The well established Pharmaceutical Substances database of active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), published by Germany's Thieme,
is now available for the first time in an online format.
The Pharmaceutical Services Division (PSD) of US chemicals firm
Solutia is planning a charge into the market for supplying drug
conjugates, which are becoming more and more common in the
treatment of diseases such as cancer.
Danish ingredients company Chr Hansen has ramped up its production
capacity in the US for its pharmaceutical products via a $10
million (€8.2m) expansion of its facilities in Stoughton in the US.
Lanxess, the fine chemicals unit that is due to be spun out of
Germany's Bayer next year, will be headed by Axel Westerhaus,
currently in charge of the group's polyethers business in the US.
India's Ajanta Pharma has said that it may re-enter the market for
bulk manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs),
despite pulling out of the sector in the late 1990s.
Belgian group UCB, fresh from making an offer for UK biotech
company Celltech, has announced plans to sell off its chemicals
unit and become a pharmaceuticals pure play, reports Phil
Taylor.
UK biotechnology company Acambis is looking for new clients to take
up unused capacity at its facility in Massachusetts, US, now that
Baxter has pulled out of a manufacturing contract.
DSM Anti-Infectives, the world's largest producer of antibiotics,
is planning to expand a manufacturing plant for a key intermediate
used in the manufacture of cephalosporins that will make it the
largest producer of the compound...
UK chemicals and metals firm Johnson Matthey has opened a precious
metal process catalyst manufacturing plant in India to cater to the
growing demand from the local pharmaceutical industry and provide a
springboard into other Asian...
Signalling its continued commitment to the emerging economies of
the recently expanded European Union, Switzerland's Novartis has
unveiled a €70 million overall investment in a new generics
production and logistics facility in...
France's Stedim and Integrated Biosystems have been awarded two new
patents on their Celsius line of containers, currently being
launched in Europe and US, that are used in the production of
biopharmaceuticals.
Yesterday, German chemicals group Degussa said that it had got off
to a good start financially in 2004. Today, the company provided a
more detailed breakdown of the first-quarter results which shows
the fine chemicals division still...
The current rate of growth in the world generics market puts it on
pace to outgrow branded pharmaceuticals, which will only grow by
single digits in 2004, according to business intelligence firm
Cutting Edge Information.
Australia's Mayne Pharma has bought its way into the European
market with the acquisition of a Germany company specialising in
the manufacture of freeze dried and solution vial products for
contract customers.
BASF and Merck KGaA have joined DSM in reporting encouraging
first-quarter 2004 results, raising hopes further that the European
chemicals sector may be about to move into recovery mode, writes
Phil Taylor.
Manufacturers of custom synthetic oligonucleotides (oligos) could
see competition from new entrants into the sector, according to a
survey which finds that customers are not entirely happy with their
suppliers.
Italy's Recordati has sold off Sophartex, a French subsidiary
specialising in the contract manufacture of finished pharmaceutical
dosage forms, continuing its strategy of divesting businesses
outside its core focus of developing...
DSM has said it expects 'clearly higher' net profit from ordinary
operations in 2004, after reporting an unexpected increase in
first-quarter operating earnings.
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...
DMV International, the industrial ingredients division of the
Netherlands' Campina, is planning to open a dedicated facility in
Germany for the production of excipients for direct compression.
Novartis Consumer Health has launched two of its OTC flu remedies
in portable dissolvable strips, thought to be the first such
products to use the novel delivery format.
The Netherlands-based pharmaceuticals, coatings and chemicals firm
Akzo Nobel has posted a 7 per cent rise in net income to €176
million for the first quarter of 2004, a little more than expected,
but has warned that its pharmaceuticals...
Germany's MG technologies has agreed to sell the bulk of its
Dynamit Nobel chemicals division, sealing the fate of a company
that has been on the block since last November, writes Phil
Taylor.
Israeli press reports say US generics company IVAX is close to
finalising a merger with local firm Agis, which manufactures
generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
US water-soluble films company MonoSol has bought the UK division
of Aquafilm, giving it access to substantial manufacturing
capabilities in Europe and its range of edible films, report
Phil Taylor and Dominique Patton.
UK contract research company, Peakdale Molecular has invested in
two large-scale glass reaction systems from Radleys to upgrade the
capabilities of its kilo-scale laboratory.
UK fine chemical company Ultrafine is to be acquired by
Sigma-Aldrich of the US in a move aimed at strengthening the
latter's offerings for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
The global generics industry is growing at such a rate that it can
now support billion dollar companies, with activities crossing into
active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production and R&D. This
shift in the sector - from...
India's Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals has set up a company
specialising in the contract manufacture of active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs) and intermediates that is specifically aimed at
winning business from foreign...
The US Food and Drug Administration is planning to hold a meeting
in June to re-examine its regulations on electronic records and
signatures, used to generate the audit trail in the food and drug
industries, to examine whether some...
A new technique for engineering protein crystals is helping
scientistsfigure out the three-dimensional structures of some
important biological molecules, including a key plague protein
whose structure has eluded researchers until...
Encapsulation specialist RP Scherer, part of the Cardinal Health
group, has been granted a patent on a technology that could be used
to reduce the amount of flavours and sweeteners used in
fast-dispersing dosage forms.
Danish biotechnology company LifeCycle Pharma has won a contract
with Italy's Recordati to develop an improved formulation of
Zanidip (lercanidipine), used for the treatment of hypertension,
reports Phil Taylor.
Rhodia Pharma Solutions has completed a new extension to its
production operation in Dudley, outside Newcastle, in the UK to
strengthen its ability to provide custom manufacturing services to
pharmaceutical companies.
The Japanese regulatory authority has approved the JRS Pharma's
ProSolv excipient - designed to make it easier and cheaper to make
high-quality tablets - for use in pharmaceutical formulations.
Researchers in France and the US have used a technique known as
click chemistry to discover potent new inhibitors of
acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that serves as a drug target in
Alzheimer's disease, writes Phil Taylor.
Researchers in Austria have deciphered the first steps involved in
the attachment of sugar groups to proteins - a process known as
glycoslation - which could open the door to making a broad range of
human proteins in bacteria, writes...
Compared with European and US chemical companies, most domestic
Chinese chemical enterprises have remained technologically
challenged with productivity lagging behind international levels.
Germany chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer has christened
its chemicals spin-off Lanxess, and says it is on schedule for a
stock market flotation early next year.
An analysis technology developed by Viscotek can slice days off the
time it takes to carry out research and quality control into drug
delivery systems based on polymers.
The European Parliament has adopted new measures to control the
trade in two compounds used for both legitimate pharmaceutical
applications and the manufacture of illicit drugs, writes Phil
Taylor.
Sigma-Aldrich's fine chemicals unit is to distribute a
plant-produced recombinant aprotinin manufactured by US-based Large
Scale Biology Corporation, under a new agreement announced this
week.
A fall in demand from the pharmaceuticals industry has caused a
significant hole in 2003 profits for German chemicals group
Degussa, which implemented heavy restructuring to reduce production
capacity in its fine chemicals unit.
BioProgress of the UK, which makes cellulose based films for
coating tablets and capsules, is planning to buy a company which
would provide a rapid route to increase production capacity in the
US, and also accelerate the development...
The Chinese pharmaceutical industry is still showing above average
growth, but the country's entry into the World Trade Organisation
means that tough times are ahead for manufacturers of active
pharmaceutical ingredients - which...
Microencapsulation specialist Micap has made its first foray into
the pharmaceutical sector after clinching a licensing deal with UK
drug delivery specialist SkyePharma.
