Delivery formulations

Lupin: Mexican buy a bridgehead to generics and API growth

01-Apr-2014 By Gareth Macdonald

Lupin has bought Mexican eye drugmaker Grin in a deal that gives it a “bridgehead” to grow its API and generics business in the region.

Baxter to continue to grow manufacturing network in pharma spin-out

31-Mar-2014

Baxter says it will spin out its pharma business to form two separate companies by 2015.

UPDATE

Goodwin and Aspyrian team to deliver cancer-killing drugs by infrared light

27-Mar-2014 By Dan Stanton

ADC-makers could avoid using costly cytotoxics in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) by using near‐infrared (NIR) light to activate targeted cell-killing payloads, says Goodwin who has team up with Aspyrian Therapeutics.

US FDA issues new bioavailability guidelines

25-Mar-2014 By Dan Stanton

The US FDA has published guidance of how sponsors should best document the bioavailability of products for investigational new drug applications (INDs) and new drug applications (NDAs).

Bioavailability breakthrough key to new cancer drug OKed in Japan

24-Mar-2014 By Gareth Macdonald

Japan has become the first country to approve a new cancer pill that treats disease by interfering with DNA replication in tumour cells.

Bioavailability Breakthrough: Aegis’ enhancement tech works in pill form

19-Mar-2014 By Staff Reporter

Aegis Therapeutics claims a technology developed to improve the bioavailability of drugs delivered through the nose has a similar solubility enhancement effect in a solid dosage form.

Novo Nordisk buys rights to Caisson’s drug-extending biotech

18-Mar-2014 By Fiona BARRY

Caisson Biotech has licensed its drug-extending technology for injectables to Novo Nordisk.

Opportunities outweigh risks in China, says Eli Lilly

17-Mar-2014 By Dan Stanton

Eli Lilly says the opportunities in China outweigh any perceived challenges as it begins a $70m expansion of its manufacturing joint venture.

Pfizer invests in Indonesian solid dose facility

11-Mar-2014 By Dan Stanton

Pfizer’s $3.5m expansion of an Indonesian solid oral dose plant will increase capacity by 76%, the company says.

Anti-addiction formulation of super-strong opioid unclear

05-Mar-2014 By Fiona Barry

Addiction doctors have petitioned the US FDA to prevent Zohydro ER, the first single-entity hydrocodone painkiller, hitting the market this month citing its potential for abuse. Its maker, Zogenix, has been tight-lipped on whether the drug’s formulation...

Europe slow to adopt anti-abuse formulations and tech, says expert

27-Feb-2014 By Fiona Barry

European regulators have been accused of making “no attempt” to counter misuse of prescription drugs in comparison with North American efforts to reformulate and restrict addictive drugs, according to a Canadian firm testing the abuse potential of medicines.

Cellceutix hires Dr. Reddy’s to formulate candidate eye drug

26-Feb-2014 By Zachary Brennan

Cellceutix has selected Dr. Reddy’s Custom Pharmaceutical Services (CPS) for the formulation of its defensin mimetic drug Brilacidin for use in ophthalmic and otitis infections.

FDA re-evaluates 5-year NCE exclusivity to incentivize development of fixed-combo products

25-Feb-2014 By Zachary Brennan

The US FDA on Monday announced in a draft guidance that it’s revising its historical interpretation of the 5-year NCE exclusivity provisions to further incentivize the development of certain fixed-combination products. 

Insulin pill tech can be used more widely says Oramed

18-Feb-2014 By Gareth Macdonald

Debate rages over the significance of safety data from a trial of Oramed’s oral insulin pill, but the firm is still confident in its delivery technology.

UPDATE 1

Actavis to acquire Forest labs in $25bn takeover

18-Feb-2014 By Dan Stanton

Actavis has confirmed it will acquire Forest Laboratories in a deal worth up to $25bn (€18bn) following rumours last night.

NIH partners with 10 pharma companies to tackle major disease targets

11-Feb-2014 By Zachary Brennan

The National Institutes of Health and 10 pharmaceutical companies have launched a partnership to transform the current model for identifying and validating promising biological targets for Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Off-the-shelf aseptic manufacturing? Pfizer targets emerging markets in JV

10-Feb-2014 By Dan Stanton

Pfizer says its ‘off the shelf’ aseptic processing capacity is shifting the paradigm of pharma manufacturing, with emerging markets and personalised medicine driving the change.

