Innovation in targeted areas like nutrition should add sales worth
€1 billion in five years time, said vitamin and specialty chemicals
maker DSM today.
New rules detailing an improved format for prescription drug labels
will be issued later this year, US Food and Drug Administration
deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs Scott
Gottlieb has said.
The production capacity for biopharmaceutical manufacturing will
expand an average of 48 per cent over the next five years for
mammalian and microbial production systems, according to an
industry survey.
According to a new report, growing regulations in the European
pharmaceuticals industry is having a harmful effect on the market,
causing many companies to shift their bases to the United States
where the directives are more relaxed.
Animal activists' latest target in its campaign of terrorism has
centred on a chain of children's nurseries that has links with the
chemicals testing company, Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).
DecisionNews Media is seeking a further reporter for its
pharmaceuticals industry news services. Applicants must be
exceptionally bright, ambitious and talented, with experience in
news writing on the pharmaceuticals industry.
US biotechnology major Genzyme officially opened four European
facilities last week as part of a investment package eventually
expected to cost $540 million (€449m).
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found itself once
again without a permanent Commissioner after the current incumbent
- Lester Crawford - resigned after 18 months in the post.
The International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE) has
developed a definition of restricted access barrier systems, in
collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration, in order to
clear up confusion in the pharmaceutical...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has drafted a current
Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulation for the production of
drugs used in positron emission tomography (PET), a diagnostic
tool.
Eisai has become the first Japanese drugmaker to set up a dedicated
subsidiary in India in order to tap into local expertise in
manufacturing and research, according to local press reports.
According to a recent report, pharmacogenetics is unlikely to
become a reality within the next 15-20 years having been 'hyped' by
the media, who are unaware of the many gaps in current
understanding of how genetics relates...
US generics company Andrx, currently in the throes of an
investigation into its manufacturing procedures by the Food and
Drug Administration, announced the resignation of chief financial
officer John Hanson.
The consolidation in the generic pharmaceutical industry continues
apace, with companies in the easterly reaches of Europe now getting
in on the act. Czech Republic-headquartered Zentiva has signed an
agreement to acquire 51 per cent...
Germany's Merck KGaA has laid out its plans to take on the market
for generic respiratory medicines, revealing that it is the
previously unnamed company that has licensed UK inhaler company
Innovata's Clickhaler device in...
Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking to retain their
internal focus on research and development (R&D) and marketing
while outsourcing their manufacturing processes, thus fueling a
growing demand for the manufacturing...
Sandoz, the generic drug unit of Swiss pharmaceutical group
Novartis, has filed a law suit against the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) alleging that the agency is dragging its feet
in a review of a 'biogeneric' drug...
A US think tank, The Centre for Medicines in the Public Interest,
has released a new report projecting counterfeit drug sales to
reach $75 billion in 2010, a 92 per cent increase from 2005.
US biotechnology company Biogen Idec has succumbed to the effects
of having to withdraw its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri
(natalizumab) earlier this year, cutting 17 per cent of its
workforce and putting manufacturing facilities...
Quicker review times by the US Food and Drug Administration has not
increased the number of prescription drugs withdrawn for safety
reasons in the country, according to the Tufts Centre for the Study
of Drug Development.
Scientists in research and academia have called for the end to the
pharmaceutical industry's 'cynical use' of drug studies and its
subjects who are often misled into taking part.
Medical research bodies have joined together in a defiant effort to
combat terrorism by issuing a statement that aims to reduce the
risk of sensitive laboratory research being used in bioterrorism.
If there was any doubt that GlaxoSmithKline aims to become the
premier world supplier of influenza vaccine, it should be laid to
rest by yesterday's news that the number two drugmaker is buying
Canadian company ID Biomedical.
Regulatory obstacles to the development of the market for
biogeneric drugs are falling down, and the first products are set
to reach the markets of North America and Europe in 2006-7,
according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.
US biotechnology company Chiron has rejected a takeover offer from
Swiss drugmaker Novartis, saying the latter's $40 a share offer
does not pass muster.
