Watson Pharmaceuticals is to acquire Arrow Group for $1.75bn (€1.26bn), adding to the company’s manufacturing network and providing it with the expertise needed to enter the biogenerics market.
As rumours of a failed Sanofi Aventis’ bid for a US rival circulate, F&S’ analysis of M&As is well timed, even if its conclusions will be difficult reading for a Big Pharma sector set on replenishing pipelines via big deals.
Icon has entered into a collaboration with the Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation (CMFT) to establish a purpose built translational medicine facility in the UK.
UK CRO Quintiles Transnational has set up an office in Accra, Ghana in a move it claims allows it to recruit trial participants from sub-Saharan Africa’s estimated 760m residents.
Large pharma companies will increase the level of supply chain activities they outsource in the next few years but smaller businesses are predicted to keep them in-house, according to a report.
Precision Stability Storage (PSS) is expanding its cGMP storage facility in Wilson, North Carolina, doubling its size and adding a room for bulk powder and liquid sampling and dispensing.
in-PharmaTechnologist presents its latest round up of appointments in the pharmaceutical sector, including a former mayor joining Eli Lilly and new CEOs at three companies.
Swiss life sciences solutions firm Lonza has been contracted by US biotechnology group Elusys Therapeutics to produce Anthim, its late stage Ab candidate treatment for anthrax infection.
Outsourcing-Pharma provides its latest round up of movements in the pharmaceutical outsourcing sector, including changes to AMRI’s leadership in India and a new VP at Covance.
Yissum is collaborating with Aurum, Ventures MKI to develop a nanotechnology controlled release delivery platform, which is designed to increase the bioavailability of orally administered lipophilic drugs.
US group DZS Software Solutions says its new web ClinPlus CTMS technology will help sponsors and CROs ensure that trial procedures are being followed and eliminate redundant study management systems.
The GAVI Alliance has launched an advance market commitment (AMC), which is using a $1.5bn (€1.1bn) fund to ensure the supply of pneumococcal vaccine to developing countries at affordable prices.
MDS Pharma Services posted an 18 per cent drop in revenue in its Q2 results, which also contained details of restructuring that will affect 180 people and cost $4m (€2.8m).
Sanofi-Aventis is using SCM Pharma’s aseptic fill/finish service for radiolabelled compounds to manufacture an oncology product that is in clinical trials.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is looking to establish itself as a prime location for pharmaceutical companies, with “massive amounts of money and huge incentives” being used to attract business.
Industry response to the H1N1 pandemic suggests that cell culture vaccine production is about to come of age with two firms that use the technique, Novartis and Baxter, claiming it will cut development and manufacturing timelines by months.
Sweden’s Alfa Laval says ART PR49, its combined chemical reactor and heat transfer plate, improves the efficiency of chemical production and helps reduce energy costs.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) believes that an effective FOB approval pathway and laws preventing “pay-for-delay” deals are the only ways of reducing the cost of biologic drugs.
Gentronix has partnered with Apredica to provide a predictive toxicology service, which the companies believe can reduce the failure rates of drugs in late-stage development, saving clients time and money.
Satyam, the Indian IT outsourcing company whose former chairman admitted to a $1bn (€700m) fraud in January, has posted a $10.9m unaudited profit for February, sending shares soaring.
A South African importer of APIs that claimed to have deals with Pfizer, Teva and Merck & Co is accused of fraud, with investigators likening the case to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Demand for biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing will grow 16 per cent a year over the next five years, according to analysis by US market research group HighTech Business Decisions.
UK drug major GSK has had a busy week in the Asia, signing an influenza vaccine manufacturing deal with China’s Shenzhen Neptunus Interlong Bio-Technique just days after it opened a new S$600m (EUR294m) production facility in Singapore.
Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed has launched an “economically priced” checkweigher for use in mild to moderate washdown operations and installed two other machines at an AstraZeneca (AZ) facility.
US contractor Velesco Pharmaceutical Services has leased a new clinical trial materials manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, extending its range of preclinical and early trial development services.
In response to eClinical opportunities TechTeam has established a global life sciences business unit, which it believes can grow “at an aggressive rate”.
Commonwealth Biotechnologies (CBI) is set to acquire China-based peptide manufacturer GL Biochem, which it believes will create a dominant force in the non-GMP segment of the market.
3M’s drug delivery unit believes its new plasma coating and face seal valve pMDI technologies help protect APIs and will mean that more drugs can be delivered via inhalation.
Swedish CRO Syntagon has set up an office in Shanghai, China to forge stronger links with a broader range of local raw materials suppliers, saving its customers time and money.
Sanofi Aventis will pay Pfizer €30m ($41m) for a former Exubera manufacturing plant in Frankfurt-Höchst, Germany that was due to be bought by inhaled insulin specialist MannKind.
CMO Kemwell is receiving technical assistance from Boehringer Ingelheim for the construction of its new biotech facility, which is designed to marry European technology with Indian low cost manufacturing.
MDS Pharma Services is renovating and expanding its Taiwanese discovery pharmacology operation in response to growing global demand for work performed in Asia.
in-PharmaTechnologist presents its latest round up of appointments in the pharmaceutical sector, including media reports of a new CEO at Proctor & Gamble.
US genomic services specialist Cogenics has launched a new DMET analysis service that it believes will improve patient genotyping during clinical trials, helping drug industry sponsors target the development of new products and reduce costs.
Microsoft is ramping up its efforts in drug R&D for personalised medicine through the acquisition of genomic analysis technology developed by Seattle, US firm Rosetta Biosoftware.
Ireland’s API manufacturing sector suffered a blow on Friday with Corden Pharmachem’s announcement that it is phasing-out manufacturing at its facility in Little Island, Cork.
PRWT Services’ acquisition of Merck & Co’s API facility helped it post a 120 per cent increase in revenues and $8.9m (€6.4m) net income in Q1 2009, overturning a loss recorded the previous year.
JAPM and SABEQ have launched initiatives to help companies in Jordan bring their pharma packaging and manufacturing practices inline with established markets.
At TIDES 2009 RXi Pharmaceuticals presented preclinical data on its RNA technologies, including research into sdRNA that is delivered without a vehicle and undergoes spontaneous cellular uptake.
3M Drug Delivery Technologies has expanded its respiratory drug delivery system offering with its Taper DPI which, it claims, makes carrier compounds unnecessary and will help drug formulators save millions.
US contract services group CoreRx has unveiled plans to purchase a new manufacturing site in Hillsborough County, Florida, according to a report in the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
PDI has entered into a strategic alliance with The Medical Affairs Company (TMAC) to offer “a more complete set of field-based commercialisation solutions”.
US Instrument specialist Mocon has launched Pac Check 650 EC, a packaging headspace analyser that, it says, can help pharma manufacturers find the right oxygen/carbon dioxide balance to support shelf life and drug efficacy goals.
Synthetech posted a $1.3m (€0.9m) operating profit in fiscal 2009, compared with a $1.1m (€770,000) loss the previous year, but warned that some biotechs and even major pharmas were cutting back.
Don’t miss this video interview with Robert Marr, chief operating officer of William Reed Business Media which recently acquired Decision News Media publisher of CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com and CosmeticsDesign.com.
UK researchers have boosted the bioavailability of the tomato skin extract lycopene and produced a pill that they claim can reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol by more than 90 per cent.
Genomatica claims it can process 1,4-butanediol (BDO), a precursor in pharmaceutical production, with 99 per cent purity from renewable feedstocks, removing the need to rely on crude oil.
