The chief executive of Akzo Nobel expects to record sales of more
than $1 billion in China within the next five years, more than
double the level at present, and is boosting its presence in the
country in anticipation.
US chemical company Aceto has reported a healthy rise in sales and
operating income in the year ended 30 June, helped by its recent
entry into the market for biopharmaceuticals.
DSM Nutritional Products has lifted its vitamin E capacity to
25,000 tons - the world's largest - at a new plant that is being
hailed for its production efficiencies, reports Dominique
Patton.
Nestec of Switzerland, a subsidiary of food giant Nestle, has been
awarded a US patent on a new way of producing the whey protein
glycomacropeptide (GMP) that could open up its use as an ingredient
in pharmaceuticals, dental compositions...
The latest study to lament the cost of implementing the European
Union's REACH system has predicted dire consequences for the EU's
Gross Domestic Product, production base and innovative strength.
China has defended its decision to overturn Pfizer's patent on its
blockbuster drug for erectile dysfunction, Viagra (sildenafil), in
a ruling that was seen as a blow to hopes that the country would
enforce intellectual property...
Ashland of the US has signed an agreement to sell the ingestibles
line of business of Ashland Distribution - which includes
pharmaceutical actives and excipients and food and beverage
additives - to Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.
Germany's Bayer has reported a mixed set of results for the second
quarter with fine chemicals offshoot Lanxess contributing to an
unexpected 44 per cent hike in earnings before interest and tax
(EBIT).
Allegations that companies from Europe and Mexico are selling the
ingredient carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) at greatly reduced prices
in the US have prompted an investigation by the country's
International Trade Commission.
BASF has officially inaugurated a new production plant for the fine
chemicals intermediate citral at its Ludwigshafen site in Germany.
The world-scale plant, which has an annual capacity of 40,000
metric tons, replaces an existing...
The emergence of cases of mad cow disease in North America has not
raised any public health concern from animal-derived medicinal
materials such as bovine blood derivatives and gelatin.
The taxane class of cancer drugs has established itself as a
mainstay in the treatment of a range of solid tumours, but to date
there are still only two of these compounds on the market.
Catalyst company Chiral Quest has launched a new product,
C3-TunePhos, designed for use in the synthesis of a range of drugs,
including the cholesterol-lowering statin class.
Fine chemicals maker Bachem has reported higher sales in the first
half of the year, but profits were slightly weaker as unfavourable
exchange rates took their toll.
Israeli generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API)
company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced yet another
acquisition earlier today, this time for Pfizer's Italian generic
pharmaceutical marketing company Dorom.
In spite of pressures from rising oil prices in the last few
months, German specialty chemicals group H&R Wasag is
maintaining its growth forecasts for the year on the back of price
increases.
Solvay Chemicals has said that it will increase off-list prices for
all grades of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in North America from 15
September in the face of escalating demand.
Calling the next six months 'a critical period', the US Food and
Drug Administration's Acting Commissioner Lester Crawford has
unveiled a lengthy list of agency priorities, including continued
work on Good Manufacturing...
The market for oligonucleotides is set to more than double in the
next few years, promising rewards for those companies that can meet
the demand for custom ingredients and manufacturing services.
Borculo Domo Ingredients has forged an alliance with Univar USA to
act as the exclusive distributor for all of BDI's pharmaceutical
lactose products in the US, the world's largest pharmaceutical
market.
The German chemicals giant BASF has announced a successful second
quarter, though the company's nutrition and agricultural products
division turned in a poor performance with minimal sales growth and
reduced earnings from the...
Germany's mg technologies has completed the sale of Dynamit Nobel's
five business units on schedule at the end of July, marking its
exit from the fine chemicals and ingredients sector.
Speciality chemicals group Noviant has developed a certified
GM-free disintegrant for use in tablets, allowing supplement makers
to continue supplying a full range of products without having to
add labels required under new European...
UK chemicals group Croda said strong demand for its marine and
plant-derived oils in the personal care and healthcare sectors
lifted sales and helped improve first half operating profits.
Dutch group DSM, one of Europe's top three ingredient suppliers to
drug makers, increased sales of pharma products during the second
quarter but continued losses from the antibiotics market halved the
Life Sciences operating...
Avecia has launched a new precious metal scavenging resin, designed
to minimise metal loss and pollution in processing as well as
residual metal contamination of a product or intermediates.
Belgian pharmaceutical and chemicals company UCB, fresh from its
€2.25 billion acquisition of UK biotech Celltech, has divested its
films business in a move that takes it another step closer to
becoming a biopharmaceutical pure-play.
Chiral Quest has forged an alliance with DSM to accelerate the
take-up of its catalysis products, used in the synthesis of
chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Aspen Pharmacare, Africa's largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, has
been told that it can retain a recently purchased manufacturing
facility for off-patent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs),
providing it continues to supply...
Viruses are increasingly being used as delivery vectors in the
pharmaceutical industry, for example to deliver genes to cells or
DNA sequences that function as vaccines. But formulating them so
that the virus' activity is retained...
Codexis has appointed a new head of biocatalysis and chemical
development, shoring up its expertise in what is a small but
fast-growing area of the catalysts market.
Although Europe is a world leader in chemical production, holding
28 per cent of the world market, its proportion of global trade has
dropped by 4 per cent over the past decade. The time has come to
take action, according to two industry...
The market for pharmaceutical fine chemicals will remain static
until 2005 and overcapacity will continue to be a problem, predicts
Global Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals - Industry and Market
Analysis, a new report from Urch Publishing.
Finnish chemicals group Kemira has agreed to sell off its fine
chemicals business to a private equity firm, exiting from what it
sees as a non-core sector, reports Phil Taylor.
Lanxess, the new company in which Germany's Bayer will combine
almost all areas of its chemicals business and parts of its
polymers activities, begins operating as an independent unit today.
Pricing pressure on the global market for citric acid has forced
DSM of the Netherlands to lay off staff at its Citrique Belge unit,
reports Phil Taylor.
The market for generic drugs is going to expand from its present
level of $35 billion (€29bn) to $80 billion in 2008, as
cash-strapped healthcare payors turn increasingly to cheaper
options.
A Korean company has developed a new way of making peptide nucleic
acids - a promising drug category that has been limited to date by
an expensive and cumbersome synthetic process.
Irish start-up Celtic Catalysts believes it can tackle two of the
major obstacles holding back the use of catalysts to make chiral
drugs - the strong patent positions of existing players and
difficulties in scale-up - with its platform...
Swiss active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) company Siegfried
believes it has found a shortcut on the path to market for generic
drugs in the European Union, allowing it to launch drugs
immediately after their patents expire.
Neotame, a recently introduced high intensity sweetener developed
by US company NutraSweet, has been approved by the health
authorities in India for use in pharmaceutical preparations.
India's Jubilant Organosys has bought two companies in Belgium as
part of a drive to improve its presence in the European market for
generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
The safety of thiomersal, a preservative that is used in vaccines,
has come under scrutiny once again after a study found that it
causes damage to nerve cells in newborn mice.
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.
French ingredients company Roquette has been granted a US patent
for a way to make mannitol a suitable carrier excipient - or
pulverulent - for active pharmaceutical ingredients in hard filled
capsules, reports Phil Taylor.
3M will no longer manufacture triflic acid and is closing down its
electrochemical fluorination process at the company's Cottage
Grove, site in Illinois, US.
Novartis generics subsidiary Sandoz has continued its expansion
with the purchase of Canadian generic drugmaker Sabex Holdings for
$565 million (€459m) in cash, bringing in a new range of injectable
products.
