This year is shaping up to be another good year for third party
logistics (3PL) services firms focused on the pharmaceutical
industry, according to Sentry.
A security technology that had been strictly limited to use by
governmental organisations is now available commercially, with
several major pharmaceutical manufacturers keen to snap up the
device and protect their supply chain....
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has until April 2007 to reply
to a Citizen's Petition (CP) filed by Orchid Chemicals in response
to accusations of 'evergreening' related to Wyeth's re-formulated
Zosyn (piperacillin/tazobactam),...
US Democrats spearheaded by Henry Waxman intend to re-table a
stalled piece of legislation that would allow US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) approval of generic biodrugs, which they claim
would result in cost savings for patients...
MDS pharma has ceased operations at its bioanalytical services
facility in Blainville, Quebec in a bid to boost profitability
after an ongoing investigation of the site by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
Private pharmaceutical firm Tolmar has sold off its pharmaceutical
manufacturing plant in a move to fund the purchase of the US assets
of biopharmaceutical QLT. The plant, sold for $13.6m (€10.5m), will
be leased back to Tolmar under...
US-based start-up company Medipacs is developing a miniaturised
digital pump, no bigger than a quarter, which could become the
first patch-like product to help diabetics manage their insulin
therapy.
US outsourcing company Covance has announced it is to open a
central laboratory in China in order to meet the growing demand for
clinical trials conducted in the region and has expanded its
capabilities in Texas.
As SR Pharma and Quark Biotech start clinical trials of a drug that
uses a Nobel Prize winning technique to 'silence' disease-causing
genes, the largest pharma firms are keen to grab a piece of the
action.
US-based biopharmaceutical product providers Millipore has met its
revenue and earnings target over the fiscal year, helped by its
Serologicals acquisition in the fourth quarter and a solid
performance by its main business driver:...
Pharma giant AstraZeneca last week announced its intention to cut
3,000 jobs in an effort to increase productivity and reduce costs.
The company is the latest big pharma to trim its workforce as the
industry readjusts in a more challenging...
A new inhaler with a child-friendly design aims to solve the
problem of dosage variance and patient compliance - key issues with
inhaled drug treatments for children.
In the light of the death of former Russian security agent,
Alexander Litvinenko, pharma companies developing anti-radiation
drugs are increasingly under the spotlight.
Bridge Pharmaceuticals has just launched a new training scheme
between its facilities in the US and China to enable its employees
to cross train in both labs - a potential competitive advantage for
a contract research organisation...
A UK-based firm is offering advice to chemical and pharmaceutical
companies on reducing hazardous waste and adhering to the
Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals Regulation
(REACH), which becomes law on 1 June 2007.
After acquisitions and new products to speed up drug discovery,
winning an award was the icing on the cake for lab automation
specialist Thermo Fisher.
Pfizer's latest cutbacks will provide a new outsourcing opportunity
for contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) in low-cost
destinations as the drug giant announces plans to double its amount
of drug production outsourcing.
Pfizer has overcome potential competition by buying out BioRexis, a
company developing similar drugs that could prove to be powerful
new diabetes treatments.
A tool that predicts which experimental drugs will ultimately be
approved for release could cut development costs by nearly 40 per
cent, saving pharma companies hundreds of millions per new drug.
Amid 3,000 job cuts, AstraZeneca has invested in hepatitis, obesity
and pulmonary disease drugs as part of a continuing effort to
restructure its business.
Sartorius has reported 7.6 per cent increase in sales revenue in
2006 rising to €520.1m ($677.4m), due to the biotechnology
division's decision to focus on disposable systems.
Major pharmaceutical player GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has begun
construction of a €23m facility in County Waterford, Ireland. The
new facility is already under construction at the company's
consumer healthcare manufacturing site...
US-based sterilisation system providers Steris this week announced
their fiscal 2007 third quarter results, revealing the impact of
the relocation of manufacturing capacity to Mexico and the firm's
European restructuring.
Hesperion has opened a Russian arm of its contract research
business in a bid to 'increase its attractiveness' to clinical
trial sponsors requiring large patient populations.
A team of researchers in the UK have come up with a novel drug
delivery system using pollen-based microcapsules to encapsulate the
active ingredients, opening up whole new avenues for oral delivery
of injection-based drugs.
Parexel has announced encouraging financial results for its second
fiscal quarter, despite 'disappointing' performance in its medical
communications business.
Microbiology specialists Oxoid have added a new growth medium
product to their catalogue of microbiological culture media, for
use in aseptic process simulations.
Software provider Pharsight has launched an add-on for its
graphical drug modelling method to serve in bioequivalence testing,
promising to reduce test failure.
After having to abandon a promising experimental hepatitis C
vaccine and shedding over a fifth of its workforce, Coley
Pharmaceutical has announced it will look to outsource future drug
discovery.
Johnson Matthey has announced a reassuring business update ahead of
its 31 March year-end, suggesting that Adderall is the driving
force behind a recovery in its pharmaceutical materials business.
Viral vector manufacturer Lentigen has entered into a collaboration
with Wave Biotech to gain access to disposable process and
equipment expertise, which ties in with a shift in the bioprocess
manufacturing sector towards using disposable...
PRA International has entered into an alliance with US Oncology
Research, designed to accelerate the clinical development of new
cancer treatments in the US.
US-based firm Xcellerex yesterday announced it has completed the
second half of a $20m (€15.4m) financing deal, raising $11m to
speed up commercialisation of its innovative disposable
manufacturing technology for vaccines and biotherapeutics.
UK biotech company Verona Pharma has contracted fellow UK firm Onyx
to manufacture supplies of its new hay fever drug candidate for
forthcoming preclinical and clinical studies.
France-based Rexam Pharma is gearing up to launch a safety add-on
device that fits on to prefilled syringes to help drugmakers comply
with recent legislations designed to prevent needlestick injuries.
