Despite all the hype over clinical trial offshoring, the US still
dwarfs the scene, with emerging countries as yet only a blip on the
radar, a unique new study reveals.
Synchron Research has revealed it is close to opening up new
operations in Vietnam and Hong Kong - within the next six months -
and has just bought a new business in France and strengthened its
ties with Parexel.
Malaysia's pharmaceutical star is likely to rise as of this year,
with an eventual position being gained amongst some of the world's
industry leaders being predicted by Frost & Sullivan.
A rapid microbial detection kit presented as the only genetic-based
test on the market to quantify yeast and mould has been launched by
Switzerland's Lonza.
Invitrogen has immersed itself in yet more legal wrangling after
the life sciences firm filed a patent lawsuit against GE Healthcare
alleging 'wilful' infringement of its intellectual property.
Genzyme is putting another €130m into its manufacturing facility in
Waterford, Ireland, where the US biotech first put down roots in
2001 and has been steadily expanding ever since.
India's Jubilant Organosys has made good on promises to make
acquisitions in the contract research and manufacturing services
(CRAMS) sector with a $255m deal to buy Draxis Health of Canada.
Swiss-based Novartis has acquired a 25 per cent stake in Alcon, a
US-based company specializing in ophthalmics, which ranks among the
fastest-growing therapeutic sectors in pharmaceuticals.
Three of India´s large pharmaceutical manufacturers, Dr Reddy's,
Ranbaxy Laboratories and Shilpa Medicare have just announced new
merger and acquisition (M&A) deals.
ESA Biosciences has struck a deal with Waters Corp to produce a
direct interface for ESA's HPLC detector that allows it to fully
integrate with Waters' chromatography control and data-analysis
platform.
The use of disposable manufacturing equipment in pharmaceutical
production and greater need for containment equipment were
recurring themes at the Interphex show in Philadelphia last week,
and both were addressed by new equipment...
Steven Liberty, senior vice president of operations for Patheon's
North American businesses spoke at Interphex on the strategies
contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) can use to obtain a
competitive advantage.
The pharmacopoeias of the US and China will work more closely
together in future in a bid to improve the quality of medicines
available in both countries.
The Department of Pathology at Uppsala University Hospital in
Sweden is evaluating Biotage's new pyrosequencing platform to
detect a genetic biomarker that indicates how well a cancer patient
will respond to targetted drug therapies.
Denmark's Novozymes has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing
agreement with CSL Behring for albufuse, a proprietary albumin
fusion technology that can extend the circulatory half-life of
therapeutic proteins through genetic...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has defended its proposed
rule on product labelling changes made unilaterally through
"changes being effected" (CBE) supplements against
accusations from Congress, trial lawyers...
Waters Corp unveiled a new concept in Process Analytical Technology
(PAT) at Pittcon 2008 when it released the new Patrol UPLC (ultra
performance liquid chromatography) process analyser, which can be
incorporated directly into a process.
A new laboratory technique can describe both the structure and
chemical composition of samples with a mass of less than one
femtogram (one quadrillionth of a gram) using standard laboratory
equipment.
With manufacturing productivity in the pharmaceutical sector widely
acknowledged as being in need of modernisation, a US firm believes
it has developed a technology that could carve days off the time
spent on microbial testing, a...
Life sciences equipment company Millipore says its new protein
detection system, SNAP i.d, can improve the time it takes to carry
out Western blots by as much as 80 per cent compared to
conventional immunodetection methods.
Sterile process engineering consultancy firm Isogen is taking a
maiden voyage into the manufacturing side of drugs with the
construction of its first facility, aimed to fill a gap in
small-scale injectables.
Millipore used Interphex in Philadelphia as a platform to launch a
new product in its Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF) range aimed at
removing impurities from biologic products.
Syft Technologies of New Zealand released the latest generation of
Selected Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry (SIFT) instrumentation at
Pittcon 2008 for the analysis of very low levels of organic
compounds in air (detection limits as...
Quintiles has forged a new partnership that will allow it to begin
providing central laboratory services in Japan, where the clinical
research organisation (CRO) industry is gaining momentum.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and retailers alike have
welcomed a unanimous vote by the California State Board of Pharmacy
to delay for another two years the implementation of electronic
pedigree requirements for tracking...
1200 sales representatives are the latest casualties of Wyeth's
recently announced cost cutting drive, which strives to eliminate
10 per cent of the work force - 5,000 jobs - over the next three
years.
A planned $60-$70m (€38-€44m) initial public offering (IPO) by
US-based drug delivery specialist MonoSol Rx has fallen foul of the
credit crunch and fears about a slowing US economy.
SGS has officially launched a new auditing service designed to
alleviate the quality, regulatory and safety issues in
pharmaceutical supply chains, which are increasingly extending
across the globe.
DSM Pharmaceuticals now has its new commercial scale cytotoxic
contract manufacturing facility up and running, and is only the
second company in the US to offer such a service on this scale.
Thermo Fisher has launched a new spectrometer that
incorporates FT-IR technology for improved clarity and detail,
aimed at pharmaceutical process scientists and other chemical
disciplines.
IntelliPharmaCeutics is ready to move into full-scale clinical
trials with a once-daily oral formulation of oxycodone based on the
company's ReXista abuse- and alcohol-resistant technology.
Biotage has used the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2008
meeting to introduce its new batch microwave synthesiser that
allows the full automation of batch sequencing resulting in time
savings for users.
New research has shown that the FDA's strict 10-month deadline for
a drug's approval following submission may compromise drug safety
and lead to insufficient data for precise drug administration.
The pharmaceutical industry in the UK faces tougher legislation on
the disclosure of adverse events in clinical trials following the
MHRA's thwarted attempt to prosecute GlaxoSmithKline for allegedly
withholding information about...
A new, freely available database has been launched that provides
comprehensive information about the 600 known bacteria living in
the human mouth. Many of these bacteria also cause infections
in the lungs, blood and skin, so the...
Canada's SemBioSys Genetics has begun final pre-clinical studies of
its novel plant-produced insulin product in preparation for its
submission to US regulatory authorities.
Redpoint Bio has been issued with a patent for an assay technology
which tests whether a compound enhances or inhibits the bitter or
sweet taste of different ingredients, allowing the company to
screen for flavour enchancing compounds.
Medidur has been deemed safe by the Data Safety Monitoring Board
(DSMB) for continuation of Phase III clinical trials with no
amendments to the protocol.
The generic pharmaceutical industry has given short shrift to the
latest congressional attempt to construct a viable approval pathway
for biosimilars in the US.
Outsourcing-Pharma.com compiles the news that has featured in the
clinical contract community of late, involving PRA International
and Premier Research.
The pharmaceutical industry has lost confidence in the UK as a
place to do business to an "alarming degree" and the
situation is only set to deteriorate, reveals new research.
French group Rhodia has put its gradual retreat from a flagging
fine chemicals business on a more formal footing by announcing the
break-up of Rhodia Organics.
They showed promise in everything from drug delivery to the
development of superconductive compounds, but so far fullerenes
have been difficult to produce and purify in sufficiently large
quantities for useful applications.
