US private equity group Water Street Healthcare Partners (WSHP) says its purchase of AAIPharma’s pharmaceutical development business was a “unique opportunity” to invest in an expanding market.
The number of pharma employees in New Jersey, US fell by 1,400 in 2008, with R&D expenditure, capital investment and product trials also declining, according to a report.
Automation expenditures in pharma manufacturing are predicted to reach $3bn (€2.15bn) by 2012 because companies must invest in the current “adapt or die” environment, according to a report.
WuXi PharmaTech’s operating income fell by 25 per cent in Q1, in part because of an 81 per cent drop in revenues from manufacturing, but the company reconfirmed its 2009 financial guidance.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to take a 16 per cent stake in Aspen in exchange for a manufacturing facility and eight medicines, building on the companies’ relationship and the big pharma’s profile in Africa.
Troubled Canadian contract manufacturing firm PharmEng International, faced with a serious cash flow crisis, has announced the departure of chief financial officer Brian Fielding and two other senior executives.
Non-profit R&D organisation Battelle is investing $200m in its facilities in Ohio, which will see the company’s contract research capabilities upgraded.
Biotech bodies from around the globe have been calling on their respective governments to provide stimulus packages to compensate for the current difficulties in obtaining credit.
UK drug giant GSK is to shed 200 jobs at its manufacturing plant in Barnard Castle, County Durham to cut costs ahead of generic competition for products made at the facility, which include the anti-emetic Zofran (ondansentron).
Covidien hopes that a $100m (€74m) expansion of facilities at its production hub in St Louis, Missouri, US will boost efficiency and cut the time it takes to bring products to market.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has sold four of its off-patent drug products
to a South African drugmaker for £170m ($336m), describing the move
as part of an ongoing effort to simplify its manufacturing
operations.
Genzyme is putting another €130m into its manufacturing facility in
Waterford, Ireland, where the US biotech first put down roots in
2001 and has been steadily expanding ever since.
Steven Liberty, senior vice president of operations for Patheon's
North American businesses spoke at Interphex on the strategies
contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) can use to obtain a
competitive advantage.
Alpharma has signed a definitive agreement with private equity
group 3i for the sale of its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)
business, pocketing $395m in the deal to reinvest in its
pharmaceutical and animal health divisions.
New UK Government proposals to scrap Capital Gains Tax (CGT) relief
will stifle life science innovation, according to a group of
biotech small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Merck & Co has handed the reins of one of its US active
pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facilities over to
new a owner, who has also secured a lucrative contract
manufacturing deal with the drug giant.
Merck has settled on a site in south east Ireland for a new
vaccines and biologics facility, investing €200m ($280m) in its
third facility on the island.
Catalent Pharma Solutions, the firm born from the spin out of
Cardinal Health's contract manufacturing business, is reorganising
its production facilities with an expansion of its UK site and the
divestiture of some of its French...
Cardinal Health is about to sell its drug manufacturing arm to an
international private investment firm, only two months after
announcing its decision to divest the segment, while its second
quarter earnings doubled as a result.
The world's largest glass container manufacturer is considering
hiving off its plastics packaging business as it reviews strategic
options for the division.
A white paper that looks at the eClinical business model strategies
has concluded that larger investments and access to multicomponent,
single-source contracting options will create more efficient models
for businesses.
After failing to reverse falling sales at its Pharmaceutical Fine
Chemicals (PFC) division, Clariant has decided to sell the unit to
private equity firm Towerbrook for around SFr110m (€70m).
Determined to focus on its fuels and lubricant additives business,
specialty chemical firm Lubrizol has sold its active pharmaceutical
ingredient (API) and intermediate compounds division to Auctus, a
German private equity firm.
Reforms do not come cheap, certainly not for Croatian
pharmaceutical company Pliva, whose strategy of abandoning its
proprietary drugs in favour of generics may pay off in the long
term, but, along with manufacturing consolidation...
Anachem has just kicked off a unique new European-wide support and
maintenance service for scientific instruments - the first of its
kind - aimed to help instrumentation suppliers wanting to grow
their sales in Europe.
Croatian drug firm Pliva has sold its Dresden production plant to
Italy's Menarini Group as it tries to recover losses suffered by
its failed venture in proprietor drugs and an end to most of the
royalties it receives.
BioGenetics Capital announced that it has closed a $5.5 million
financing round with Contract Research Organisation (CRO) Services
Group, Clinquest Group, in a move that gives the company access to
the fast-growing life sciences markets...
Alcan has acquired the outstanding minority share of Propack in a
deal that further cements the company's standing in the Chinese
market. The acquisition forms part of a major restructuring
exercise, in which the closure and...
Dutch pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant Akzo Nobel reported
third-quarter sales of €3,29 billion, a slight decrease from the
previous quarter but up 5.4 per cent from the comparable period in
2004, thanks to growth in all its units,...
Life sciences investment group Abingworth Management has announced
the initial Abingworth BioEquities Fund (ABE) has raised $53
million (€44 million) to invest across the life sciences field
including human therapeutics.
German pharmaceutical firm Schering is planning to close down half
its production facilities in the coming years as it strives to
boost profitability and growth to a level that will beat its peers
in the industry, reports Phil Taylor.
Dutch chemicals and drugs group Akzo Nobel saw its net income
accelerate in the third quarter of this year, to the surprise of
analysts and investors, and helped by cost reductions and a big
gain from the divestment of its coatings...
Finland's Kemira has completed the divestment of its fine chemicals
business, which now operates as KemFine under the control of the
division's former management team.
Genomics specialist MWG Biotech has decided to pull out of
microarrays and laboratory automation and focus on its core areas
of making nucleic acids and oligonucleotides and DNA sequencing.
The spending for Pharmaceutical-Biotech capital and maintenance
projects in the public and private sectors approached $13 billion
in 2004 (€10.7bn), but companies are often delaying site decisions,
with promises of fast-track permitting...
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.
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.
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.
French chemicals company Rhodia has announced three new deals which
keep it on track to divest €700 million-worth of businesses by the
end of the year as it aims for a return to profitability in 2006.
Troubled chemicals company Rhodia has pressed ahead with plans to
sell off its food ingredients portfolio, allowing it to focus on
its core chemicals and pharmaceuticals businesses.
Troubled chemicals group Rhodia sees its CEO depart as the company
announces another restructuring round that will see €600m in
divestments by end-2004.
Abingworth Management, a UK venture capital group, has raised a
$350 million investment vehicle in a move that lends further weight
to suggestions that the funding crisis hitting the biotechnology
sector may be nearing its end.
