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News in brief

US FDA amends preclinical testing requirements for biotech drugs

21-May-2012 - The US FDA has updated its preclinical testing requirements for biotech drugs citing advances since the publication of ICH S6 and the need to harmonize with international standards.

SNBL invests in animal welfare at US lab

16-May-2012 - SNBL USA has invested in ‘social housing’ at its lab in Everett, Washington citing ‘recent reductions’ in US non-human primate lab capacity as the driver.

SNBL fixes probs at Everett lab; animal shipment blocked by Israeli courts

15-May-2012 - Preclinical services firm SNBL has fixed most of the deficiencies observed during a US FDA inspection in 2010 and says it is working to ‘quickly’ resolve the remaining issues.

Sales slump prompts BASi to plan more cost cutting steps

15-May-2012 - BASi is planning further cost cutting actions after continued weakness in toxicology led to a double-digit drop in revenue.

USDA asks MPI to reconfigure enclosures after animal death

10-May-2012 - MPI Research must reconfigure its enclosures after they led to the death of a non-human primate, a USDA report obtained by animal rights activists shows.

Charles River CEO downplays interest in asset transfer deals

07-May-2012 - The CEO of Charles River said asset transfer strategic deals make little “rational sense” to clients or CROs.

Covance to close Arizona tox site as weak demand continues

03-May-2012 - Covance is to close its toxicology facility in Arizona after early development demand dipped at the start of 2012.

How much does the chief earn – CEO pay at CROs fiscal 2011

30-Apr-2012 - Outsourcing-Pharma looks at the wages of the remaining big four public CROs and how they compare to operating income.

Indian CRO weakness hits Q1 sales at Waters & Sigma-Aldrich

26-Apr-2012 - Pressures on Indian CROs hit first quarter instrument and research materials sales at Waters and Sigma-Aldrich.

RDDT deal gives vivoPharm bigger share of Australia’s tox market

24-Apr-2012 - Acquisition of rival RDDT gave vivoPharm a larger share of Australia’s toxicity services market and will reduce outsourcing costs, says CEO.

Analysts predict Covance cuts to align tox capacity with demand

23-Apr-2012 - Analysts expect Covance to cut toxicology capacity in response to continued weak demand for GLP services.

Large pharma firms to boost preclinical offshoring; survey

19-Apr-2012 - Half of large pharma firms plan to offshore more discovery and early-stage work in the next two to five years, a survey found.

vivoPharm relocates to Melbourne after buying testing lab RDDT

18-Apr-2012 - Australian preclinical CRO vivoPharm has bought toxicology testing firm RMIT Drug Discovery Technologies (RDDT) and will relocated to a new Melbourne HQ.

Survey results add to hopes of drug discovery outsourcing rise

17-Apr-2012 - Positive survey results have added to evidence that outsourcing of drug discovery can partly offset weakness in GLP toxicology.

Roundup of CRO deals

05-Apr-2012 - Outsourcing-Pharma presents a roundup of recent CRO deals, including agreements at Quintiles, MPI, and AMRI.

Biomarker expansion positions CRO for rapid growth; Edison

04-Apr-2012 - Niche CRO Proteome Sciences is poised for triple-digit sales growth as its biomarker business takes off, an investment research firm said.

Sigma-Aldrich plans targeted models to expand service biz

03-Apr-2012 - Sigma-Aldrich plans to grow its new biologics toxicology services unit by creating targeted cell lines and animal models.

Affymetrix to distribute Almac biomarker development array

02-Apr-2012 - Affymetrix will distribute a mircoarray developed by Almac for personalised medicine development applications under an exclusive global distribution deal.

AMRI to end operations at Hungary site by next Friday

22-Mar-2012 - AMRI is to end operations at its discovery and chemistry services facility in Hungary by the end of next week.

update

Ferry firms stop transporting research animals to UK

15-Mar-2012 - Two major ferry companies have decided to stop shipping animals used in preclinical drug development to the UK, prompting concerns about the future of the country’s research sector. 

Structural shifts in tox sector to limit growth in ’12 and beyond

15-Mar-2012 - Growth in demand for toxicology services will be weak for the foreseeable future as the sector has “structurally changed”, analysts said after SOT.

AstraZeneca goes Dutch on discovery with split contracts for BioFocus and Argenta

14-Mar-2012 - UK drug major AstraZeneca has contracted BioFocus and Argenta to provide it with discovery services just weeks cutting its internal R&D capacity. 

CiToxLAB adds inhalation testing capacity

13-Mar-2012 - Preclinical CRO CiToxLAB has added inhalation testing capacity, citing growing demand from Pharmas and chemicals firms as key driver for the investment.

WuXi predicts tox profits as service expansions pay off

13-Mar-2012 - WuXi expects its GLP toxicology unit to turn profitable this year and it, like ShangPharma, is pinning its growth hopes on new services.

UPDATE

Horizon adds free technical support services for its genomic editing tech

06-Mar-2012 - Horizon Discovery has launched a new website to provide technical support to researchers using its rAAV-mediated genome editing tech.