Novozymes albumin attracts two ‘top 10’ pharmas

04-Feb-2014

Novozymes Biopharma has confirmed that two “top 10” pharmaceutical firms are using its modified human albumin in their drug development programmes.

Lupin buys Dutch delivery tech firm for injectables entry

03-Feb-2014 By Gareth Macdonald

Lupin Ltd has bought Dutch delivery technology company Nanomi BV in a deal that moves the Indian generics firm into the complex injectables space.

Productivity drive could affect up to 4,000 Novartis jobs in 2014

03-Feb-2014 By Dan Stanton

Novartis has confirmed that pharma jobs will be reallocated in 2014 in a continuation of the productivity drive that saved the firm $2.8bn (EUR2bn) last year.  

Clarus says oral testosterone bulks muscles, not liver

30-Jan-2014 By Fiona Barry

Clarus Therapeutics has submitted to the FDA a testosterone replacement it claims overcomes the toxicity problems that have plagued other oral drugs like methyltestosterone.

Demand for HPAPIs drives Patheon to invest $1m in UK facility

30-Jan-2014 By Dan Stanton

Increasing demand for HPAPIs has driven Patheon to invest in its Milton Park, UK manufacturing facility, the company says.

Actavis to sell Foshan JV stake days after calling China 'too risky'

27-Jan-2014

Actavis has announced plans to sell its stake in its Chinese subsidiary just days after telling investors the country is 'too risky' for new investments.

Hospira intent on growing Indian ops as EU market beckons

23-Jan-2014 By Dan Stanton

Increased in-house API production and manufacturing in India will lower the costs of Hospira’s injectables, the firm says, as it looks past current remediation efforts.

Complex generics will boost speciality biz, Teva says

16-Jan-2014 By Dan Stanton

Complex generics will represent over 50% of Teva’s generic market by 2017, the firm says, but investments in delivery technology will have positive implications across the full business.

Can a biz grow cannabis to provide APIs for its pipeline? France says 'oui'

15-Jan-2014 By Dan Stanton

Drugs containing APIs derived from cannabis plants are a far cry from the non-clinical approach of marijuana dispensaries, says GWPharma, as France approves Sativex.

Peptide from sea bacterium may turn the tide of MRSA resistance

09-Jan-2014 By Gareth Macdonald

Marine bacteria may yield the next generation of MRSA fighting drugs according to a team that used a peptide from a Pacific Ocean bug to render the hospital superbug less lethal.

Brain Shuttle could deliver hope for brain disease sufferers, says Roche

09-Jan-2014 By Dan Stanton

A drug delivery technology that ‘shuttles’ molecules across the blood-brain-barrier could have major implications in developing drugs for disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s disease, Roche says.

Encap selected to formulate Lipocine's HPAPI oral testosterone

18-Dec-2013 By Dan Stanton

Encap has collaborated with Lipocine to manufacture its oral testosterone product and says it expects continued growth in demand for HPAPI formulation services.

Endo gains battery powered transdermal patch tech in $105m acquisition

17-Dec-2013 By Dan Stanton

Endo has obtained NuPathe’s transdermal migraine patch and its iontophoresis drug delivery technology as part of the $105m (€76m) acquisition.

Aprecia seeks funding ahead of first ZipDose drug launch

16-Dec-2013 By Gareth Macdonald

Aprecia Pharmaceuticals has set out to try and raise money to support the commercial launch of the first drug product that uses its ZipDose delivery tech.

Lilly: Jobs to shift to insulin production in wake of Cymbalta expiration

16-Dec-2013 By Dan Stanton

Eli Lilly is scaling back manufacturing of Cymbalta but says there will be no major loss of production jobs as a number of firms begin producing generic versions.

APL says 'specials' biz benefits CMO offering

02-Dec-2013 By Gareth Macdonald

Apotek Produktion & Laboratorier AB (APL) says manufacturing knowledge and drug delivery tech knowhow gained by its compounding business is a boon for its CMO unit.

