Italy's Marchesini has introduced a new packaging system that can
handle safety syringes, which are underused in Europe compared to
the US despite their proven benefits in reducing needlestick
injuries, reports Phil Taylor. It...
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is facing a number of US lawsuits, which
claims the company had covered up negative data that indicated its
antidepressant Paxil might increase suicidal tendencies in young
people.
LINPAC Materials Handling has introduced a reusable container -
designed for pharmaceuticals and food and beverages - that could
allow companies to significantly reduce their shipping costs,
claims the company.
While still a small part of the packaging giant Rexam's overall
business, pharmaceuticals has been instrumental in driving a robust
rise in sales and earnings at the company's plastics division in
the first half of the year.
Chemical giant BASF has increased the price of its styrene polymers
Polystyrene (PS), Terluran (ABS) and Luran (SAN) by €250 per metric
ton in Europe as of 1 September, blaming a continuing erosion in
margins caused by further increases...
Potential cost savings from the use of radiofrequency
identification (RFID) will spur increasing use of the technology
within pharmaceutical company supply chains during the next 18
months, according to new research.
In its first set of financial results after failing to find a buyer
for its pharmaceutical division, Danish packaging firm Superfos has
reported a healthy increase in earnings helped by the resolution of
delivery problems that plagued...
Swedish packaging technology company Cypak has raised SEK30 million
(€3.3m) in its fourth major round of funding, and says it will use
the proceeds to accelerate its product development efforts.
A soon-to-be published reference book that highlights the
compliance of Wal-Mart's suppliers with its RFID model says that
the system is set to change the rules of the global supply chain.
Researchers at Newcastle's Centre for Life have been given the
go-ahead to create stem cells from unfertilised human eggs, thought
to be the first time that such a license has been granted in
Europe.
Japan-based engineering firm Teikoku Piston Ring has developed a
hologram identification label that brings anti-counterfeiting
packaging to new levels.
US pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is to pay $150
million (€122 million) to settle an investigation in which
regulators claimed the company gave investors an inaccurate
representation of its financial performance by...
Two UK packaging machinery engineers, Autowrappers and Europack,
have been bought by Bradman Lake to create a packaging company that
can supply a full range of machinery and compete with the big
players in the pharmaceutical and food...
Chemical giant BASF has increased the prices for its plastic
material Styrolux by €200 per metric ton in Europe as of 1 August,
blaming the rising cost of raw materials.
The advent of smaller, less expensive marking and engraving lasers
means that packaging firms can expect better performances, claims
Purex marketing manager Jon Young. But in all cases, some form of
fume extraction system is still...
The first grants given in the UK for drug development in early
phase clinical experiments have been awarded to gene therapy trials
that may herald a breakthrough in intra-abdominal cancer which has
an average survival rate of less...
In a defiant gesture to animal activists, Britain's pharmaceutical
companies have joined forces to launch a £4m research fund to
finance animal experiments in universities.
Celera Diagnostics announced it has entered into a collaboration
with Merck to identify novel targets for drug discovery and
diagnostic markers related to Alzheimer's disease.
Packaging machinery company Thiele Technologies has launched an
automatic packer system that is specifically designed for use by
the pharmaceutical and food industries.
ADT Security Services has developed a radiofrequency identification
(RFID) system aimed at providing manufacturers with an upgradeable
solution for meeting the implementation goals set by Wal-Mart and
other leading retailers.
The market for the tools and services in combinatorial chemistry
and high-throughput screening approached $3 billion in 2003
(€2.43bn), but a new set of challenges is shifting customers'
focus, according to a new study.
Sun Microsystems has delayed the opening of a centre in Scotland
that will allow European companies interested in exploring the use
of radiofrequency identification technology a base for pilot
projects.
US company Sensitech has bought a Danish firm that shores up its
position in temperature and humidity monitoring of supply chains
and expands its presence into the European market.
German radio frequency identification technology company KSW
Microtec is gearing up to launch a new RFID label for tracking
supply chain integrity for pharmaceuticals, blood bags and
perishable foods.
