Improving healthcare infrastructure across the region and a large treatment-naïve patient population makes the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) an increasingly attractive destination for drug trials says ClinTec CEO Rabinder Buttar.
In a busy week of Big Phama results Pfizer reports sales boost from Wyeth, Roche says Genentech hit profits and GSK unveils surge in Relenza sales and plans to expand R&D restructuring.
ClearTrial says information is power in trial talks and claims its CTO software helped biotech firm save 20 per cent of bid cost through more informed negotiations with its CRO.
Contract services major Quintiles will sell Movetis’ chronic constipation treatment Resolor (prucalopride) in Europe under a contract announced last week.
PRA International has entered into a partnership with Oncopartners and IBPC to accelerate the planning, start-up and patient recruitment of oncology trials in Latin America.
Full-year income at the Lonza was hit by falling demand for life science ingredients and custom manufacturing services and only modest gains for its bioscience unit.
The global market for RFID products and services in the pharma industry will be worth $884m (€631m) in 2015, according to a report, but apprehensions about initial costs and return-on-investment need to be overcome.
Environmental certification of production facilities should be introduced to GMP legislation and sustainability risk assessments linked to marketing authorisations, according to a MPA report.
The SPMC of Sri Lanka is seeking a $10m (€7.1m) loan to buy high-speed tablet and capsule filling machines and ensure it can meet the island’s demand for safe medicines.
Indian CRO Ankur Drugs and Pharma is a step closer to stating production of Romaco’s Siebler StripTabs now the German firm developed a fully integrated manufacturing line.
Emergency relief groups in Haiti can expect to receive continued support from the drug industry, according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (IFPMA).
Indian drugmaker Lupin can start seeking US approval for new drugs made at its API plant in Mandideep, Bhopal after resolving the cGMP deficiencies that earned the facility a US FDA warning last year.
DSM Speciality Intermediates (DSI) is to close by the end of 2010, with activities at its production site ceasing in July, in response to pricing pressures caused by the rise of rivals in India and China.
Pharmaceutical packaging machinery manufacturer Sepha has reported a 33 per cent increase in sales for 2009, underpinned by strong growth in Asia and South America.
AMRI’s plant in Rensselaer, New York gained SafeBridge potent compound certification this week after an effort that spokesperson Andrea Schulz said istestament to the firm's "willingness to go the extra mile”.
Malgorzata Szerszeniewska, CEO of Central and Eastern Europe’s (CEE) “newest” CRO EastHorn, says maintaining ethical standards is crucial to sustaining the rapid patient recruitment rates that characterise the region.
Quotient Bioresearch has secured the supply of 14C labelled compounds for its customers ahead of its move to a new purpose built facility in Cardiff through an extension of its agreement with GE Healthcare (GEHC).
The EFPIA’s European Vaccine Manufacturers (EVM) group has denied allegations that its members were involved in hyping up the threat of the H1N1 pandemic to boost vaccine sales.
Quintiles Transnational has selected US ePRO solutions provider Invivodata to help it meet growing regulatory pressure to focus on the patient perspectives during trials.
New Jersey, US-based contractors Catalent Pharma Solutions and Compass Pharma Services expanded their respective blister pack offerings last week, both citing growing drug industry demand.
Latin America, new services and mid-sized pharma clients are targets for the incoming CEO of Clearstone Central Laboratories, who set out his vision for the business in an interview with Outsourcing-Pharma.
Lonza will shut down its API plant in Riverside, Pennsylvania, US by the end of the year as part of a plan to cut costs and shift small-molecule production to Asia.
Outsourcing-pharma presents a round up of all the latest deals and developments in the contract research space. This week Synexus closes ClinPharm deal, GVK joins ResearchPoint Global and CliniPace wins gNO contract.
Pall says its acquisition of MicroReactor Technologies (MRT) broadens its offering in the $1bn (€689m) a year global biopharmaceutical process development market.
GSK says it will start making its BPH drug Avodart (dutasteride) at its facility in Poznan, Poland when it completes a PLN70m (€17m) capacity upgrade in January next year.
Daiichi-Sankyo subsidiary Luitpold Pharmaceuticals has acquired PharmaForce, giving it a 40,000 sq ft cGMP compliant sterile manufacturing facility and a 20,000 sq ft API production plant.
The Hong Kong pharma sector should aim to adopt current World Health Organisation (WHO) GMP standards for drug manufacture within two years, according to a new report.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has given partial approval for Amcor’s takeover of Alcan after announcing it would now limit its review to Alcan’s Medical Flexible operations.
Ranbaxy Laboratories has sold its Chinese JV, Ranbaxy Guangzhou China Limited (RGCL), as part of a new approach to the country’s rapidly expanding drug market.
Zydus Cadila has become the first Indian pharma company to begin multi-centre clinical trials of a H1N1 vaccine after it received approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
The Nucleotide Research Complex, the largest such facility in the Middle East, is now operational and ready to house companies’ research and development, analytical, diagnostic and equipment training activities.
Novartis intends to acquire the remaining 75 per cent of Alcon for $39.3bn (€27.3bn), adding to the shares it bought in April 2008 and giving the big pharma control of the ophthalmic specialist.
US CRO Pacific Biometrics is to be renamed Pacific Biomarkers, after shareholders voted in favour of the change at the company’s AGM earlier this month.
Patheon says a slowdown in “outsourcing decision making,” manufacturing problems in Puerto Rico and cost related to JLL’s takeover bid hurt it in fiscal 09.
Trials contractor Kendle International will use a management platform developed by US software group MetricStream to help control its global compliance and quality assurance operations.