360 jobs to go as global manufacturing review trims Actavis' network

27-Nov-2013 By Dan Stanton

Actavis says it is restructuring a Californian manufacturing facility at a cost of 56 jobs weeks after the announced closure of a plant in North Carolina.

Particle Sciences wins BHR nasal progesterone contract

25-Nov-2013

Particle Sciences has been tasked with creating a nasal formulation of the steroid hormone progesterone that can be used to treat patients who have suffered traumatic brain injury.

Dispatches from AAPS

GEA: 'Start of the end' of batch manufacturing as firm teams with US FDA

13-Nov-2013 By Dan Stanton

The US FDA is working with GEA to validate continuous manufacturing as the pharma industry enters “the start of the end” for batch manufacturing, according to GEA.

Dispatches from AAPS

Non-oral FDCs are beneficial for patients and industry, say experts

13-Nov-2013 By Dan Stanton

Drug delivery experts say fixed dose combination (FDC) products for non-oral forms can benefit both the manufacturer and the patient.

Dispatches from AAPS

Spray drying often most applicable in bioavailability challenge, says Bend

12-Nov-2013 By Dan Stanton

There are multiple ways to make amorphous dispersions in order to enhance bioavailability but spray dry dispersion (SDD) is often the most applicable, Bend Research says.

Dispatches from AAPS

"Like I said, it's complicated" drug-food interactions discussed at AAPS

12-Nov-2013 By Gareth Macdonald

Understanding how a drug will interact with food is vital even if predicting it accurately during development can be a challenge according to speakers at AAPS yesterday.

News from CPhI

Second generation HPMC excipient can cut costs by 60%, says Dow

05-Nov-2013 By Dan Stanton

A new tableting excipient eliminates the need for wet granulation and saves up to 60% on overall manufacturing costs according to developer Dow.

Capsugel and Bend: 'Marriage made in heaven' as first tech transferred

31-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

The acquisition of Bend Research by Capsugel may be “a marriage made in heaven” for customers, the firms say, as the first drug delivery tech is transferred.

UPDATE - Dispatches from CPhI

Capsugel's purchase of Bend will strengthen partnership, says Dow

28-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

Dow says the acquisition of partner Bend Research is “good news” and will strengthen its developments in solving solubility and bioavailability issues in drug formulation.

Mylan Labs, Natco Pharma look to expand injectable manufacturing, CEOs say

23-Oct-2013 By Zachary Brennan

Indian manufacturing heavyweight Mylan Laboratories is looking to build off its major acquisition of Agila with a number of smaller acquisitions, while Natco is about to receive a cash infusion for manufacturing expansions.

Almac and Novozymes team to offer pharmacokinetic improvements

22-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

Linking peptide and small molecule drugs to albumin will improve pharmacokinetics, says Almac as it partners its manufacturing capabilities with Novozymes’ half-life extension platform.

Unregistered vs fake - How terminology sparked a media war in Ghana

21-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

In calling an unregistered product ‘fake,’ the Ghanaian FDA has sparked a media war with industry, but are critics using this as an excuse to knock the regulators whilst importers gain undeserved sympathy? in-Pharmatechnologist’s Dan Stanton believes...

Cirrus studies formulation effects on MDI performance for US FDA

17-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

Cirrus Pharmaceuticals has received a grant to investigate the effect of excipient concentration and API molecule size on metered dose inhaler (MDI) formulations.

Colorcon calls on Evonik to help sell delayed-release tech

15-Oct-2013 By Gareth Macdonald

Colorcon has called on Evonik Industries to help it sell a co-developed, delayed release pill coating technology.

MedImmune looks to 'next generation biologics' with $200m ADC investment

15-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

AstraZeneca has become the latest company to invest in antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology with the acquisition of Spirogen for $200m (€148m).

Catalent's Brazilian acquisition supports global softgel strategy

10-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

Catalent has continued its softgel expansion in emerging markets with the acquisition of Relthy Laboratórios in Brazil.

Intravaginal 'ring' could deliver number of women's health drugs

09-Oct-2013 By Dan Stanton

An intravaginal ring filled with an anti-retroviral drug being developed by Northwestern University could be used to deliver drugs for a number of indications, says the Professor behind the research.