Sinovac’s recently opened vaccine filling and packaging facility in Beijing, China has received SFDA GMP certification, which the firm says will increase production capacity to around 40m doses a year.
ESS Technologies has extended the range of its Monoblock platform with a new bottle feeder capable of accurately filling and capping up to 120 small pharmaceutical liquid bottles a minute.
Nose-diving net income in Q4 brought PharmaNet’s torrid year to an end, with the CRO hoping what may be its last financial release as a public company marks the start of its revival.
Sales and marketing service specialist InVentiv Health slid to a loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, despite posting a 16 per cent hike in net revenues to $248m.
UK firms Cambridge Major Laboratories (CML) and Novacta Biosystems are to collaborate and develop a range of process development, custom synthesis and biocatalysis offerings for the pharmaceutical industry.
Genentech used its investor meeting to retaliate against criticisms made by Roche, saying it will debate its financial model “anywhere, anytime with anyone”.
Three plants owned by contract packaging maker Alcan have been cleared to produce containers for pharmaceutical products under the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 15378:2006 guidelines.
Daiichi Sankyo, the Japanese drug firm that bought a controlling stake in India’s Ranbaxy last year, says it had no knowledge of FDA concerns that led to a block on ANDA reviews for drugs made at the latter’s Paonta Sahib facility.
Contract research company ChanTest has acquired fellow US firm Applied Clinical Sciences, a specialist in the development of drugs that affect G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR), one of the most fertile areas of drug discovery.
Genstruct and Gene Logic are partnering to improve their service offerings, with the collaboration hoping to produce network models that fully capture the toxicity potential of any compound.
Symetix has launched a compact high-volume optical inspection system that is capable of verifying the colour, size and shape of capsules and tablets and removing defective products.
Ranbaxy’s problems with the US FDA were ratcheted up a notch yesterday when the agency halted its review of products made at the firm’s plant in Paonta Sahib, India after uncovering “untrue statements” in ANDA’s and NDA filings.
Synexus' new trial site in Bulgaria, which is part of the firm’s clinical research centre strategy, will help sponsors cut development times and significantly reduce costs, according to CEO Michael Fort.
It is not compulsory to respond to form 483s detailing deficiencies at a facility but the FDAs latest guidance fully recommends companies do so to avoid being issued with a warning letter.
Novartis has recalled two batches of meningitis C vaccine from the UK after the solvent used in their preparation was discovered to be contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.
Contract research firm Icon Clinical saw its revenues advance by nearly 22 per cent in the last quarter of 2008, but still saw its share price slide as investors got the jitters over the firm’s cautious predictions for 2009.
Kendle International posted a 22 per cent drop in net income to $5m, after a computer error led to problems with a clinical trial carried out for one of its customers.
Pfizer’s primary care business unit has dropped two Phase III candidates, further reducing the drug giant’s product pipeline and raising more questions about its R&D decisions.
UK contract services provider Melbourn Scientific has extended its service portfolio, predicting that demand for outsourced early R&D will increase in times of economic gloom.
Pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing technology will be made available to developing countries through a collaboration between the WHO and Schering-Plough.
This week in-PharmaTechnologist's Pharma Phacts podcast focuses on a nanotechnology method that could produce more effective barrier packaging using less material.
An active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) pilot project, implemented by the Pharmacopoeial Discussion Group (PDG) last summer and aimed at harmonising API monographs, should generate its first results before the end of the year.
Contract research and instrument company Bioanalytical Systems Inc (BASi) saw a dramatic decline in service revenues in the last quarter of 2008 on the back of its exit from the Phase I clinical trials business.
Overcapacity in pharmaceutical manufacturing around the world means that smaller drugmakers sometimes set themselves up as contract manufacturers in order to provide an additional revenue stream and avoid standing plants idle.
The US subsidiary of world leading generics firm Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has called in procurement specialist ICG Commerce to help it cut its outsourcing spend as part of ongoing cost reduction operations.
Wonderware has launched software to improve the management of batch processes, offering users the ability to easily install additional processing lines or manufacturing cells.
TGaS Advisors' vice president Gary McWalters believes the drug industry must rethink its approach to regulatory compliance and how it works with healthcare professionals.
Shipments of drugs that do not violate patent rights in the exporting or importing countries should not be seized in transit or labeled as counterfeit, as occurred recently, according to health advocates.
The proposed FDA funding for 2009 has given a boost to the agency, with $300m more being offered than the agency requested to ensure the safety of products.
The Indian pharmaceutical and biotech sectors may see more M&A activity this year with rumours that GSK, Sanofi Aventis and Merck KGaA are on the look out for potential deals.
SGD launched its new lyophilisation vials at Pharmapack 2009, which Vincent Langlade, Marketing Director Pharmaceuticals, explained were well suited to capture the growing market.
As the battle for Genentech continues, the US biotech has warned its shareholders that Roche may “seek to influence our business in a manner that is contrary to our goals or strategies”.
The issue of transparency in clinical research has raised its head again with a new study suggesting the results of Phase I trials are less likely to be published compared to other types of studies.
Patheon says the $183m (€142m) buy-out proposal by private equity group JLL Patheon Holdings is “opportunistic” and designed to take advantage of the recent stock-market related fluctuation in its valuation.
Alamac Clinical Services (ACS) has added a new cold-chain and supply storage facility at its site in Craigavon, Northern Ireland in response to what it describes as an “unprecedented increase in demand” from drug industry clients.
Barack Obama’s support for R&D tax credits to boost innovation is designed to assuage Big Pharma’s fears about a ban on “authorised generics,” and new “comparative effectiveness" tests, according to Datamonitor’s Sandra Reynolds.
Indian process technology firm ACE Technologies has won the contract to sell and service GEA Pharma Systems’ range of Courtoy tablet presses to local drug manufacturers as part of the latter company’s Asian expansion plan.
Study site operators want greater use of EDC technologies and more pharma industry investment to boost patient recruitment and reduce delays in clinical trials, according to an industry report due to be published next week.
Two UK-based companies, PRECOS and Argenta Discovery, have pooled their resources in the area of cancer drug discovery to provide services spanning “from hit finding to in vivo proof-of-concept.”
Despite going through a difficult period PharmaNet is continuing to expand through the opening of another office in Latin America, which reinforces its commitment to the region.
Japanese chemicals firm Asahi Kasei has ramped up its bioprocessing operations with the acquisition of US industrial processing specialist TechniKrom’s biopharmaceuticals business.
MannKind, one of the inhaled-insulin market’s only remaining players, has posted higher than expected Q4 losses as costs for development of its lead product candidate Afresa increase ahead of its submission to the US FDA.
WIL Research Laboratories has expanded into protein and small molecule bioanalysis and genetic toxicology through the acquisition of Midwest BioResearch.
Deacom has updated its ERP software, which allows a manufacturer to track raw materials through its facility and perform a range of business processes.
Valois Pharma is installing precision plastic molding capabilities at its manufacturing facility in Congers, New York, US as part of ongoing efforts to modernise its global manufacturing operations.
Work into solvents that can switch polarity from an ionic to non-ionic form, negating the need to remove them after each step, has won a researcher the John C Polanyi Award.
Contract research organisation Bio-Imaging Technologies posted a 48 per cent hike on revenues in the fourth quarter of 2008, but still made a small net loss on the back of its CapMed division, which was sold last month.