A research team based in Sweden is benefiting from a medical
charity grant of $3 million (€2.5m) that will help it develop a new
cell-based therapy for Parkinson's. Current therapies can only
ameliorate the symptoms of the disease.
Pfizer's position as the number one drugmaker in the world with a
stable of blockbuster medications makes it a prime target for the
drug counterfeiters, and one of its most copied products is the
notorious impotence drug Viagra...
A new customisable conveyor system, specifically designed to meet
the regulatory demands on packaging in the pharmaceutical industry,
has been launched by AutoPak Engineering.
Chemical giant BASF is set to raise its European price for
polystyrene (PS) by €200 per metric ton from 1 July this year in
response to what it calls totally unsatisfactory margins and
earnings.
US-based wholesaler HD Smith has followed the lead of retail giant
Wal-Mart in adopting a system of electronic product code (EPC) and
radiofrequency identification (RFID) to track controlled
pharmaceuticals.
After months of trying to find a partner for its pharmaceutical
division, Danish packaging company Superfos has abandoned the plan
and will retain the business, reports Phil Taylor.
Tekni-Plex has launched a new range of thermoformable films for
blister packaging that is thin, offers high moisture barrier
properties and can do away with the need to use
environmentally-unsound polyvinylchloride (PVC).
Prices for flat rolled steel products in Europe have now in most
cases reached their highest level in the last two decades,
according to UK steel market analyst MEPS. This is likely to impact
the packaging industry.
UK company Aerotrim has developed a new line of insulated jackets
for pallets that are currently being trialled by pharmaceutical
companies and other industries, including food manufacturers and
the military.
A proposal requiring drug companies to register clinical trials in
a public database to be considered for later publication -
regardless of results - is being considered by top medical
journals, writes Wai Lang Chu.
In Norway, the Supreme Court has concluded that the packaging
designused by the local subsidiary of parallel importer Paranova
does notinfringe Merck & Co's trademarks.
The European Union has awarded funding worth €2.2 million to the
group of academic institutes behind the 3DGENOME research
programme, which is exploring how the genome functions in health
and disease.
Scientists in the UK are tipped to be given approval this week to
create cloned human embryos to harvest stem cells to treat diabetes
patients and with the possibility of treating other diseases such
as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
A coalition of biopharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies
has agreed on an electronic data standard that should make it
easier to file product approval dossiers to regulators
electronically, bringing drugs to market more...
The US Food and Drug Administration has suggested removing
essential-use status for metered dose inhalers (MDIs) used to
deliver the asthma drug albuterol (salbutamol) which use
chlorofluorocarbon propellants.
The annual US Biotechnology Industry Association event started this
weekend in San Francisco with the usual showcase of new
biopharmaceuticals and other technologies. But aside from supplying
the drugs of the future, the biotechnology...
In the build up to the American Society of Clinical Oncology's
(ASCO) annual conference, drug companies from around the world have
been showcasing potential drug treatments, with a number of new
molecular targets for cancer,...
Ministers at the Council of the European Union dashed hopes that an
EU-wide 'Community Patent' might be in the offing by voting against
the measure at last week's EU Competitiveness Council meeting.
The use of animal testing in pharmaceutical research and
development is to be revised after the UK government announced it
was to establish a national centre to reduce use and raise
standards of animal welfare, writes Wai Lang Chu.
RFID has arrived. Long hailed as the next IT revolution for
industry, communicating labels are being forced into place by
retailers and legislators alike, leaving manufacturers racing to
implement a newborn technology steeped in unknowns,...
The structure and remit of the European Medicines Evaluation Agency
(EMEA) will be overhauled from 20 May to give it a stronger
advisory role to industry, the healthcare profession and patients.
The number of animals tests needed for new chemicals could be
reduced significantly by the use of assays tests developed by
researchers at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. And
this should be welcome news for companies...
The US Food and Drug Administration has started a new comment
period on its bioterrorism regulations - designed to safeguard the
national food supply - which will have a significant impact on
companies importing pharmaceutical excipients...
The impact on the French chemicals industry of implementing the
European Union's REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation
of Chemicals) proposals could be as high €800 million in testing
alone and lead to the loss of...
