Switzerland's Bachem saw its 2003 sales slip by 3 per cent as
continued slack demand for research chemicals held back a modest
increase in its active pharmaceutical ingredients business.
Irish pharmaceutical group Elan has raised around $70 million
(€55m) from four new deals, including the sale of formulation and
manufacturing interests.
German contract ingredient manufacturer Girindus posted its first
profit since it was floated on the stock exchange in 2000 in the
last quarter of 2003, as sales rose 16 per cent to €32 million.
Israel's Teva has moved a step closer to consolidating its position
as the world's biggest generics manufacturer with the $3.4 billion
(€2.7bn) acquisition of US-based SICOR, which makes active
pharmaceutical ingredients...
Dr Reddy's Laboratories has developed a new class of therapeutic
that could make it the first pharmaceutical company in India to
develop a proprietary blockbuster product.
Switzerland's Roche is setting up an R&D centre in Shanghai in
a move which reflects the growing importance of the country as both
a market for pharmaceutical products and a site for drug research.
A survey has found that difficulties in swallowing pills is
widespread among adults, but is rarely discussed with doctors and
can prevent some people from taking their medicine. The findings
suggest that pharmaceutical companies should...
The US government's attempt to reform the federal Medicare system
to provide a prescription benefit for the elderly and disabled has
been slammed by the Democrats, who believe it will prevent US
states from negotiating price...
Cypak, a Swedish company specialising in novel forms of packaging,
has signed what promises to be a major new deal for a 'smart'
blister pack system that can detect if patient is taking medication
as prescribed.
Millipore has developed a new set of labels for its filter products
that should make it easier for its biopharmaceutical customers to
comply with the obligation to keep accurate batch production
records.
German pharmaceutical company Altana has started construction of a
€70 million manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland. The move would
appear to refute claims that the attractiveness of the region to
the drug industry is on the wane.
The Automation Partnership (TAP), a company specialising in the
application of robotics to pharmaceutical drug discovery and
production, has named a new chief executive to succeed Richard
Archer, who is stepping down in February.
World pharmaceutical packaging demand will increase at a rate of
4.3 per cent a year to reach $22.2 billion (€17.2bn) in 2007,
according to a new report from Freedonia Group. Companies supplying
blister packaging will benefit from...
The pharmaceutical industry must cut the time its drugs linger in
development and terminate less promising projects earlier if it is
to improve the efficiency and productivity of its R&D
programmes.
Japan has said that it intends to require all prescription drugs to
carry bar codes in a bid to prevent medication mix-ups, but
hospitals are worried about the cost implications of the move.
US chemicals firm Aceto has bought the German Pharma Waldhof
business from Switzerland's Roche, making its first foray into the
market for biologically-derived active pharmaceutical ingredients
(APIs).
CCL Label, a US firm specialising in the packaging and labelling of
pharmaceutical and consumer products, has forged an alliance that
could see so-called 'track and trace' technologies more widely
applied to the healthcare...
For the past 10 years, drug companies have paid the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) fees to review each drug they want
approved, on the grounds that the increased funding for the agency
would accelerate review times and shorten...
The Indian government has proposed draconian new penalties for
individuals found making counterfeit pharmaceuticals, after a
number of fatalities associated with bootleg drugs.
The restructuring activity that has features this year in the
European pharmachem industry continued yesterday with the news that
Germany's Merck KGaA had sold off BioMer, a joint venture focusing
on orthopaedic products.
Two US companies have forged an alliance to develop a polymer-based
technology that could be used to shield drugs from inactivating
processes in the body, extending their time in the circulation.
Welsh company Great Lakes Fine Chemicals has teamed up with Phoenix
Chemicals to develop new, more cost effective processes for the
production of pharmaceutical intermediates.
The amount of pharmaceutical R&D funding headed out-of-house to
research suppliers engaged in drug development work will grow
almost 15 per cent annually for the next five years, nearly double
the anticipated increase in overall...
The US authorities have arrested another individual for suspected
involvement in the distribution of fake copies of Pfizer's
blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin).
