Cardinal Health says it plans to expand and restructure several of
its facilities around the world after what it describes as
'heightened customer demand for clinical supply services, such as
design, packaging, labelling, storage...
The cumulative effect of patients failing to adhere to their
treatment regimens is costing the pharmaceutical industry in excess
of $30 billion a year, says a new report from Datamonitor which
proffers some solutions to the problem.
The number one drugmaker - Pfizer - has stepped up its legal
campaign against the trade in counterfeit versions of its
top-selling drug Lipitor (atorvastatin), one of the most copied
drugs on the market.
Enanta Pharmaceuticals has announced the initiation of Phase 1
clinical trial of its new antibiotic candidate, EP-013420, a first
in its class Bridged Bicyclic Ketolide (BBK) antibiotic that could
prove effective against respiratory...
Unichem Laboratories of India, a major supplier of active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished pharmaceuticals in
the country, has entered into an alliance that could see it
supplying generics into the US market.
Italy's Marchesini has introduced a new packaging system that can
handle safety syringes, which are underused in Europe compared to
the US despite their proven benefits in reducing needlestick
injuries, reports Phil Taylor. It...
As of next year, electronics manufacturers in Europe will be
required to take back and partially recycle old equipment.
Beginning in 2006, electronics must be completely lead-free. An
industry conference starting in Berlin, Germany...
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is facing a number of US lawsuits, which
claims the company had covered up negative data that indicated its
antidepressant Paxil might increase suicidal tendencies in young
people.
Affymetrix, a specialist in chip-based laboratory tools, has
launched what it claims is the world's first microarray instrument
system for clinical diagnostics.
The world's first commercialised genetic test for determining
intracontinental subpopulation (ethnic) admixture of individuals
could lead to the development of more specific, better-tolerated
and more effective drugs in the future.
Dharmacon, supplier of RNA and RNAi research products, has launched
a range of siRNA reagents for its siGenome human siRNA collection,
which supports all phases of research ranging from functional
genomics and initial drug target...
Germany's Vivascience has expanded its product range for
researchers working in the area of proteomics. In addition to its
existing products for 2D-PAGE (two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis) sample preparation,...
A study, which compares the use of colormetric versus infrared
detection for reverse-phase protein microarrays, concludes that the
emergence of this infrared technology brings significant advantages
to reverse phase array analysis.
After two difficult years, there are more signals in 2004 that
trends are turning in the economic situation of German
biotechnology companies, according to Prof Peter Stadler, chairman
of the German Association of Biotechnology Industries...
Niro Pharma Systems is launching a new tablet coating system that
promises to achieve a step forward in the evenness of tablet
coating and make the production of small batches for R&D more
cost effective.
A subsidiary of Switzerland's Serono has filed a lawsuit alleging
that gene activation technology used in the production of
Transkaryotic Therapies' biological drugs contravenes a US patent.
Ashland of the US has signed an agreement to sell the ingestibles
line of business of Ashland Distribution - which includes
pharmaceutical actives and excipients and food and beverage
additives - to Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.
A new approach to treating obesity which blocks brain signals that
control cravings has shown promising results in human subjects
during advanced clinical trials paving the way for further testing
and an eventual launch date.
A team of researchers has issued a plea that that
microarray-derived gene expression data should be available in a
public repository in the same way that gene sequence data is
collated for use by all.
Germany's Bayer has reported a mixed set of results for the second
quarter with fine chemicals offshoot Lanxess contributing to an
unexpected 44 per cent hike in earnings before interest and tax
(EBIT).
Rhodia Pharma Solutions' Chambers Works facility in New Jersey is
now up and running. The company supplies preclinical and clinical
trial materials and launch volumes of active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs) and intermediates...
The US Food and Drug Administration has stepped up its activities
in combating drug counterfeiting by bringing charges against drug
wholesalers for failing to carry out measures designed to safeguard
the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Akzo Nobel has unveiled a plan to 'fix' its troubled
pharmaceuticals businesses, hit by patent expirations, safety
concerns with some core product lines and a difficult operating
environment for contract manufacturing of...
LINPAC Materials Handling has introduced a reusable container -
designed for pharmaceuticals and food and beverages - that could
allow companies to significantly reduce their shipping costs,
claims the company.
