Danish diabetes care specialist Novo Nordisk has expanded an
agreement with biotech supplier Millipore, granting exclusive,
long-term distribution rights to the company's insulin
products for cell culture applications.
Amgen has finally put an end to weeks of rumours and speculations
by admitting its plans to slash 12-14 per cent of its workforce to
offset the recent difficulties it has been facing with the sales of
its anaemia blockbusters.
'Legislative chaos' has been preventing Poland from reaching its
full potential in the increasingly competitive central Eastern
European (CEE) region, although progress is being made.
etrials and Clinphone, two big players in the eclinical industry
are struggling to keep their heads above water as both companies'
recent woes have impacted their bottom line.
Pfizer was taken by surprise this week as a US engineering firm
announced that it had been awarded a contract to manage
construction of the firm's proposed biotech production plant in
Ireland, before the plant plans themselves...
Pfizer has penned a discovery-stage deal with Icagen aimed at
finding potential pain alleviating drugs, but has forked out over
twice the industry average.
Russian contract research organisation (CRO) Synergy Research Group
has hooked up with a US-based CRO in a bid to expand its services
to North America.
An award-winning therapeutic protein technology, touted as superior
to antibodies, has attracted venture capitalist investment for its
owners, the Swiss biotech Molecular Partners.
The often cited decline in R&D productivity and dwindling
innovation within the pharma industry is actually a thing of the
past, according to Wyeth's head of business development.
The pharmaceutical industry has come up top in the most
Intellectual Property (IP)-intensive industry in the US, according
to a report released this week.
A US scientist says he has fulfilled his dream by creating the
first 3D images of a living cell, finally allowing researchers to
study them in their natural state.
Solvay's first Chinese plant for a key chemical disinfectant is now
fully operational, serving the growing Chinese market and spreading
the international chemical group's global reach ever further.
The US launch of the hotly touted, next-generation mouthwash,
Decapinol, has stalled following the decision to reformulate the US
product as a "precautionary measure".
Pfizer, among others, recently offered an insight into R&D
outsourcing in Japan, where this services market is still fairly
immature, with growth potential in several key areas.
Pharmaceutical packaging and processing machinery specialist IMA
has announced its half year results, with its active expansion
plans paying dividends and its pharma business going strong.
Some of the world's largest pharma firms have set out what
therapeutic areas and specific mechanisms are becoming more
important to them, and which will be left by the wayside.
Scottish company ProStrakan has landed a South Korean partner for
its novel transdermal patch for chemotherapy-induced nausea, the
firm's first patch product with ambitions to steal a sizeable chunk
of a €2bn market.
The launch of Invitrogen's Stempro EZPassage should substantially
reduce the time and stress involved in dividing up cultures of
human embryonic stem cell (hESC) colonies.
UK Hikma Pharmaceuticals has acquired Egyptian pharmaceutical
company Alkan Pharma in a deal worth $60.5m (€44.2m), and
establishes the London-based company in the Egyptian market.
The latest in a series of periodic roundups of drugs that have
moved from preclinical research into clinical testing via the
announcement of a Phase I trial or an application for a trial to
industry regulators.
PerkinElmer has launched an 'introductory configuration' of its
Opera system to lower the upfront cost of adding high content
screening (HCS) to drug discovery and systems biology programmes.
Merck & Co's latest bid to fill the gap left by the withdrawal
of Vioxx (rofecoxib) has hit another stumbling block as it has
dropped NMED-160 that it was developing in collaboration with
Neuromed.
PerkinElmer has expanded its multi-vendor service offering to help
firms reduce the cost of regulatory compliance in pharmaceutical
drug development and manufacturing quality control laboratories.
A UK firm responsible for developing an innovative PEGylation
technology has landed a deal with a Canadian specialty chemicals
firm, allowing them to offer a complete package to companies
looking to work with the new technology.
IBM has launched a new ePedigree system to attack the problem of
drug counterfeiters and to help companies adhere to the emerging
track and trace regulations.
US pharma firm Vivus is the happy recipient of a $140m milestone
payment following last month's decision by US regulators to approve
a novel spray-on estrogen treatment for menopausal women.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has suffered a blow in the advance of its top
selling pharma drug Advair after US regulators issued a not
approvable letter for an increased strength in the treatment of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Jeol has launched a new NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance)
spectrometer that brings a high performance instrument to routine
drug discovery and quality control applications, all in an 'entry
level' package.
French pharma firm Ipsen has gained marketing authorisation for
Increlex (mecasermin), the first therapy of its kind to be approved
in the EU for long term treatment of severe primary insulin-like
growth factor-1 deficiency (IGFD).
US-based Gilead Sciences has ditched its plans to build a new €60m
plant in Dublin, Ireland, instead acquiring Nycomed's Irish
manufacturing facility in Cork for almost €34m.
Outsourcing-Pharma.com compiles the news that featured in the
clinical contract community this past week, involving Innovaderm
Research, Target Health, Qualia Clinical Service, and Quintiles.
Abraxis Bioscience has bought the worldwide rights to a discovery
platform designed to generate new therapeutics and identify new
drug targets that alter the p53 tumour suppressor signalling
pathway.
Baxter Healthcare remains in murky waters in regard to its infusion
pumps after announcing yesterday it would be recalling an
additional 986 of its Colleague brand pumps.
Following Archemix' initial public offering (IPO) filing the
company has announced two high profile strategic alliances aimed at
leveraging its aptamer technology to a wider audience.
Targeted Genetics said it was 'premature as well as irresponsible'
to draw any conclusions on what caused the death of a patient who
participated in a clinical trial testing the safety of the firm's
new gene therapy.
China has announced an initial $1.7bn investment to bolster its
currently questionable ability to effectively monitor the quality
of the food and drugs manufactured within its borders.
ChanTest has received private equity financing by Ampersand
Ventures to enable the company to expand its library of ion
channel-expressing cell lines for drug screening.
A US bankruptcy court judge ruled on Friday that Puerto Rican-based
pharma services firm Inyx USA be put under the control of an
independently-appointed trustee.
An improved inhalable insulin product developed by collaborating UK
and US firms has just completed a glucose clamp study in the US,
with results suggesting that the product could pose a significant
threat to Pfizer's Exubera...
UK researchers have published results linking the beta amyloid
protein associated with Alzheimer's disease to glaucoma, opening up
a much needed new target for glaucoma therapies.
Celsis' Rapid Microbiological Method (RMM) has been included in GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) successful Veramyst New Drug Application (NDA), paving the way for broader acceptance of the time saving technique.
Japan's Chugai Pharmaceuticals is voluntarily recalling almost 2000
bottles of Vesanoid capsules (tretinoin) after the drug was found
to contain unapproved bovine-derived material from Canada.
Kuehne + Nagel (K + N) has inked a new pact with UK-based drug
maker AstraZeneca to provide the global cold chain air and sea
freight for some of its products.
