Contract research manufacturer Diosynth has forged a joint venture
with a Swiss firm for a technology that could dramatically reduce
the time and cost of developing new cell lines for manufacturing
proteins, writes Phil Taylor.
Chemical giant BASF is set to raise its European price for
polystyrene (PS) by €200 per metric ton from 1 July this year in
response to what it calls totally unsatisfactory margins and
earnings.
Cardinal Health has completed its $2 billion (€1.6bn) tender offer
for intravenous product and services firm Alaris Medical Systems in
a deal that could give Alaris a leg-up that will allow it to
leapfrog its competitors.
A Korean company has developed a new way of making peptide nucleic
acids - a promising drug category that has been limited to date by
an expensive and cumbersome synthetic process.
ML Laboratories of the UK has entered into an agreement to supply
an unnamed pharmaceutical company with its C200 metered dose
inhaler, designed to deliver two drugs at the same time, for use in
a new asthma product.
US-based wholesaler HD Smith has followed the lead of retail giant
Wal-Mart in adopting a system of electronic product code (EPC) and
radiofrequency identification (RFID) to track controlled
pharmaceuticals.
Adjuvants - substances that are added to vaccines to intensify the
immune response to an antigen which have been used for over 80
years - are beginning to be understood by researchers who believe
more effective adjuvants can be designed.
A strong indicator of the potential of a new type of drug to treat
cancer - the Aurora kinase inhibitors - has come with Merck &
Co's decision to invest up to $350 million (€288m) in a license for
the lead compound in the...
AstraZeneca's anticoagulant Exanta (ximelagatran) has been launched
in Germany, its first market worldwide, for the prevention of blood
clots in patients undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery.
Canada's Generex Biotechnology has presented new evidence that its
RapidMist device can deliver proteins and peptides through the
lining of the mouth, potentially doing away with the need for
injections.
The pharmaceutical industry must tackle the issue of pricing
disparity between countries if it is to avoid having the matter
taken out of its hands by government-mandated price cuts and
parallel imports.
The US subsidiary of India's Ranbaxy has launched a cephalosporin
antibiotic in a chewable tablet formulation designed to be easier
to take by patients who struggle with tablets or capsules.
The world's largest centre for human embryonic stem cell research,
which will develop treatments for a range of currently incurable
diseases, is to be opened by Cambridge University in the UK.
Bolidt Synthetic Products and Systems of the Netherlands has
launched a new synthetic flooring finish designed specifically to
cope with aggressive chemical and pharmaceutical production
environments.
Foreign drugmakers are failing to win ground against their local
counterparts in China, despite investing considerable sums in the
country over the last few years.
A group of research directors of leading pharmaceutical companies
met this week to agree a framework for working together on research
in a bid to make the European industry more competitive.
Applied Biosystems has won a legal battle in Germany that could see
certain thermal cycler products from Bio-Rad and MJ Research being
driven off the market.
After months of trying to find a partner for its pharmaceutical
division, Danish packaging company Superfos has abandoned the plan
and will retain the business, reports Phil Taylor.
NovAseptic has upgraded its NovaSeptum range of disposable samplers
to reduce the level of endotoxins to a level that falls well within
strict new guidelines set down by the European Pharmacopoeia.
Reforms that demand the public disclosure of industry payments to
The National Institute of Health (NIH) employees are to be
introduced to crackdown on the violation of existing rules that
create a conflict of interest between the...
Merck KGaA subsidiary EMD Biosciences has formed a partnership with
The Automation Partnership that will see EMD's products included on
the new Piccolo system for recombinant protein production.
Tekcel, a sample management company for life science research, has
acquired assets of Biophile that includes its ultra low temperature
(minus 80 degrees C) sample management systems designed for
research applications in the drug discovery...
Sigma-Aldrich has boosted its capacity to supply pharmaceutical
ingredients with the purchase of Tetrionics, a company with a
strong position in the high growth area of high potency and
cytotoxic compounds.
Unigene, which specialises in developing oral versions of
injectable drugs, has received a $4 million (€3.3m) milestone
payment from pharmaceutical major GlaxoSmithKline for starting
clinical trials of an osteoporosis drug.
