LyondellBasell, the world’s third largest petrochemicals firm and a major supplier to the drug industry, is close to bankruptcy according to widespread media reports as it struggles under the weight of a $26bn (€19.4) debt and a slump in demand for its...
WuXi AppTec is to use ThalesNano’s H-Cube for laboratory-based hydrogenation, which the CRO believes offers advantages in drug discovery over traditional batch processes.
Actavis Totowa, part of Icelandic generics group Actavis, has agreed to stop selling drugs made at its facilities in New Jersey, US until the plants are made fully compliant with the FDA’s GMP guidelines.
DHL Global Forwarding has opened a Life Science Competency Center in Carolina, Puerto Rico, which will offer shipping services tailored to the needs of the island’s biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
This year’s M&A activity is underway with Endo’s agreement to acquire Indevus for an initial $370m as it looks to expand beyond the competitive pain market and gain drug delivery technologies.
US researchers have found a way to improve the yield of biopharmaceutical production by freeing up protein trapped in bacterial stores known as inclusion bodies.
US researchers have for the first time synthesised an important class of drug compounds - the aromatic polyketides - in Escherichia coli, a bacteria widely used in microbial production.
Two contract manufacturing organisations PrimaPharm have been cited by the US Food and Drug Administration for not adhering to Good Manufacturing Practice standards.
Blue Reference has formed a Quality by Design Product Development Consortium (QbD PDC) to provide a forum for the improvement of its process analytics software.
Recipharm hopes that its new tablet and capsule manufacturing facility in Fontaine-Les-Dijon, France, which significantly expands its dry powder production capacity, will help it broaden its European client base.
Perceptive Informatics has gained the right to use EQ-5D, which will allow the company to offer clinical study sponsors the option to collect health-related quality of life outcomes using a telephone.
Implementation of an abbreviated approval pathway for follow-on biologics could result in savings of almost $10bn over a decade, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Covance has cut its financial projections for 2008 and 2009 after seeing softening demand for its early-stage services, including toxicology and clinical pharmacology.
Simple preclinical experiments should be able to predict whether immunotherapeutic medicines are safe to advance to preclinical testing in humans and avoid the Northwick Park trial that left six healthy volunteers hospitalised.
US drugmaker and contract manufacturer Peregrine narrowed its losses in the second fiscal quarter ending October 31, as a result of cost-cutting measures.
In silico R&D specialist Entelos has entered into an agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration to use its PhysioLab to assess the safety and efficacy of cardiovascular drugs.
Healthcare products company William Ransom & Son has finally published its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2008, and provided an update on efforts to turn around the troubled business.
The European Association of Pharmaceutical Full-line Wholesalers (GIRP) says it has concerns about the anti-counterfeiting proposals contained in the European Commission's recently-released 'pharmaceutical package.'
Pfizer has gained a license for the use of certain ZFP Nuclease (ZFNs) reagents from Sangamo BioSciences, which it will use to modify Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell lines.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is stopping making corporate political contributions as part of its transparency drive but employees can still donate through the Political Action Committee (PAC).
Canadian contract services company MDS Pharma Services reported disappointing results in its fiscal fourth quarter, with revenues dropping 9 per cent to $112m.
Contract research organisation PharmaNet Development Group is considering a sale of the business as it tries to recover from a difficult year marked by shrinking revenues and cancelled contracts.
Merck Serono has stumped up $13m (€9m) to add manufacturing rights to its Stimuvax licensing deal with Oncothyreon and buy up any remaining inventory of the candidate lung cancer vaccine.
Dr. Michael Butler has joined Xceleron as chief executive bringing an end to a search to replace Prof Colin Garner, the firm’s founder, who is retiring from the post.
The European Union’s coordinated clamp down on counterfeit drugs has resulted in hauls far exceeding expectations, with 34m pills seized in two months.
There is no formal requirement to inform clinical trial participants of the results of the study, a situation which can leave them “confused, frustrated and, in some cases, lacking information that may be important to their health,” according to a report...
To accompany the map detailing job losses, which can be viewed here, we have picked out the details and trends from the data, uncovering the state of US pharmaceutical employment in 2008.
Philips Home Healthcare Solutions has had a busy week, acquiring an Italian aerosol therapy business from Medel and a manufacturing facility in Guandong, China.
The US HHS says that healthcare workers and emergency service personnel should be given antivirals before this year’s flu season or any pandemic kick in and also calls for the private sector to take more of a role in stockpiling.
Australian drug development firm Cancer Therapeutics (CTx) has selected IDBS’ E-workbook and ActivityBase platforms to manage its global drug development programmes.
PPD’s admission to the Nasdaq’s 100 index, which covers the elite group of non-financial firms to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, is a definitive moment for the CRO, according to CEO Fred Eshelman.
Contract development and manufacturing company Patheon received an unsolicited takeover bid from private equity firm JLL Partners ahead of reporting a return to profit in its fiscal fourth quarter results.
TransPharma Medical has received the European CE mark for its transdermal drug delivery device ViaDerm, which creates pores to allow a therapeutic through the skin.
The global financial difficulties are starting to hit home in the outsourcing sector, with supply chain services company Syscan filing for bankruptcy after being unable to secure a loan.
AstraZeneca has signed a five year deal with Infosys Technologies for “end-to-end” application maintenance services in areas such as manufacturing, supply chain, finance, human resources and other corporate functions.
Schott plans to add two giant glass melting tanks at its facility in Mainz, Germany, continuing the expansion of pharmaceutical tubing production capacity and creating 135 new jobs in the process.