Eisai has announced a further hike in investment in manufacturing
in order to cope with increasing overseas demand for its
top-selling Aciphex and Aricept products.
German biotechnology company TeGenero has signed up Boehringer
Ingelheim to make clinical trials of its antibody drug in a move
that reflects an emerging trend in the contract manufacturing
sector.
Industry-backed group says UK should help support the country's
biotech companies by setting up a national agency to organise
clinical trials and boost companies' liquidity.
Germany's CyBio, which makes laboratory instruments and equipment,
has seen its revenues in the first nine months of the year fall by
a third and expects to post a full-year loss.
The days when cigarettes were held up in advertising as healthy
products are long gone, but new research suggests there may be some
substance to this - at least for some disorders affecting the
brain.
The European Commission has launched a five-year €11.7 project to
identify brain mechanisms affecting obesity and seek new treatments
to treat the condition.
A UK firm has developed a technology for creating sustained-release
versions of generic peptide and protein drugs, without the need to
conduct extensive registration trials.
Japan is losing out competitively at the expense of its rivals in
the global pharmaceutical industry, says EFPIA, and must take steps
to improve the environment for drug companies.
Dutch company Organon has upgraded its manufacturing facilities in
China in a move that will for the first time allow it to create
pharmaceuticals for local consumption.
Researchers in the US say they have achieved a critical objective
in an effort to create a living organism from DNA building-blocks.
The process used could be used to create bespoke cell-based
organisms to carry out a range of functions,...
Avecia has scored a world first with the certification by all
European Union member states of its DNA medicines production
facility at Grangemouth, Scotland.
Chemicals major BASF managed to post a small gain in third quarter
revenues despite the difficult operating environment affecting the
industry; chairman Hambrecht points to early signs that the sector
may have hit bottom and be ready...
A new exhibition scheduled to take place in Hyderabad, India, in
early 2005 claims to be the first to bring domestic and
international chemical companies to the same forum.
Evotec OAI once again defied the difficult environment for drug
discovery technology companies with a 20 per cent hike in
nine-month revenues to €56.7 million. Growth was driven by the
firm's ultra high-throughput screening collaboration...
Bayer has managed to avoid posting a third quarter operating loss,
but may incur charges in the fourth quarter relating to its
decision to float its chemicals business on the stock exchange.
New software promises to integrate data from the quality control
laboratory with systems monitoring production processes to allow
operators to respond swiftly to any problems encountered.
Kyowa Hakko reaps the benefit of a strong performance in its
biochemicals business, particularly for amino acids, with a 61.5
per cent rise in operating profit.
The globalisation of the marketplace for pharmaceuticals means that
it is becoming more common for medicines destined for consumption
in the European Union to be manufactured in distant lands. As a
consequence, the EMEA has started...
Syngene has introduced a new low-cost gel documentation system,
called DigiGenius, for scientists that need a quick and simple
method of capturing and analysing gel images.
Ultrafine has started construction of an additional facility to
expand its capabilities in the custom manufacturing of active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates.
The long-awaited break-up of Germany's Bayer has finally come to
pass with the decision to float the group's chemicals business on
the stock exchange within the next 18 months. But will this be the
end of the story for the...
Particle testing specialist Malvern Instruments has acquired
Bohlin, which focuses on the development and manufacture of
rheology systems; also sells PharmaVision 380 system to Altana.
Radleys has introduced a new controlled laboratory reactor (CLR)
system that, it claims, has a modular system that offers
capabilities normally associated with higher-priced CLRs.
Researchers in the USA have uncovered a cellular mechanism that
could lead to a larger role for retinoids, compounds derived from
vitamin A, in the treatment of cancer.
Acacia Research has said that its CombiMatrix unit will launch what
it claims is the first fully-customisable DNA microarray platform,
CustomArray, in the first quarter of 2004.
China has become the first country in the world to grant a
commercial license to a gene therapy medication. The new drug,
called Gendicine, will be launched for the treatment of head and
neck cancer in January.
The global market for bioprocessing is mirroring the phenomenal
growth of the biotechnology industry around the world, says a
recently-published report from D&MD Reports.
GlaxoSmithKline today announced details of its seventh Centre of
Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD), extending the company's new
model for pharmaceutical R&D into the biopharmaceutical sphere.
Voridian, the world's largest supplier of PET resins for packaging,
has launched a new line that provides ultraviolet (UV) light
protection for products in the pharmaceutical, food and personal
care industries.
Degussa sees no signs of any let-up in the difficulties facing the
chemicals industry in the third quarter, with both sales and pretax
earnings continuing to slide.
Bespak of the UK, a specialist in inhalation devices for drug
delivery, has opened a new £10 million (€15m) facility at its
King's Lynn site for the manufacture of pMDIs.
Becton Dickinson results come in on track, with sales driven by
safety and prefillable devices, the BD ProbeTec ET diagnostic
instrument and the BD FACSAria cell sorting system.
Quintiles Transnational has launched a new screening technology for
drug discovery and development to detect the interaction of
compounds with ion channels.
Franco-German drugmaker Aventis has confirmed that it is seeking to
delay the divestment of its stake in the loss-making chemicals
major Rhodia, on the grounds that this willwreak havoc on the
latter's restructuring drive.
The REACH framework for chemicals will contrary to the industry's
view, actually improve conditions for innovation in Europe,
according to EU Commissioner Erkki Liikanen.
A case study based on Pfizer's blockbuster antidepressant Zoloft
(sertraline HCl) reveals how early research on the different
crystal forms of a drug can avoid generic challenges later on.
For the second time this year, Germany's LION bioscience has
dropped its full-year sales targets after reporting a slump in
interim sales to €7.5 million.
The completion of Degussa's reorganisation of its fine chemicals
activities into two separate business units heralds a raft of new
projects at the company.
A partnership has been formed between Krauss-Maffei Process
Technology UK and Buss-SMS, an international supplier of thermal
separation solutions for difficult to handle mixtures.
Researchers in the UK have uncovered important clues about how
cells age that could be used to develop treatments that counteract
the ability of cancers to grow and spread.