Labtronics has launched the latest addition to its Nexxis LAB suite
of products, promising complete automation to a whole host of
manual procedures as well as security features that make it ideally
suited to the controlled pharmaceutical...
Scientists have discovered a highly effective method to produce
novel aminocoumarins, antibiotics that are useful in the fight
against drug-resistant bacteria that could represent a new
antibacterial class to tackle the growing problem...
Allegations that companies from Europe and Mexico are selling the
ingredient carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) at greatly reduced prices
in the US have prompted an investigation by the country's
International Trade Commission.
The spending for Pharmaceutical-Biotech capital and maintenance
projects in the public and private sectors approached $13 billion
in 2004 (€10.7bn), but companies are often delaying site decisions,
with promises of fast-track permitting...
UK-based Lock Inspection Systems, a leading manufacturer of
weighing and metal detection system, has announced the opening of a
regional commercial office for Asia-Pacific to meet with growing
demand for its products across the region.
Researchers have claimed proteome mining could make the discovery
and development of cancer, hypertension, diabetes, inflammation and
infectious disease drugs enormously more effective, fast tracking
protein targets that can be tested...
Scientists have determined the precise molecular structure of a
potential new target for treating prostate cancer, a disease driven
in part by abnormal testosterone activity, which affects one in six
American men.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) became the first major drug maker to disclose
details of its clinical drug trials effectively settling a lawsuit
filed by the New York state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, who
accused them of concealing information...
Faced with a raft of consolidation in the market for generic
pharmaceuticals, Germany's Merck KGaA has entered the fray with an
agreement to acquire most of NM Pharma, the Scandinavian generics
business of top drugmaker Pfizer.
Waters has started shipping its new 'ultra performance liquid
chromatography' (UPLC) system AcQuity, first introduced to the
laboratory sector at the Pittcon exhibition earlier this year and
the winner of the gold award...
A new unit operating at Clariant Pharmaceuticals in Germany will
boost the company's activities in the emerging field of
microreactor technology for the production of pharmaceutical
intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients...
While still a small part of the packaging giant Rexam's overall
business, pharmaceuticals has been instrumental in driving a robust
rise in sales and earnings at the company's plastics division in
the first half of the year.
Chemical giant BASF has increased the price of its styrene polymers
Polystyrene (PS), Terluran (ABS) and Luran (SAN) by €250 per metric
ton in Europe as of 1 September, blaming a continuing erosion in
margins caused by further increases...
A leading consultancy firm has predicted the use of radio frequency
identification (RFID) within the pharmaceutical industry could
prevent most of the 1.25 million adverse reactions and 7,000
patient deaths annually in the United...
A novel, non-radioactive, quantitative cell-based assay, which uses
the In-Cell Western technique, has determined the functional
potency of agonists and antagonists for D2 and D3 receptors,
allowing drug researchers to quantify multiple...
The European Union has granted nearly €25 million to two
large-scale research projects coordinated by the University of
Helsinki in the area of protein kinases, a promising class of new
drug targets.
Potential cost savings from the use of radiofrequency
identification (RFID) will spur increasing use of the technology
within pharmaceutical company supply chains during the next 18
months, according to new research.
A new information database consisting of genes associated with
multidrug resistance in cancerous tumours has been created which
identifies transport protein expression and drug resistance in
cancer cells.
Germany's LION bioscience has made a foray into the market for
cheminformatics software with a new package designed to help
pharmaceutical companies identify, select and priortise compounds,
based on data emerging from the medicinal...
BASF has officially inaugurated a new production plant for the fine
chemicals intermediate citral at its Ludwigshafen site in Germany.
The world-scale plant, which has an annual capacity of 40,000
metric tons, replaces an existing...
Netherlands firm Pharming has acquired the patent portfolio of
former transgenic protein production specialist PPL Therapeutics,
at a stroke enhancing its proprietary position in this emerging
market.
In its first set of financial results after failing to find a buyer
for its pharmaceutical division, Danish packaging firm Superfos has
reported a healthy increase in earnings helped by the resolution of
delivery problems that plagued...
The emergence of cases of mad cow disease in North America has not
raised any public health concern from animal-derived medicinal
materials such as bovine blood derivatives and gelatin.
Guava technologies have introduced two new turnkey assays for their
suite of personal cell analysis systems, which intends to make drug
discovery applications in the areas of immunology and oncology more
sensitive and accurate.
