Generic drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma will add liquid-injectables to its roster of manufacturing capabilities with the purchase of fellow Indian firm Trident Life Sciences (TLSL).
Light Sciences Oncology (LSO) has begun treating the first patient in a Phase I trial of Aptocine (alaporfin sodium), a drug activated by an LED device inserted into a tumour.
There has been a blitz of activity at Dendreon following publication of positive trial data, with the company signing two leases for manufacturing facilities and beginning expanding an existing site.
Researchers have developed a drug delivery vehicle using liposomes and aptamers that targets specific cancer cells and can be switched off to stop adverse reactions.
Emergent BioSolutions believes it can reduce its debt, cut operating expenses and gain more flexible production capacity by reorganising its manufacturing operations.
Cambrex has posted a positive set of Q2 results, recording an operating income of $9m (€6.3m), but warned that the second half of the year is likely to be down on the corresponding six months of last year.
Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL) has posted a positive first report on the Phase II trial of its intranasal antiemetic, which it claims is a more convenient treatment for cancer patients.
Medingo’s insulin dispensing patch has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sending shares in its parent company soaring to a 12 month high.
NextPharma Technologies’ development facility in Braine l’Alleud, Belgium has received positive early feedback following an inspection by the country’s drug watchdog, the AFMPS.
US group Cambridge Major Laboratories (CML) will begin transferring API production to its 125,000 sq ft manufacturing plant in Germantown, Wisconsin at the end of next month.
SAFC Supply Solutions has launched a new materials sourcing offering, designed to meet the medical diagnostics sector’s demand for raw materials that are compliant with international regulatory standards.
SAFC’s bioscience unit and Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB) have teamed up to create a suite of fluid management solutions that they hope will prove irresistible to the booming biomanufacturing sector.
There will be no major changes in the short term after the “surprise” decision by the EC to drop the directive about some excipients having to comply with GMP, according to a freelance consultant.
BASF and Sinopec are to invest $1.4bn (€1bn) in expanding their Chinese specialty chemical joint venture, adding 10 plants and increasing capacity at three existing sites.
Novasep has bolstered its upstream processing capabilities by acquiring Henogen, a Belgium-based CMO that has biotech development and cGMP manufacturing expertise.
The Spanish Ministry of Health is leading a €60m ($84.9m) programme that will build the country’s first vaccine production facility and use Novavax’s recombinant virus-like-particle (VLP) technology.
Dow Chemical is closing three US manufacturing plants, including an ethylene production unit in Hahnville, Louisiana in a further bid to restructure its specialty chemicals business.
Rottapharm is investing €7m ($9.8m) in its Irish manufacturing operations, which will create 35 jobs and add 2000 sq m housing three manufacturing and associated packaging lines.
US raw materials supplier Originates has boosted its pharmaceutical bovine hide gelatin manufacturing capacity with the addition of two new ISO 9000/9001 certified, GMP-standard production facilities in South America.
Rising demand in China has led to Toray Fine Chemicals (TFC) establishing a joint venture to produce dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), a reaction solvent in pharma production.
Researchers have used nanoparticles to stabilise membrane proteins, allowing for detailed analysis of their structure and molecular functions that could help drug discovery.
US contractor Azopharma has added new GMP quality cytotoxics and high-potency manufacturing capacity at its facility in Hollywood, South Florida in a bid to strengthen its position in the trial materials sector.
Swiss drugmaker Helsinn has unveiled plans to add high-potency API R&D and manufacturing capacity to its facility in Biasca in the south of the country.
Emisphere has entered into a research agreement with Syracuse University, which will combine their respective oral drug delivery technologies to enhance absorption of an appetite-suppressing hormone.
Automation expenditures in pharma manufacturing are predicted to reach $3bn (€2.15bn) by 2012 because companies must invest in the current “adapt or die” environment, according to a report.
Large pharma companies will increase the level of supply chain activities they outsource in the next few years but smaller businesses are predicted to keep them in-house, according to a report.
Precision Stability Storage (PSS) is expanding its cGMP storage facility in Wilson, North Carolina, doubling its size and adding a room for bulk powder and liquid sampling and dispensing.
Yissum is collaborating with Aurum, Ventures MKI to develop a nanotechnology controlled release delivery platform, which is designed to increase the bioavailability of orally administered lipophilic drugs.
Industry response to the H1N1 pandemic suggests that cell culture vaccine production is about to come of age with two firms that use the technique, Novartis and Baxter, claiming it will cut development and manufacturing timelines by months.
A South African importer of APIs that claimed to have deals with Pfizer, Teva and Merck & Co is accused of fraud, with investigators likening the case to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Swedish CRO Syntagon has set up an office in Shanghai, China to forge stronger links with a broader range of local raw materials suppliers, saving its customers time and money.
CMO Kemwell is receiving technical assistance from Boehringer Ingelheim for the construction of its new biotech facility, which is designed to marry European technology with Indian low cost manufacturing.
Ireland’s API manufacturing sector suffered a blow on Friday with Corden Pharmachem’s announcement that it is phasing-out manufacturing at its facility in Little Island, Cork.
At TIDES 2009 RXi Pharmaceuticals presented preclinical data on its RNA technologies, including research into sdRNA that is delivered without a vehicle and undergoes spontaneous cellular uptake.
Synthetech posted a $1.3m (€0.9m) operating profit in fiscal 2009, compared with a $1.1m (€770,000) loss the previous year, but warned that some biotechs and even major pharmas were cutting back.
UK researchers have boosted the bioavailability of the tomato skin extract lycopene and produced a pill that they claim can reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol by more than 90 per cent.
At BIO 2009 Symyx was promoting its new CDMO offering, which it believes meets a “real need in the industry” and can save clients time and materials by leveraging its prior knowledge.
SAFC is seeking to improve its large-scale supply of pharma raw materials through a partnership with Cherokee Pharmaceuticals, which will use its expertise to ensure the products meet cGMP standards.
US scientists at Harvard University’s Rowland Institute have described a way of making large numbers of controllable nano-propellers that, despite being at an early stage of development, may one day be used to deliver drugs.
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines unit of French drug major Sanofi Aventis, has received a reference strain of the H1N1 swine flu virus from the US CDC and expects to complete work on an industrial “seed stock” in the next two weeks.
Wacker has brought its expanded cyclodextrin facility online following its $21m (€15m) expansion, which has significantly increased capacity in response to growing demand for the excipient.
FIT Biotech has entered into a partnership that will see its GTU MultiHIV DNA plasmid developed using ImmunoVaccine Technologies’ DepoVax delivery tool, which uses liposomes to encapsulate a target antigen and adjuvant.
Sanofi Pasteur has landed what it believes will be the first of a series of orders from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to produce H1N1 vaccines.
At BIO 2009 Cobra Biomanufacturing explained to Outsourcing-Pharma its maxXpress service, its thoughts on expanding to commercial scale and the recent deal with KAHR Medical.
Singapore’s prudent spending means it can view the economic crisis as an opportunity, according to an executive director of its EDB, using saved funds to progress beyond its struggling rivals.
Portuguese contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) Hovione plans to invest €2m ($3m) in a new R&D unit in the capital Lisbon, as expansion space at its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plant in Loures is limited.