Sanofi-Synthelabo said it will invest €250 million over the next
four years to expand its production site in Veresegyhaz, Hungary,
and modernise its manufacturing processes.
Another report has slammed the so-called blockbuster model of drug
development in the pharmaceutical industry, in which R&D
efforts are concentrated on drugs that can command sales in excess
of $1 billion (€820m).
Israeli generic pharmaceutical company Taro Pharmaceutical
Industries has been granted a US patent for a means of dosing
liquid medicines into a spoon without any spillages.
De Novo Pharmaceuticals says it has refocused its business from
in-house drug discovery to commercialisation of its proprietary
in silico drug discovery platforms, halving its workforce in
the process.
A new report claims that there is little future for small- to
medium-sized research-based pharmaceutical companies over the next
12 years, as they will simply not have the R&D muscle needed to
survive, says a new report from Decision...
Cambrex has continued its recruitment of top-level executives in
its pharmaceutical and biopharma business unit with the appointment
of Edward Robinson as executive vice president for Europe.
Japan's Sumitomo Chemical is absorbing its wholly-owned Sumika Fine
Chemicals subsidiary and combining it with its own activities in
this area to bolster its role as a supplier of pharmaceutical
chemicals.
Pierre Fabre shuts down a facility manufacturing over-the-counter
pharmaceutical products at its Veyron & Froment subsidiary in
Marseille, blaming the move on France's de-reimbursement strategy.
Cambrex has appointed a new CEO to oversee the combination of its
small-molecule and biological active pharmaceutical ingredient
(API) activities into a single business unit.
The prospect of a prescription drug benefit for the elderly in the
US has led to share price hikes in Euro pharma companies; SG Cowen
analyses the impact.
Eisai has announced a further hike in investment in manufacturing
in order to cope with increasing overseas demand for its
top-selling Aciphex and Aricept products.
A UK firm has developed a technology for creating sustained-release
versions of generic peptide and protein drugs, without the need to
conduct extensive registration trials.
Japan is losing out competitively at the expense of its rivals in
the global pharmaceutical industry, says EFPIA, and must take steps
to improve the environment for drug companies.
Avecia has scored a world first with the certification by all
European Union member states of its DNA medicines production
facility at Grangemouth, Scotland.
Particle testing specialist Malvern Instruments has acquired
Bohlin, which focuses on the development and manufacture of
rheology systems; also sells PharmaVision 380 system to Altana.
Ultrafine has started construction of an additional facility to
expand its capabilities in the custom manufacturing of active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates.
Quintiles Transnational has launched a new screening technology for
drug discovery and development to detect the interaction of
compounds with ion channels.
GlaxoSmithKline today announced details of its seventh Centre of
Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD), extending the company's new
model for pharmaceutical R&D into the biopharmaceutical sphere.
BioProgress has signed a formal contract with Harro Hoefliger to
make the latter the exclusive builder, supplier and service
provider for its non-gelatine encapsulation machines.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday issued a new
document that encourages drug and biologic developers to conduct
pharmacogenomic tests during drug development and clarifies how the
agency will evaluate the resulting...
A new formulation technology developed by Rohm and Haas has the
potential to do away with the problem of prescription drug abuse
and make medicines safer in overdose. In-Pharmatechnologist.com
discussed this and other applications...
West Pharmaceutical Services has launched an advanced barrier film
technology - West Fluro Tec - to help maintain seal integrity in
pharmaceutical closures.
The healthcare division of UK-based speciality chemicals maker
Croda Chemicals Europe used the CPhI exhibition in Frankfurt this
week as a platform to launch two new excipients for drug delivery.
Swedish company Pyrosequencing today completed its acquisition of
US company Biotage. A cash payment of SK 235M ($35m) has today
landed Pyrosequencing with 100 per cent of the shares in Biotage.
After a difficult period which has seen the departure of its chief
executive and first-half loss of €150 million, Rhodia took the
opportunity presented by the CphI meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, to
reassert its commitment to the pharmaceutical...
