals
19-Dec-2003 - The international team of scientists working to determine the most common variations of the human genome have given more details of the rationale behind the effort, known as the HapMap...
Major deal for TransForm
19-Dec-2003 - Formulation specialist TransForm Pharmaceuticals has licensed a novel salt form of the antiepileptic drug topiramate to Johnson & Johnson in a development that provides the first real validation of its...
Merck refocuses
19-Dec-2003 - The restructuring activity that has features this year in the European pharmachem industry continued yesterday with the news that Germany's Merck KGaA had sold off BioMer, a joint venture focusing...
New chemistry specialist
19-Dec-2003 - Kiadis of the Netherlands has acquired the entire issued share capital and assets of Selact in a move that bolsters its capabilities in chemical synthesis and contract research.
18-Dec-2003
Degussa lauded by F&S
18-Dec-2003 - Germany's third-largest chemicals company Degussa has won the Frost & Sullivan Product of the Year Award for its L-hydantoinase enzymatic process for single-step production of L-amino acids, used in the...
CMO readies for business
18-Dec-2003 - US contract manufacturing start-up Xcellerex has completed its first round of private financing that will enable it to kit out its recently acquired manufacturing facility in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Cardinal cleared for Intercare buy
18-Dec-2003 - Cardinal Health has been given the go-ahead by the European Commission for its acquisition of the UK-based Intercare Group.
Cleanroom on the bench
18-Dec-2003 - A UK company has introduced a clean manufacturing environment that fits on top of a bench as a low-cost alternative for companies that do not want to invest in a...
Mayne to hike production
18-Dec-2003 - Mayne Group, Australia's largest generic drugs maker, is planning to spend A$60 million (€35.6 million) on its Australian and Puerto Rican factories in 2004.
Hiking resolution in gene expression studies
18-Dec-2003 - A combination of a microarray technology developed by Switzerland's Zeptosens and signal processing software from US firm ViaLogy has provided a quantum leap in the sensitivity of gene expression testing...
All things oligo from febit
18-Dec-2003 - German biotechnology company febit has started shipping its geniom one instrument - the first benchtop system that handles the entire process of oligonucleotide microarray synthesis, hybridisation and data analysis in...
17-Dec-2003
Solutia seeks bankruptcy protection
17-Dec-2003 - The troubles affecting the global chemicals industry were brought into sharp focus today when Solutia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing onerous financial commitments to its former parent Monsanto...
Formatech claims first with EU GMP compliance
17-Dec-2003 - New regulations in the European Union, coming into action early next year, make it imperative that drugs for use in humans, including those destined for clinical trials, must be manufactured...
Safe disposal of potent powders
17-Dec-2003 - The US subsidiary of Denmark's Nilfisk-Advance group has introduced a new collection container for its vacuum cleaners, designed to allow the safe handling and disposal of hazardous materials, including potent...
Industry makes fake drug recommendations
17-Dec-2003 - In response to growing concerns about counterfeit drugs in the US drug supply, an industry group has submitted a report to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a commentary...
Formulation answer to rare disease
17-Dec-2003 - Dutch formulation specialist ForTe has developed a new taste-masked formulation of sodium phenylbutyrate, used in the treatment of a group of rare metabolic disorders characterised by an inability to eliminate...
Flat outlook for antibacterials
17-Dec-2003 - Although there are a number of interesting new compounds in the antibacterial pipeline, none of them are likely to reach blockbuster status, according to a new report from Datamonitor.
New products at Pittcon from Ultrasonic
17-Dec-2003 - Ultrasonic Scientific will debut a new ultrasonic analyser for titration measurements and analysing small-volume chemical reactions at next year's Pittcon exhibition.
16-Dec-2003
4Q charges drive Bayer into loss
16-Dec-2003 - German chemical and pharmaceuticals group Bayer has said it expects to slip into the red in 2003.
Major contract lifts Lonza
16-Dec-2003 - Switzerland's Lonza has won a long-term manufacturing contract from US biotechnology bellwether Genentech for Rituxan (rituximab) a biological drug which recorded worldwide sales of $1.48 billion in 2002.
Whatman sells filter business
16-Dec-2003 - UK-headquartered separations company Whatman is to sell its filter cartridge business to Graver Technologies of the US for $2.1 million (€1.7m) in cash, continuing a string of divestments as it...
Easy-clean inkjet from Linx
16-Dec-2003 - Linx Printing Technologies has introduced a new inkjet printer intended for use in production environments where hygiene is important, including units producing pharmaceuticals.
15-Dec-2003
LION's head calls it a day
15-Dec-2003 - Friedrich von Bohlen, the chief executive of German company LION bioscience, has decided to step down at the end of the year.
NME approvals on the rise?
15-Dec-2003 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 15 New Molecular Entities in the current year to 30 September, 2003, setting the stage to outpace last year's registrations by nearly...
