Procter & Gamble (P&G) has this week terminated an
agreement with Nastech to develop a nasally delivered version of
Eli Lilly's osteoporosis drug Forteo (teriparatide), leaving its
partner with no explanation for the...
After losing a key Novartis contract and getting caught up in the
Inyx collapse, Inventiv Health had good news this week when it
reported its third quarter results.
Merck & Co has inked a deal potentially worth over $507m
(€346m) with GTx over a new class of drugs to treat muscle loss
conditions, especially those caused by cancer.
A new report highlights a number of worrying trends emerging in
regard to the increasing number of fake pharmaceuticals
infiltrating supply chains around the globe.
A new Belgian company has joined the throng of pharmas tapping into
the booming drug delivery business, but claims that its unique
technologies will carve it a place as one of the industry's key
players.
Swiss firm Novartis today announced that it has contacted
regulators regarding the safety of the 100mg dose of its recently
approved Type II diabetes drug, Galvus (vildagliptin).
Tecan and GE Healthcare Life Sciences division are collaborating to
simplify high throughput (HT) protein purification by increasing
the speed and reliability of expression screening programmes.
Scientific instrument and vacuum technology supplier Varian has
acquired the assets of US flash chromatography expert Analogix for
$11m (€7.6m) cash plus the assumption of its net debt.
It was supposed to keep Pfizer at the top of the cardiovascular
drug tree, but when torcetrapib failed, other pharma firms
developing similar drugs looked on nervously to see if their drugs
were also doomed. A new study suggests they...
Japan will only be receiving 50 per cent of its usual supply of the
blockbuster flu drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) this year, thanks to
significantly reduced demand following reports of suicidal
behaviour in adolescents taking the medication.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Fabre-Kramer Pharmaceuticals (FKP) were
dealt a blow last week as their potential first in class,
once-daily antidepressant treatment received another thumbs down
from US regulators.
BioInvent and ThromboGenics' new anticancer antibody is poised to
enter clinical trials and could prove a serious rival to
VEGF-blocking drugs, due to fewer side-effects and less drug
resistance.
With IMS Health's annual forecast for the pharma industry
predicting slower approvals, more black box warnings and the
continuation of the 'wave of genericization,' the shift by
pharma firms to refocus and reinvent...
Despite Genentech's recent decision to push out the cut-off date to
ban the sale of cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab) to compounding
pharmacies in the US to restrict off-label use, ophthalmologists
still find the firm's...
GPC Biotech has met another obstacle in its path towards
satraplatin approval after the German company announced
disappointing and unexpected results in its Phase III trial.
SCOLR Pharma has initiated the first of three pivotal trials to
evaluate its extended release ibuprofen tablet, with hopes that it
will be the first and only 12-hour formulation on the market.
Nikon has launched a new inverted microscope range that promises to
more than half the time of an imaging experiment while enabling
more simultaneous applications.
After selling of its genomics business to Ocimum Biosolutions, Gene
Logic is to change its name to Ore Pharmaceuticals as it looks to
mine out new indications for drugs.
A nifty spray-on solution could make all the difference for men
plagued with the problem of climaxing too soon, as the product
makes its final thrust in clinical development.
There are lessons to be learned about the importance of rigorous due diligence of pharma contractors, now that Inyx' customers are facing possible supply issues and a scramble to find alternative manufacturers after the firm's collapse.
Japanese researchers have used an advanced microspectroscopy
technique to study the cell cycle of yeast without the need for
fluorescent imaging agents that can potentially alter the cellular
environment.
A group of scientists believe they have cracked the riddle of how
Parkinson's disease is triggered - a breakthrough that could lead
to more effective therapies against the disease.
Pfizer, Savient Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, NPS
Pharmaceuticals and MicroCHIPS have all had people on the move in
the world of pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Summit (formerly VASTox) has signed a $450,000 (€312,000) deal with
one of the world's top five pharma firms to enable it to use
Summit's zebrafish-platform in its drug safety programme.
Bayer Schering Pharma this week announced that it has scrapped
plans to introduce a double-dose version of its top-selling
multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Betaferon (interferon beta-1b) by the
end of the year following disappointing...
Japanese pharma firm Takeda beat off strong competition from the
likes of Coca-Cola to take home the dubious honour of Consumer
International's 'Worst Product' award thanks to its sleeping pill
ad.
Thermo Fisher Scientific saw revenues for the third quarter of 2007
rise to $2.4bn (€1.7bn) with its Analytical Technologies division
growing 12 per cent with quarterly sales of $1.04bn.
Sanofi-Aventis has had to take Inyx USA to court after it failed to
deliver on a contract manufacturing and supply agreement, a
situation that Aventis feared could "seriously harm its
interests". There may be important lessons...
Applied Biosystems (ABI) saw 5 per cent revenue growth during its
first quarter of fiscal 2008 as sister company Celera posted
revenue growth of 57 per cent.
PPD's decision to in-license an investigational compound is proving
to be a drag on its bottom line as the firm continues to seek a
development partner for the drug.
Despite often attracting a barrage of negative publicity,
particularly in regard to a perception of putting profits before
people, big pharma firms are still capable of showing their human
side in times of crisis.
Swiss pharma Novartis today announced the largest manufacturing investment in its history, revealing plans for a $700m (€486.5m) biotech facility to be built alongside its new solid dose plant in the low cost, high quality biopharma hub of Singapore.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been swift in implementing its plant
cuts, already announcing the first sites to be axed mere hours
after revealing its restructuring plans.
The race is on between cervical cancer vaccines Gardasil and
Cervarix as they begin to battle it out to win a more than £100m a
year supply contract with the UK Department of Health.
The UK's largest charity, the Wellcome Trust, has awarded £1.3m
(€1.9m) to fund the world's largest ever genome-wide association
study to identify the genetic origins of Alzheimer's disease.
