Chromos Molecular Systems won another customer for its cell line
engineering technology yesterday, when world number one drugmaker
Pfizer took out a license for its ACE system, reports Phil
Taylor.
Able Laboratories has announced sweeping job cuts across its
manufacturing division in the wake of the quality control problems
emerging at its plant in the US, reports Phil Taylor.
US researchers have identified an enzyme activity that is
inactivated in all reported mutant forms of a disease protein,
opening up opportunities for therapies to treat ataxia, a rare
hereditary neurological disease that affects 1/100,000...
Beckman Coulter has launched a gene analysis system that aims to
deliver high-throughput, cost effective gene expression via
scalable, multiplexed PCR and overcome the biases that limit
standard PCR analyses to just a few genes...
Agilent Technologies is to acquire SSI in a move that will combine
the former's analytical instrumentation, data systems and services
with SSI's strong position in chromatographic data systems and
informatics.
Information technology giant IBM has developed a software
architecture that promises to modernise the pharmaceutical
industry's manufacturing processes, often accused of lagging behind
those of other industries such as chemicals...
UK company CI Electronics is rolling out a new tablet and capsule
weighing system, the SADE SP, in North America via local
distributor AC Compacting, reports Phil Taylor.
Norbrook Laboratories of Northern Ireland has acquired two
anaesthetic product lines and a production facility from Czech
company Synthesia, part of the Aliachem group, reports Phil
Taylor.
NextGen Sciences has launched an "automation-friendly" range of
consumables, designed to maximise throughput and productivity for
protein expression. The products have been designed to reduce error
and increase expression...
US generic company Able Laboratories ceased all its manufacturing
and recalled products yesterday after major problems emerged with
its quality control procedures, reports Phil Taylor.
Companies that want to develop systems that comply with the US Food
and Drug Administration's PAT (process analytical technology)
recommendations can tap into a new modular fluid handling and
measurement concept in development...
Belgium's Printing International introduced a single-station
version of its ultra high quality (UHQ) tablet printing technology
into the US market via local distributor AC Compacting.
Rohm and Haas' Advanced Biosciences division has launched a new
product in its Amberchrom range of chromatographic resins that can
replace and improve on silica in the final stages of biologics
purification.
Switzerland's Siegfried Group, a specialist in active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), dosage forms and
biopharmaceuticals, has boosted its position in the production of
controlled substances with the acquisition of US-based...
Digital imaging specialists Nikon has launched a new spectral
detector that captures images faster with a single scan over the
full spectral range. The quality of images obtained from multiple
fluorescence probes within a sample will...
NovAseptic has launched a low volume product in its NovaSeptum
range of sterile disposable sampling systems, to cater for what it
says is the growing requirement for small, accurate volume sampling
in the drug industry.
Mathis Instruments has introduced a wireless version of its
effusivity sensor - the ESP - that is suitable for use in
pharmaceutical production settings, reports Phil Taylor.
Magellan Biosciences has acquired TekCel, a tool provider for life
science research, in a move that adds automated sample-management
to its advanced technology portfolio for life science customers.
Genevac has introduced new technology for its Model HT-4X
centrifugal evaporator whereby the system can be used to accelerate
lyophilisation of water and water mixtures by as much as three
hundred per cent.
Intermune has announced the results of preclinical data on the
specificity and tolerability of two potent and selective small
molecule inhibitors of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The findings
are significant, as they have previously...
US firm Codexis and Shasun Chemicals and Drugs of India have signed
a manufacturing and supply agreement for a pharmaceutical
intermediate for a generic drug.
Lonza has won a major new contract for its biopharmaceutical
manufacturing facility in Visp, Switzerland, making bulk actives
for Belgian company UCB, reports Phil Taylor.
Polychromix and Ocean Optics have formed a partnership that aims to
deliver cost-effective NIR spectroscopy solutions to a range of
industries including the pharmaceutical and food industry,
reports Wai Lang Chu.
Peakdale Molecular and Dynamic Extractions are to collaborate on
the development of a new separation technology with applications in
drug discovery, development and manufacture.
Germany's Sartorius will distribute a novel disposable mixing
system developed by LevTech of the US that makes use of a novel
mixing impellor that levitates on a magnetic field, reports Phil
Taylor.