New partnership in chiral catalysis
15-Dec-2003 - Welsh company Great Lakes Fine Chemicals has teamed up with Phoenix Chemicals to develop new, more cost effective processes for the production of pharmaceutical intermediates.
New plant for Sanofi-Synthelabo
15-Dec-2003 - French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo has opened a new manufacturing facility in Aquitaine for the production of two of its top drugs, the antithrombotic Plavix (clopidogrel) and Aprovel (irbesartan) for hypertension.
Syringe boosts vaccine supply
15-Dec-2003 - The number of shots delivered in national influenza immunisation programmes could be increased - without making any additional vaccine - by simply using a syringe developed by Becton Dickinson.
PEG alternative from Parallel Solutions
15-Dec-2003 - Two US companies have forged an alliance to develop a polymer-based technology that could be used to shield drugs from inactivating processes in the body, extending their time in the...
EU bans Internet prescription sales
15-Dec-2003 - The European Court of Justice has ruled that Internet sales of prescription drugs should not be permitted in European Union member states but that over-the-counter drugs may be sold on-line...
FDA head hints at biogenerics
15-Dec-2003 - Mark McClellan, the US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, has given the strongest hint to date that generic versions of biological drugs may be approved without the need for extensive...
12-Dec-2003
NanoSystems sticks with Elan
12-Dec-2003 - Ireland's Elan has said that its US-based drug delivery business, NanoSystems, will not be part of the sell-off in assets forced by its onerous debt burden. The company is also...
Gradipore tackles gel problems
12-Dec-2003 - Australia's Gradipore has brought in external help to find a solution to the company's manufacturing problems for its polyacrylamide gels, used for electrophoretic separations in the life sciences industry.
Printing in a hurry
12-Dec-2003 - Alcoa Flexible Packaging, a supplier of pharmaceutical packagingmaterials, has launched a rapid response printing service to customers who need to source small-scale print runs.
US state backs pharma
12-Dec-2003 - The US state of North Carolina has launched a new initiative aimed at encouraging investment in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with sizeable grants available to companies prepared to invest...
Price hikes at Noveon
12-Dec-2003 - Speciality chemicals company Noveon Kalama has increased the prices of a number of toluene derivatives used as starting blocks for the production of pharmaceutical intermediates.
11-Dec-2003
More takers for Profile nebuliser
11-Dec-2003 - Profile Therapeutics of the UK, a specialist in inhaled therapies, said it has agreed to supply France's Schering SA with its Prodose intelligent inhalers to support Schering's product Ventavis (iloprost),...
No more leaky packaging
11-Dec-2003 - A recently-formed UK company has developed a simple solution to avoiding one of the most fundamental problems affecting pharmaceutical products: contamination with water.
Debut for Indian packaging meeting
11-Dec-2003 - A new meeting focusing on the packaging industry, IndiaPack 2004, is scheduled to take place in Mumbai next October and underlines the development of the pharmaceutical industry in the country.
Sad demise of PPL
11-Dec-2003 - Scotland's PPL Therapeutics, once one of the brightest stars in the UK biotechnology universe, came to desultory end this week when the company auctioned off most of its remaining assets...
More lean times ahead for chemical industry
11-Dec-2003 - The lacklustre growth in the chemicals industry will continue to lag behind world gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the next few years, a reversal of the situation before 2000,...
Boom time for CROs?
11-Dec-2003 - The amount of pharmaceutical R&D funding headed out-of-house to research suppliers engaged in drug development work will grow almost 15 per cent annually for the next five years, nearly double...
10-Dec-2003
Takeda's Irish plant online in 04
10-Dec-2003 - Japan's Takeda Chemical Industries has said that a new €80 million bulk plant it is building in Ireland will start production of raw materials for its diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone)...
Peptide a forerunner to novel antibiotic class?
10-Dec-2003 - A team of researchers in Sweden have developed a drug based on a naturally-occurring protein that could represent a new class of antibacterial to tackle the growing problem of antibiotic...
Safety syringe firm teetering on the brink
10-Dec-2003 - The Scottish manufacturer of a safety syringe used in a new AIDS drug has sacked most of its staff and shut down its only production facility, but will continue to...
FDA wants e-format for all labels
10-Dec-2003 - Companies filing for approval of their drugs in the US market must now supply all information on the product's labelling and package insert in an electronic format, according to the...
Bar codes get top billing
10-Dec-2003 - Bar code scanning systems, which scan medications and patient identification bracelets at hospital bedsides to verify patients are receiving the correct medications, were voted the top choice for preventing medication...
Another dimension in cell biology
10-Dec-2003 - A US start-up company specialising in biomaterials, 3DMatrix, has developed a synthetic scaffold product that can be used to create self-assembling, microscale environments to encourage the growth of cells in...