Novartis has offered to buy the remaining shares it does not
already own in US headquartered Chiron for $4.5 billion, laying to
rest speculation in the marketplace that it had been eyeing up
Germany's Schering AG.
India's leading biotechnology company, Bharat Biotech, has said it
intends to spend more than €10 million on the construction of a
manufacturing facility in Perak, Malaysia, to mass produce
hepatitis B, typhoid and malaria vaccines.
GlaxoSmithKline has acquired a manufacturing facility in the USA
from Wyeth, and will invest at least $100 million (€80m) to develop
and produce flu vaccines at the site using new tissue culture
technology.
US researchers have developed a nanoparticle-derived shell, which
they believe may some day target tumour cells and deliver
medication to specific locations. The polymer shell protection
ensures the drug can circulate longer without...
As part of its programme to develop a seamless system for tracking
goods through the supply chain, MIT's Auto-ID Laboratory is in the
process of building a software simulation to study how data will
flow to global trading partners...
The cost-effective benefits and research standards set to become
international has added to the attraction of outsourcing R&D to
India and China - two developing nations that are set to ease the
ever-increasing cost pressures,...
Ranbaxy Laboratories (RLL) has opened its third state-of-the-art
drug discovery research centre in India, boosting the country's
profile as a key destination for pharmaceutical-related R&D by
drug companies, who are attracted...
Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), announced today that it has
been awarded an additional information technology (IT) outsourcing
contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), valued at $100.5 million (€82
million) over five years.
In its second set of financial results, Superfos has reported
earnings in the first six months of 2005 that have been affected by
high prices of raw material. The Danish packaging firm appear to
have resolved its delivery problems...
Drug delivery specialists, Inyx has announced the acquisition of
Celltech Manufacturing Services from biopharmaceutical company UCB
for €27.5 million (€22.3 million). The acquisition adds to Inyx's
recently established operating...
Researchers in the US have discovered a way of generating stem
cells that could avoid the use of human embryos, potentially
bypassing one of the major obstacles to the development of
therapies based on this technology.
Sandoz, the generics subsidiary of Swiss pharmaceutical company
Novartis, is rumoured to be planning an acquisition in India in a
move that would give it back the top slot in the sector.
Who's making what for whom? In-PharmaTechnologist provides its
periodic round-up of new deals and developments in the
pharmaceutical contract manufacturing sector.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has become the second Indian
drugmaker in a matter of days to announce the purchase of a
manufacturing facility in Eastern Europe that will serve as a
springboard for expansion into the broader European...
Viatris, a German pharmaceutical company specialising in inhaled
medicines and other specialty drugs, has accepted a €750 million
takeover offer from Swedish drugs group Meda.
Cardinal Health reported a mixed bag of results in its fourth
quarter, with revenues rising well on the back of rising demand for
its pharmaceutical distribution services, although operating profit
fell 9 per cent, in line with forecasts,...
The world's second largest pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline,
is investing close to €100 million in a new manufacturing facility
in Dresden, Germany, for flu vaccines.
Clintrak Pharmaceutical Services (CPS) has announced that it has
been approved by the German Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority for
secondary packaging, warehousing and distribution operations at its
manufacturing site in Freiburg,...
Dowpharma has announced the addition of an oligonucleotide
synthesizer for its manufacturing of nucleic acid medicines. The
new oligo synthesizer is said to increase speed and flexibility in
producing clinical quantities for customers.
The Hovione Group revealed its yearly figures for 2005, which
revealed that sales grew by 8 per cent. The company's performance
is in contrast to the pharma fine chemicals sector, which between
2002 and 2004 had an average 14...
Cambrex has recorded a gain in the second quarter of this year,
with growth in its Bioproducts and Human Health segments. The
performances overshadow the company's troublesome BioPharma
division, indicative of a market for outsourced...
Alfa Laval has announced the first of several new patents in which
a new mixing technology is described that claims to increase
productivity as well as reduce long cycle times - an issue that is
common with current single-use mixing...