US-base firm Quest Pharmaceutical Services (QPS) has announced that
its Taiwan testing facility can now provide bioanalytical services
managed directly from the US.
There are some areas of the European approval system
for biosimilars that still need to be clarified, a panel of
industry experts said during BIO 2007.
It might look like a simple breath freshener dissolving mouth-strip
but the John Hopkins University innovation is just steps away from
cutting costs and saving thousands of lives from the deadly
rotavirus.
The market's first nebulized form of formoterol fumarate for
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been given the go
ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Lower than expected yields of varicella zoster virus (VZV) have
forced Merck & Co to run down US supplies of ProQuad, its
all-in-one children's vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella (German
measles) and varicella (chickenpox).
A transdermal patch for needle-free delivery of insulin and a
diagnostic test for rapid detection of meningococcal disease are
among the products under development by two new Australian
companies set up to commercialise the research...
A French firm developing an innovative gene delivery tool has
received a cash boost of €80,000 to ramp up good manufacturing
processes for its synthetic delivery molecule.
German packaging company Klockner Pentaplast (KP) is investing more
than $20m (€15m) in a new pharmaceutical films manufacturing
facility in Aurangabad, India, in a bid to up its presence there.
US-based firm Goodwin Biotechnology said it is about to complete
the expansion of its biomanufacturing facility as the number of
contracts with biotech companies has jumped in the past two years.
After months of speculation and bartering following Merck KGaA's
decision to put its generics arm up for sale, the winning bid has
finally been announced, with US firm Mylan Laboratories emerging
victorious beating off the competition...
Specific stem cells are thought to be the origin of many, if not
all, cancers and although there are several drugs in clinical
trials, only small companies are currently conducting research in
the area.
In this week's review of activity within the preclinical research
services arena, new deals have emerged involving Gene Bridges,
Panacos Pharmaceuticals, and GenScript.
Lonza is betting on the growth of antibody-drug conjugates as the
way-of-the-future cancer treatments by moving to large scale
production of the emerging drug class by 2008.
BASF is boosting by 30,000 tons its annual production capacity for
the chemical intermediate tetrahydrofuran (THF) at the group's site
in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Swiss-firm Biotool has released a new Bunsen burner, the LabFlame,
that features a safety control system as well as automatic ignition
and gas cut off.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has agreed to fund Isis Pharmaceuticals'
antisense drug development programme aimed at preventing and
treating heart disease.
Charles River has posted first quarter results that beat analysts
expectations after seeing renewed growth in its research models and
services segment.
A new human vaccine to be used in the case of a flu pandemic has
gained approval in the EU. The Novartis vaccine, Focetria,
will be manufactured containing the offending virus should the
World Health Organization's warning system...
A first-in-class drug developed to battle high blood pressure might
not be the blockbuster success Novartis hoped for after a new study
claims it is no more effective than current therapies.
The UK's Midatech Group has opened what it describes as "the
world's first cGMP-grade manufacturing plant for the production of
nanoparticles at a scale commensurate with pharmaceutical
applications".
As single-use technologies become more and more popular for use in
biopharmaceutical manufacturing, Pall is following market demands
bolstering its product line by adding a number of disposable
products to its portfolio.
Clariant has cut its ties with the life sciences industry and will
no longer offer custom manufacturing services in this arena after
the sale of the last piece of its Lifesciences division.
Do-Coop Technologies, an Israeli company that uses nanotechnology
to create an equivalent of intracellular water as a medium for
enhancing existing chemical and biological reagents, reactions and
processes, has announced two "significant...
The ongoing intellectual property tussle between Pall and Entegris
continues with Pall claiming Entegris' Impact filter cartridge line
infringes four Pall patents.
An online database detailing information on all manufacturing and
importation certificates and authorisations issued within the
European medicines network has been launched by the European
Medicines Agency (EMEA).
Amylin Pharmaceuticals is expanding significantly on the US
manufacturing facility it is building in West Chester, Ohio for a
long-acting version of its injectable diabetes drug Byetta
(exenatide).
Indian biopharmaceutical company Wockhardt Limited has continued
its push into Europe with the all-cash acquisition of France's
Negma Laboratories (Negma-Lerads) for $265m (€195.4m).
The Biologics division of UK company Avecia has launched pAVEway, a
new microbial system for producing high yields of a wide range of
therapeutically active protein, such as vaccines, cytokines and
growth factors.
Kendle has climbed back into the black in the first quarter of 2007
after another quarter of strong sales although pre-tax profit
remains down on 2006.
Solvay Pharmaceuticals has sold two of its manufacturing facilities
that it no longer considers as core. The new owners will now act as
a contract manufacturer for Solvay, the company announced today.
This week Covance has paid PETA Europe's court costs relating back
to a failed legal bid to prevent the broadcast of video footage
taken during a covert investigation of its US animal laboratory.
Meanwhile, GSK has had a positive...
VWR's parent company has signed a definitive agreement to sell the
world's second largest laboratory supplier after its recent period
of significant growth and profitability.
Construction has finally begun on Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMS) new
biologics manufacturing facility in Massachusetts, with the company
upping its original investment estimates for construction from
$660m (€485.7m) to $750m.
Technology and services provider Althea Technologies has stepped
closer to a significant increase in manufacturing capacity as it
announces the completion of the first phase of construction at its
new San Diego facility.
One-off costs related to last year's acquisition of Serologicals
and a continuing manufacturing consolidation strategy were largely
responsible for sharp falls in Millipore's pre-tax and net profits
for the first quarter...
SAFC Pharma, the contract manufacturing arm of Sigma-Aldrich, has
announced it has completed the construction of two protein active
pharmaceutical ingredient (API) facilities at its US manufacturing
site.
Prosonix and Bath University in the UK have won the Royal Society
of Chemistry's (RSC) Innovation award for the development of a tool
that enables the manufacture of crystalline pharmaceuticals of
specific sizes.
The UK has upheld its promise to crack down on its problem of
animal rights extremism, arresting 30 people in dawn raids across
the country yesterday as part of 'Operation Achilles'.
The US Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) has fuelled even
further the ongoing debate over the potential approval path for
follow-on biologics in the country with the release of a white
paper this week that stressed that 'generic'...
Pressure BioSciences (PBI) is set to release a new lightweight
version of its pressure cycling instrument to control biomolecular
interactions, after a downsized demo model proved surprisingly
popular.