Pharma even more important to UK
10-Dec-2003 - The pharmaceutical industry's contribution to the UK's trade balance has jumped by nearly a quarter in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2002,...
09-Dec-2003
PharmaDial pack gets top child-safety rating
09-Dec-2003 - A blister packaging system for tablets and capsules developed by Colbert Packaging has just received a top rating for child safety from the US Government's Consumer Product Safety Commission, allowing...
Rising starch prices passed on to customers
09-Dec-2003 - ICI subsidiary National Starch has significantly hiked up prices in the US as rising costs across the board continue to put pressure on the bottom line.
Biopharma capacity hike for Avid
09-Dec-2003 - Avid Bioservices is taking orders for a new 1,000-litre working volume mammalian cell culture bioreactor that should be up and running in July 2004.
New tools from Molecular Probes
09-Dec-2003 - Molecular Probes of the Netherlands, a specialist in proteomics tools, took the opportunity presented by the Lab Automation Europe meeting towards the end of last month to launch a range...
08-Dec-2003
Drug development costs hit $1.7 billion
08-Dec-2003 - Another report has slammed the so-called blockbuster model of drug development in the pharmaceutical industry, in which R&D efforts are concentrated on drugs that can command sales in excess of...
Single-shot HIV jab enters the clinic
08-Dec-2003 - Clinical trials of a new prophylactic vaccine candidate to prevent HIV/AIDS, developed by US company Targeted Genetics, have begun in Belgium.
Rhodia: no comment on divestment rumours
08-Dec-2003 - Chemicals company Rhodia has played down reports in the French press that it is considering a sell-off of its activities in silicon, food additives and phosphates as part of an...
Another arrest in fake Lipitor case
08-Dec-2003 - The US authorities have arrested another individual for suspected involvement in the distribution of fake copies of Pfizer's blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin).
Parallel purification in the fume cupboard
08-Dec-2003 - Radleys Discovery Technologies, a UK-based specialist in parallel chemistry, has introduced a platform to speed up the purification process after synthesis of multiple compounds.
New Risperdal fends off patent impact
08-Dec-2003 - The pharmaceutical industry is suffering from a raft of problems at present, from a decline in R&D productivity through patent expirations and the increasing reluctance of health care systems to...
Low cost steam trap station
08-Dec-2003 - Spirax Sarco has introduced a stainless steel steam trap station - used to remove condensate and air or other incondensable gases from a production pipeline - that is suitable for...
Sanofi-Synthelabo looks east
08-Dec-2003 - Sanofi-Synthelabo said it will invest €250 million over the next four years to expand its production site in Veresegyhaz, Hungary, and modernise its manufacturing processes.
Medisys will press ahead with safety syringe launch
08-Dec-2003 - UK company Medisys has confirmed that it will move ahead with the launch of its Futura safety syringe product on its own and should be filling customer orders in the...
07-Dec-2003
Improving stability in softgel capsules
07-Dec-2003 - A new process developed by RP Scherer promises to overcome the stability problems that can occur when certain pharmaceutical actives are formulated alongside fatty acids in softgel capsules.
05-Dec-2003
CSS chief buys Galen contract manufacturing
05-Dec-2003 - Allen McClay, the founder of Ireland's Chemical Synthesis Services, has acquired the pharmaceutical development and manufacturing business of Galen Holdings.
No-spill dosing from a spoon
05-Dec-2003 - Israeli generic pharmaceutical company Taro Pharmaceutical Industries has been granted a US patent for a means of dosing liquid medicines into a spoon without any spillages.
GE reorganises as Amersham buy gets go-ahead
05-Dec-2003 - General Electric was yesterday cleared to press ahead with its €8.1 billion acquisition of UK Amersham by the US antitrust authorities, and promptly announced a sweeping reorganisation of the business...
Shake up in Caliper boardroom
05-Dec-2003 - A number of senior executives at microfluidics and lab automation specialist Caliper Technologies are leaving the company in a reorganisation aimed at cutting costs and breaking even in cash flow...
Kalix launches tube feeder
05-Dec-2003 - French company Kalix has launched a new system called the Universal Feeder which increases the production capacity of its machines for filling and cartoning pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in tubes.
De Novo exits drug discovery
05-Dec-2003 - De Novo Pharmaceuticals says it has refocused its business from in-house drug discovery to commercialisation of its proprietary in silico drug discovery platforms, halving its workforce in the process.
04-Dec-2003
£6.6m fundraising for BioProgress
04-Dec-2003 - UK encapsulation company BioProgress yesterday unveiled plans to raise £6.6 million (€9.4m) through a placement of shares in order to build a new pharmaceutical production plant.