Beckman Coulter has announced the launch of its latest clinical
system, which aims to help clinical laboratories simplify and
automate chemistry testing and productivity whilst reducing overall
costs, reports Wai Lang Chu.
Sangamo BioSciences has initiated a Phase I clinical trial for its
novel therapy for diabetic neuropathy that is designed to protect
and stimulate the regeneration of peripheral nerve function in
diabetics suffering from peripheral...
A new way of ensuring that pharmaceutical production lines are free
of cleaning agents has been developed by Smiths Detection and Dober
Group, reports Phil Taylor.
Italy's fine chemicals industry organisation, Afaquim, is
organising a conference in September aimed at coordinating the
efforts of European active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)
suppliers in the face of increasing competition...
PANalytical, a supplier of analytical instrumentation and software
for X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, has
expanded ibnto Asia with the opening of a Regional Application
Laboratory in Shanghai, China.
RTS Life Science has unveiled two new sample storage products that
incorporate an integral cherry picking feature that can handle
plates, tubes and vials. The two product additions follow on from
RTS's small store, SmaRTStore...
Emerson Process Management has stepped up its efforts to sell its
engineering, process control and digital automation technologies
into the life sciences sector with the launch of a new programme,
called OpX, at the Interphex exhibition...
The contract manufacturing sector lagged behind the rest of the
outsourcing industry serving the pharmaceutical sector in 2004, but
there are encouraging signs for the future, reports Phil
Taylor.
Lonza is planning a major exansion of its peptides manufacturing
capacities at Visp, Switzerland, in response to what it said was
'the increased demand for peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients
worldwide'.
Researchers in the US have found that blocking the COX-1, not COX-2
enzyme, might lead the way to prevent and treat the most common and
fatal form of ovarian cancer.
GlaxoSmithKline has signed a consent decree with the US Food and
Drug Administration to correct manufacturing deficiencies at its
Cidra, Puerto Rico facility, but could be in a position to return
two drugs made at the plant to market...
The ongoing Interphex show in New York has seen continued evidence
of the expansion of disposable technologies into areas of
bioprocessing currently dominated by multi-use items, reports
Phil Taylor.
Nanogen has been issued with a European patent, which relates to a
nanofabrication technology combining a manufacturing platform and
nanostructures that is set to broaden Nanogen's position in the
nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing...
Millipore has introduced a single-use prefilter for clarification
steps in mammalian cell synthesis that continues the trend towards
increasing use of disposable technologies in the bioprocessing
environment, reports Phil Taylor.
An electronic nebuliser that matches a product formulation, which
was specifically developed to optimise this device's performance,
marks a new advance in the customisation of drug development and
represents a new aerosol delivery...
Oxford Instruments Molecular Biotools (OIMBL) have introduced an
instrument, which it claims will revolutionise the Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy field by amplifying the baseline
sensitivity of NMR systems by a factor...
Thermo Electron has launched a high performance powder X-ray
diffractometer (XRD) instrument that enables scientists to perform
qualitative and quantitative analyses in central and QA/QC
laboratories with high sample throughput.
Sherwood Technology announces the launch of DataLase Edible, a
solution for laser marking edible products such as pharmaceutical
tablets, which represents a method that is expected to increase
productivity and produce better image...
A research program has released a small molecule binding annotation
and comparison tool, which is expected to accelerate lead
development in antimicrobial drug discovery, as well as allow
chemists to develop safer, more specific...
Researchers have discovered the structural basis for antibiotic
resistance to common pathogenic bacteria, which could herald the
design and development of a new class of antibiotic drugs.
Scientists have identified an enzyme that helps trigger the
development of leukaemia. The discovery, based on research using
bone marrow cells from mice, offers a potential target for new
drugs against this form of leukaemia.
The use of disposable and scalable technologies to purify large
molecule vectors can help manufacturers streamline processes and
overcome many of the unique challenges associated with vaccine
development, according to separations...
Agilent Technologies introduces a high-performance ion trap mass
spectrometer (MS) that allows the identification of 60-80 per cent
more peptides than preceding models in proteomic applications. The
spectrometer will lead to a better...