Emerson Process Management has launched a new sensor device to help
pharmaceutical companies ensure that their clean-in-place (CIP)
procedures - essential for aseptic processing - are working
effectively.
Significant progress toward a more targeted treatment of
Alzheimer's disease was made as scientists targeted an enzyme,
which has a differentiated role and opens up perspectives for new
drugs that have fewer undesired side effects.
The pharmaceutical industry is under pressure from downwards price
pressure, a lack of innovation, and the escalating costs of new
product development, and this is having a knock-on effect for
excipients suppliers. Phil Taylor reports.
Danish researchers have come up with a virtual model for catalyst
research that could do away with the need for large, expensive
screening experiments.
GE Healthcare has launched the first in a new family of
chromatography media designed specifically to handle the high
volumes used in the bioprocessing sector.
The use of chemical imaging as a quality control measure for
mixtures of pharmaceutical ingredients before tabletting has taken
a step forward with the first deployment of a prototype system at
Pfizer that is currently in the process...
Swiss chemicals and contract manufacturing concern Lonza reported a
decline in sales but net profit up by more than half in 2004,
although earnings came in at the low end of analysts' forecasts.
Filtration and separation company Pall has made another acquisition
in the chromatography sector with the purchase of Euroflow (UK) for
an undisclosed amount.
Construction of the UK National Biomanufacturing Centre, an
ambitious project aimed at helping biotechnology start-ups get
their product ideas into clinical trials, is progressing on
schedule and should be ready to start production...
MIP Technologies, a Swedish firm specialising in polymers with
binding properties, has signed a deal which could take its
technology out of the laboratory sector and into the realms of
large-scale production of pharmaceuticals.
Specialty chemicals company Degussa has developed an put in place
an automated workstation that should speed up process development
and scale-up projects for its clients.
The identification of an oncogene, which is associated with cancers
such as leukaemia, could lead to the development of targeted
molecular therapeutics, controlling cancer development through
regulation of the errant gene.
The world's largest drug company, Pfizer, has been fined $22,500
for failing to properly notify state and federal officials about a
chemical release at a Connecticut research and development plant.
The drug control authorities in Vietnam are being aided in the
fight against counterfeit drugs by a mobile laboratory system
developed by the German Pharma Health Fund (GPHF).
Switzerland's Sotax, a specialist in dissolution and physical
testing equipment, has introduced a new ceramic piston pump
designed for use in flow-through dissolution testing of dosage
forms.
Fine and specialty chemicals company Avecia is planning to spin out
part of its pharmaceutical technologies portfolio into a new
company to be called Reaxa. The move should complete before the end
of this quarter.
Materials testing specialist Stable Micro Systems has launched a
texture analysis device which promises to increase productivity and
improve cost-effectiveness where higher volume, repetitive quality
testing is required.
A new safety training scheme, designed to deliver accredited
'safety passports' for service engineers and other outside
contractors working in pharmaceutical, healthcare, toiletries and
cosmetics factories has been introduced...
Peptide drugs look like they may finally fulfil their promise,
after years of what has largely been disappointment, if figures
released in a new market research report prove accurate.
The market for low-cost generic drugs looks set to be buoyant for
the foreseeable future, both in Europe as a whole and in France,
according to Hubert Olivier, president of the French subsidiary of
the leading German generics group...
Chiron said yesterday that the UK and US regulatory authorities are
expected to conduct a series of inspections of its manufacturing
facility in Liverpool, which was forced to cease production of
influenza vaccines last year, leading...
Thermo Electron has launched a new FT-IR spectrometer specifically
targeted at quality control and assurance laboratories in the
pharmaceutical, chemical and polymer industries.
Switzerland's Romaco has introduced a new laboratory scale product
that provides vacuum mixing, dispersion and homogenisation and
should be of particular value for formulation development in the
pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors.
Microfluidics company Nanostream has introduced a new range of
cartridges designed specifically for quantitative applications such
as solubility assessment and dissolution testing using its micro
parallel liquid chromatography (mPLC)...
Genentech is currently evaluating Dutch biotechnology company
Crucell's STAR technology for the production of antibodies and
other proteins, acquired by the latter firm when it bought
ChromaGenics last March.
US biotechnology start-up Cytovance Biologics has officially opened
for business this month, offering a portfolio of process
development services to support biotechnology companies preparing
to progress products into clinical development.
A dual-stage membrane bioreactor (MBR) for advanced treatment of
industrial wastewater takes up less space and has lower operating
costs than conventional activated sludge processing systems.
Germany's Sartorius has decided to call off the initial public
offering of Vivascience, which makes products for the analysis and
purification of proteins.
NextGen Sciences has licensed a new technology for protein
expression from Oxford Brookes University that reduces expression
timelines for proteins in insect cells by up to 10 days.
A new method to produce paclitaxel, the potent anti-tumour drug
from yew needles has been discovered which provides a solution to
the problem of finding a viable source of the raw material at a
relatively low cost.
The rapid growth in the development and commercialisation of new
biological entities (NBEs) has been one of the major trends in the
pharmaceutical sector over the last few years, but their production
can be said to be more of an art...
In keeping with the current trend among contract manufacturing
organisations to tap into niche markets, SAFC has started
construction of a new facility aimed at meeting the demand for
manufacturing of highly potent active pharmaceutical...
US filtration specialist Argonide has introduced what it claims is
a new generation of turbidity filters with a capacity more than 20
times greater than conventional cartridges.
Millipore has launched a new version of its control software for
its separation and purification systems, bringing the package into
line with recent regulatory requirements such as the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)'s...
UK-based separations specialist Whatman has fleshed out its plans
in the wake of the acquisition of Schleicher & Schuell, and
says it plans to cut 13 per cent of its workforce after 2004 sales
disappointed.
GE Infrastructure, a business unit of General Electric, is to
acquire US water purification and wastewater treatment company
Ionics for around $1.1 billion (€813m), plus the assumption of
debt.
Cell culture equipment company Integra Biosciences has launched a
new roller system designed to improve the cultivation of adherent
and suspension cells.
At the CPhI meeting this year, many contract manufacturing
organisations (CMOs) trumpeted their new investments in capacity,
despite the prevailing wisdom that the pharmaceutical sector is
over-served at present.
Separation and filtration giant Pall has completed its $32 million
acquisition of BioSepra, a division specialising in protein
purification technologies, from Ciphergen.
Degussa Homogeneous Catalysts, an internal start-up company
operating as part of the Degussa chemical group, introduced a new
family of ligands at the CPhI meeting.
Codexis has signed a research collaboration agreement with generics
company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries to develop improved
processes for the manufacturing of a currently marketed fermented
pharmaceutical product.
Japan's Insent has developed an artificial tongue - said to be the
first of its kind - that can be used to analyse the taste profiles
of pharmaceuticals, foods and beverages.
Clariant's pharmaceutical fine chemicals business announced a
series of upgrades to its manufacturing facilities around the
world, headed by a new push into contract manufacture of controlled
substances.
Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has launched a new high-throughput
gas chromatograph injection system that is designed to allow GCs to
easily switch from one task to another.
UK company Accentus has developed a technology that promises to
halve the cost of carrying out high-throughput crystallography,
used in polymorph screening and salt selection as part of the
process of pharmaceutical form selection...
A non-profit pharmaceutical company, the Institute for OneWorld
Health, has been awarded a $42.6 million (€32.1m)grant from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to find a new way of producing
a valuable drug for malaria, which...
European contract manufacturers of active pharmaceutical
ingredients (APIs) are operating under a system of regulatory
double standards that is destroying their ability to compete in the
marketplace.