Pall life sciences sales held back by lab sector
04-Dec-2003 - Filtration and purification specialist Pall has reported a 12.5 per cent hike in first-quarter sales to $374 million (€310m), with life sciences putting in a strong showing, up 15.5 per cent to $152 million.
DPI deal taps new market for Inyx
04-Dec-2003 - Aerosol delivery specialist Inyx has entered into an agreement with a European partner that will see the company sign a partner for its dry powder inhaler (DPI) technologies for the...
Report sees bleak future for research-based SMEs
04-Dec-2003 - A new report claims that there is little future for small- to medium-sized research-based pharmaceutical companies over the next 12 years, as they will simply not have the R&D muscle...
Companies "ignore supply chain risks"
04-Dec-2003 - Single sourcing, outsourcing, just-in-time delivery and a host of other cost-saving measures adopted by the pharmaceutical and other industries are saving money but putting firms at risk of supply chain...
03-Dec-2003
New vaccines plant for Bavarian Nordic
03-Dec-2003 - Denmark-based vaccines company Bavarian Nordic is investing DK 250 million (€33.6m) in a production facility that will be the largest of its kind in Europe, producing up to 120 million...
UK bill hampers animal extremist efforts
03-Dec-2003 - The pharmaceutical industry has welcomed the passage of new legislation by the UK Parliament that will give police new powers to intervene in public order offences, including those carried out...
VIP packaging changes hands
03-Dec-2003 - US packaging specialist Advantek has sold its Vaculok range of vacuum-insulated panels to MOCON, an instrumentation company serving the medical, pharmaceutical and food industries.
New sweetener available for drugs
03-Dec-2003 - A new low-calorie sweetener which tastes just like table sugar and is suitable for use in pharmaceuticals and other health care products is now available from Biospherix, a subsidiary of...
Bayer sits back and waits for suppliers
03-Dec-2003 - Germany's Bayer Chemicals has set up a new procurement function on its corporate website that looks set to take a lot of the legwork out of finding the best supplier...
US focus pays off for Cobra
03-Dec-2003 - UK firm Cobra Biomanufacturing has ended its first year as a publicly-listed company with a healthy 137 per cent increase in revenues to £6 million (€8.6m), helped by an expansion...
Akzo ready for assault on human vaccines market
03-Dec-2003 - Akzo Nobel opened a new biotech vaccines production facility in Boxmeer, the Netherlands, yesterday, that signposts a new ambition in human vaccines for the group.
€100K award for Euro toxicology
03-Dec-2003 - Cefic, the European chemical industry council, has announced a €100,000 prize for innovative research in the field of toxicology.
Tight junctions and drug absorption
03-Dec-2003 - Many drugs cannot be administered orally since they cannot be taken up in the gastrointestinal tract. All attempts to solve this problem have thus far resulted in unacceptable risks of...
02-Dec-2003
Asthma drug will use SkyePharma inhaler tech
02-Dec-2003 - A new drug for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), developed by Swiss drugmaker Novartis, will make use of two technologies developed by UK drug delivery firm SkyePharma.
New Euro chief at Cambrex
02-Dec-2003 - Cambrex has continued its recruitment of top-level executives in its pharmaceutical and biopharma business unit with the appointment of Edward Robinson as executive vice president for Europe.
Taking assays to the sub-microlitre level
02-Dec-2003 - Over the last few years, researchers involved in high-throughput screening have been seeking out the use of their expensive reagents by developing assays that use smaller and smaller volumes, helped...
01-Dec-2003
New way to make viruses patented
01-Dec-2003 - German biopharmaceutical company Medigene has been granted a US patent covering a specific manufacturing process for viruses suited for the use in therapies and research.
Lactose product from DMV
01-Dec-2003 - A lactose product developed by DMV International of the Netherlands, Pharmatose DCL14, has properties that give it performance advantages over rival excipients used as filler/binders, according to the company.
Hoefer separations business changes hands
01-Dec-2003 - Amersham Bioscience has sold its Hoefer one-dimensional electrophoresis business to Harvard Biosciences for around $5.3 million (€4.4m) in cash.
First fruit of Diversa, BASF alliance
01-Dec-2003 - Diversa has licensed a proprietary enzyme for the biocatalytic synthesis of an unidentified pharmaceutical intermediate to BASF.
Sumitomo gears up for contract manufacturing
01-Dec-2003 - Japan's Sumitomo Chemical is absorbing its wholly-owned Sumika Fine Chemicals subsidiary and combining it with its own activities in this area to bolster its role as a supplier of pharmaceutical...
Europe is not closing R&D gap with US
01-Dec-2003 - The innovation gap between the EU and the US will not be closed before 2010 if the present rate of progress continues, according to new figures contained in the Commission's...
Making waves in proteomics
01-Dec-2003 - It is already well established that microwave energy can be used to speed up the breakdown of protein molecules by enzymes, the first stage in protein identification. Now, a collaboration...
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