The new European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) opened its doors in
Helsinki this week, with questions raised immediately about its
ability to handle the thousands of registration requests required
under the controversial REACH legislation.
US drug giant Pfizer hopes that its collaboration with student
engineers at New Jersey's Rowan University will help lessen the
environmental impact of its best selling arthritis drug Celebrex
(celeboxib).
Agilent Technologies has licensed BIA Separations' bio-monolithic
technology and intends to use it in the commercialisation of
analytical high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
bio-monolith columns.
Canadian contract manufacturer and consultancy firm PharmEng
International has published its 2007 accounts, and says it remains
firmly focused on getting into the black in 2008.
MDS Pharma Services has expanded its portfolio of bioanalytical
testing services with the addition of electrochemiluminescent assay
(ECLA) capability, used to test biological samples from clinical
research participants.
The Bio Affinity Company (BAC) has been contracted to create a
purification method for the production of a recombinant protein,
the clotting agent factor VIIa, made in the milk of transgenic
animals.
China's Wuxi PharmaTech saw revenues race away across its divisions
in the first quarter of 2008, benefitting from the continued shift
towards outsourcing of manufacturing and laboratory functions by
the pharmaceutical industry.
A comprehensive review of stimuli-responsive molecularly imprinted
polymers (MIPs) in Current Drug Delivery has highlighted
their potential within the pharmaceutical industry.
The world's first high-powered benchtop wavelength dispersive XRF
spectrometer has been introduced as high-precision analysis at low
concentration levels is now available to laboratories and research
institutions.
Canada has bought its laboratory legislation in line with other
international standards as the country proposes new legislation
designed to tighten safety and access to human pathogens and
toxins.
Microscopy giants Olympus have added a confocal laser scanning
microscope to its ever expanding range packing this latest model
with a 1310 nm laser that can image components encased within a
silicon shell.
India's GVK BIO has secured a new research agreement with drug
giant Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, as more and more pharma firms are
relying on outside partners for drug discovery innovations.
Outsourcing-Pharma.com compiles the news that has featured in the
clinical contract community of late, involving MDS Pharma Services,
Almac Clinical Technologies and Pharm-Olam International.
A 20ft container of counterfeit pharmaceuticals has been impounded
by the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration
and Control (NAFDAC).
Genetically modified (GM) maize is the most effective
biomanufacturing platform for the production of monoclonal
antibodies to combat HIV, according to research published in
PNAS.
Synexus has been making business strides of late, thanks to its
"innovative" model for patient recruitment and monitoring
for late stage clinical trials.
Irish drugmaker Elan is considering a separate stock exchange
listing for its contract services unit, Elan Drug Technology,
according to comments by executives at its recent annual general
meeting.
Michigan-based drugmaker Perrigo and Cobrek Pharmaceuticals, a
newly formed subsidiary of Pentech Pharmaceuticals, are teaming up
to develop a range of topical generic products for the dermatology
sector.
A pump-powered nebulizer for delivering vaccinations in the developing world is being worked on by researchers at Aerovax, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
An artificial self-assembling virus capable of serving as a drug
delivery system has been created by researchers in Korea, according
to a publication in Angewandte Chemie.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers are now withdrawing from manufacturing
at an unprecedented rate, with four of the top 10 players
announcing major new outsourcing programmes in 2007, says IMS in a
new document which explores the implications...
Australia's clinical trial industry is taking steps to promote
itself further on the world stage, along with the forging of closer
ties with the budding Asia-Pacific region.
Catalent Pharma Solutions has reported a profit drop in its latest
financial results, completed the sale of one of its businesses, and
is undergoing regulatory scrutiny over the overall control and
management of quality systems at...
Buccal drug delivery specialist Generex Biotechnology reports that
the production of its chewing gum-based metformin, MetControl, has
been completed ahead of forthcoming trials in patients with
diabetes.
Prometheus Laboratories has initiated US Phase II trials of
Colal-Pred, a treatment for ulcerative colitis which uses Alizyme's
drug delivery technology to provide therapeutics solely to the
colon.
Cell culture analysis specialists, Innovatis makes available a new
range of bench-top systems that boasts a standardised cell counting
and analysis of the quality of cell culture samples in as little as
10 seconds.
Germany's Rentschler Biotechnologie and Boehringer Ingelheim have
inked a preferred partnership agreement to jointly offer customers
a more streamlined biopharmaceutical production option.
Quotient BioResearch has consolidated its three latest drug
development acquisitions under a united front and the hungry firm
is now on the hunt for further purchases.
Archimedes Development, a subsidiary of Archimedes Pharma, expects
that the intellectual property it has licensed from fellow UK firm
Ploughshare Innovations will help extend the application of its
ChiSys drug delivery system.
Europe is tipped to witness the most significant worldwide gains in
biopharmaceutical manufacturing production capacity in the coming
years, despite an overall global decline in capacity utilisation by
the industry.
Outsourcing-Pharma.com compiles the news that has featured in the
clinical contract community of late, involving Chiltern, Veeda
Oncology, Icon Clinical and Pharmanet.
The European Union's 2007 pharmaceutical counterfeiting data shows
that almost 40 per cent of fake medicines seized by the EU
originated in Switzerland.
The FDA has issued US drug maker Scientific Laboratories with an
injunction preventing it from producing drugs until
manufacturing operations are brought up to code.
The US Food and Drug Administration has declared the country's
previously-tainted heparin supply to be "safe" due to
stronger testing and controls that are now in place. Meanwhile,
China continues to distance itself...
SynCo Bio Partners has completed production of AG011 for ActoGenIX,
enabling the latter firm to begin examining it in patients
suffering from ulcerative colitis (UC).
AMRI witnessed strong growth in two of its contract business during
the first quarter of 2008 although profit was impacted by its
dominant large-scale division, which lagged during the period.
Tongjitang Chinese Medicines, which produces traditional
treatments, has stopped manufacturing operations at its facility in
Guiyang, Guizhou province due to damage caused by the recent
earthquake.
Becton Dickinson (BD) revealed this week that it has purchased all
of the outstanding stock of Cytopeia, which produces advanced flow
cytometry cell sorting instruments. The acquisition further expands
BD's range of flow cytometry...
Agilent Technologies is expanding its nucleic acid active
pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility in Boulder,
Colorado, US, as the industry gravitates towards the
development of oligonucleotide-based drugs.
Bushu Pharmaceuticals, Japan's largest dedicated contract
manufacturer, has been going from strength to strength as Japan's
pharma outsourcing industry awakens.