Tekni-Plex has launched a new range of thermoformable films for
blister packaging that is thin, offers high moisture barrier
properties and can do away with the need to use
environmentally-unsound polyvinylchloride (PVC).
The first clinical trial of a peptide that mimics the cellular
adhesion molecule NCAM is due to take place in the UK in the third
quarter of this year, bringing a potential new treatment for
Alzheimer's disease a step closer,...
PamGene International is to combine its microarray platform with
Jerini Peptide Technologies' (JPT) peptide libraries to create a
series of new products for kinase studies.
Colder Products, a provider of connectors to the processing and
packaging industries, has launched a new non-spill connection to
meet smaller size requirements in the chemical and other
industries.
UK company Aerotrim has developed a new line of insulated jackets
for pallets that are currently being trialled by pharmaceutical
companies and other industries, including food manufacturers and
the military.
UK biotechnology company Xenova has been given regulatory approval
for a manufacturing facility for clinical trial materials for its
own use, as well as for its clients.
A remote controlled camera system that provides continuous
monitoring of a key processing machine has achieved a hike in
operating efficacy at active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and
fine chemicals company Macfarlan Smith.
A new treatment for cancer that destroys tumours by heating them
from the inside has shown promise in animal studies conducted at
Rice University in the US, writes Phil Taylor.
Rudolf Hanko, formerly head of the fine chemicals business unit at
Bayer, has joined Degussa as head of the company's exclusive
synthesis business line, part of Degussa's Exclusive Synthesis
& Catalysts business unit.
In the UK, the House of Commons Health Committee is to undertake a
broad-ranging inquiry into the influence of the pharmaceutical
industry on health policy, to look for conflicts between the need
for new drugs and commercial interests,...
Affymetrix has extended the range of custom microarrays it offers
to customers with the launch of the NimbleExpress Array Programme,
which caters for users that require fewer units.
Micap, a UK company specialising in using yeast cells to
encapsulate drugs, has entered into a collaboration with leading
medicated chewing gum company Fertin that should extend the range
of active ingredients that can be delivered...
Germany's MWG Biotech has launched its own line of small
interfering RNA (siRNA) reagents, siMAX, encroaching into territory
dominated by the likes of Qiagen, Dharmacon, Ambion, Proligo and
Invitrogen.
A new drug delivery company, Merrion Pharmaceuticals, has been set
up to commercialise various technologies originally developed at
Ireland's Elan, which sold off many of its assets after growing too
quickly throughout the 1990s.
NovAseptic has launched what it claims is the first high shear
mixer that uses a magnet-driven mechanism, designed to make it
easier to clean and reduce the risk of contamination.
A proposal requiring drug companies to register clinical trials in
a public database to be considered for later publication -
regardless of results - is being considered by top medical
journals, writes Wai Lang Chu.
Researchers at Harvard have discovered why cholesterol-lowering
drugs do not have identical effects on patients. These medicines on
average cut heart attacks by a third and with sales of $26 billion
dollars and used by 20 million...
Irish start-up Celtic Catalysts believes it can tackle two of the
major obstacles holding back the use of catalysts to make chiral
drugs - the strong patent positions of existing players and
difficulties in scale-up - with its platform...
Drug discovery instrumentation and software developer Axon
Instruments announced today the release of its Axoporator 800A
single-cell electroporator, the first commercially available
instrument of its kind, writes Wai Lang Chu.
The European Union parallel trade in pharmaceuticals is offering
few benefits to cash-strapped national healthcare systems and may
raise the risk of medication errors and entry of counterfeit
medicines into the supply chain, according...
Ireland's Elan has signed its first major contract manufacturing
and supply agreement in a development that reinforces its
credentials as a player in the outsourcing sector.
In Norway, the Supreme Court has concluded that the packaging
designused by the local subsidiary of parallel importer Paranova
does notinfringe Merck & Co's trademarks.
The European Union has awarded funding worth €2.2 million to the
group of academic institutes behind the 3DGENOME research
programme, which is exploring how the genome functions in health
and disease.
