Fine chemicals firm Minakem believes that manufacturing capacity added by its newly acquired API plant in Dunkirk, France will reduce costs and help it compete on a global scale.
Sanofi-aventis is has made its largest ever investment in its vaccine capacity, using €350m ($479m) to construct a dengue fever vaccine manufacturing plant in France.
Baxter International says Pfizer supplied the bulk API used in a batch of Heparin linked to two patient deaths in Delaware, US last week, amid concerns of a repeat of last year’s contamination scandal.
Cambridge Consultants has developed its ‘connected patient’ technology, which creates a communication network between drug delivery devices and healthcare professionals to increase compliance.
Agilent has completed the second expansion of its nucleic acid active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility, which is intended to meet rising demand for oligonucleotide-based drugs.
US chemistry firm PharmaTek Laboratories has a green light to start making high potency APIs and cytotoxics at its facility in California after meeting strict safety and control rules that govern their production.
SurModics has completed the three year Phase I trial of I-vation TA (triamcinolone acetonide), which uses a novel drug delivery system capable of sustained ocular release of a therapeutic.
Venezuela has inaugurated a state funded pharmaceutical manufacturing facility and allocated resources for a new complex as part of the nation’s attempts to provide subsidized drugs to citizens.
Axentis Pharma has received orphan drug designation (ODD) in the US for its cystic fibrosis treatment, which uses liposomes to deliver prolonged high-concentrations of a therapeutic to the infected area.
German industrial phosphate maker Budenheim has been certified to produce calcium phosphates as pharmaceutical excipients under ICH Q7A GMP guidelines.
Althea Technologies’ biologics and injectables contract development, manufacturing and testing facility in San Diego, US is open for business, bringing to an end the firm’s two year campaign to expand capacity.
Two recombinant human albumins made by Novozymes' biopharma division have become the first to comply with the USP-NF's recently revised excipient monograph.
Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals are jointly developing an exenatide once weekly pen device, which should provide a more convenient way for diabetics to treat themselves.
Erectile dysfunction could be treated by a nanoparticle formulation applied directly to the penis, according to research, reducing the side effects that can occur when taking drugs like Viagra.
Novozymes Biopharma is building a new Bacillus-based hyaluronic acid (bHA) production facility in China to meet “increasing demand” for the substance that has drug delivery applications.
Xspray has doubled its personnel and laboratory space in response to demand for its manufacturing service, which is designed to overcome the drawbacks associated with micronisation.
API maker Hovione’s manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland was unveiled at an opening ceremony yesterday just two weeks after the previous owner, global drug giant Pfizer, formally handed over the keys.
Research has been presented on the first Phase I trials of a systemic, non-viral, targeted nanoparticle that delivers a p53 tumour suppressor gene to combat cancer.
Sinobiopharma is seeking a Chinese patent covering the manufacture of capsule forms of the heart drug perindopril, claiming it is the first company in the world to produce the medication in this easy to swallow format.
IntelGenx’ clinical pilot study indicates the bioequivalence of a leading antihypertensive and its product, which has been developed using its multilayer Versatab delivery technology.
Sanofi-Aventis is investing a further $90m in its Chinese manufacturing facility and performing “the world’s largest diabetes genotyping project” in partnership with the Chinese Diabetes Society.
Actavis has reintroduced Oxycodone 15 mg and 30 mg tablets to the US market having resolved the manufacturing difficulties discovered by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA has approved Biogen Idec to manufacture Tysabri using a high titre process but the product’s sales have been “negatively impacted” by the cases of patients developing PML.
The drive to license needle-free delivery methods continues with Zealand Pharma signing a deal to use its peptide optimisation technology with Vyteris’ controlled transdermal patch.
Asahi Kasei has added to its range of excipients through the launch of Ceolus UF-711, which it claims is the first high-compactable microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) that makes tablets smaller.
Phylogica is developing formulations of its Phylomer peptides using Aegis Therapeutics’ Intravail absorption enhancers, which enable transmucosal drug delivery.
Researchers have developed a pH-responsive formulation that could be used to deliver a polyoxometalate (POM), which have broad spectrum anticancer and antiviral properties, to the colon.
MRSA could be treated through a combination of an antimicrobial drug, a peptide and light, according to researchers who have hailed the treatment as a “magic bullet”.
Tom Beil, SAFC’s VP of Quality and Regulatory affairs, whose talk on fine chemicals supply was a highlight of last month's DCAT week, spoke with in-PharmaTechnologist about the benefits and risks of working with global suppliers.
The search for more convenient diabetes treatments continues, with Altea Therapeutics reaching a $46m agreement with Eli Lilly and Amylin to develop a transdermal patch administering Byetta.
Researchers have used plants from the tobacco family as a large-scale, cost-effective method of producing a HIV inhibitor, which could lead to the creation of a female controlled intervention to stop viral transmission.
Researchers have created nanoparticles to increase the solubility of probucol, a nearly insoluble drug used to reduce cholesterol, with a technique that could be used for other drugs.
Flugen has secured the exclusive rights to Ratio’s novel vaccine delivery technology, which is a disposable micro-device that it claims can improve efficacy and compliance.
Researchers believe they have found “more promising” sources of shikimic acid, a precursor in the production of Tamiflu, shortages of which have previously caused bottlenecks in producing the bird flu vaccine.
Operations at SAFC Biosciences’ facility in Kansas, US have been made animal component-free (ACF) under a division-wide strategy to keep pace with customer demands and changing regulations.
The International Pharmaceutical Excipient Council (IPEC) has unveiled plans to set up a worldwide Federation later this year to address the increasingly global excipient supply chain.
The International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council (IPEC) – currently represented by divisions in Europe, the Americas, Japan and China – could see sister organisations open up in Latin America and India in the coming months.
MannKind is trying to buy a Pfizer insulin facility for $33m (€26m) as it continues to push Afresa towards commercialisation but, like many things in the saga, the deal might not be straightforward.
UK drugmaker SkyePharma may reduce the workforce at its production plant in Lyon, France by a third after “long-running” underutilisation of its manufacturing capacity.
An active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) pilot project, implemented by the Pharmacopoeial Discussion Group (PDG) last summer and aimed at harmonising API monographs, should generate its first results before the end of the year.
SAFC’s fourth quarter performance was hurt by dip in demand from big pharma in the US and Europe combined with lower sales to the chemical industry, according to parent company Sigma Aldrich.
Genzyme will launch the same biologic under two different names in the US after the FDA decided the drug produced at 2000L was considerably different to the 160L version.
Compass Pharma Services is targeting contract drug developers and clinical research firms with a new microfilling offering that, it claims, helps reduce waste and may even make excipients unnecessary in some drugs.
Pliva is laying off 790 employees over the next 12 months following its acquisition by Teva but still intends to significantly increase API and finished product output over this period.
Researchers have estimated that a pharmaceutical waste water treatment plant is pumping up to 45kg a day of ciprofloxacin into an Indian river, which could have grave consequences for the ecosystem.
Researchers have raised concerns that wirelessly activated drug delivery devices could be hacked to steal personal information or release potentially fatal doses of a therapeutic.
Falling API sales and “an unprecedented negative economic environment” have forced Perrigo to cut its fiscal 2009 profit forecast and sent stock plummeting by 20 per cent.
The EU has backed a €15.9m ($20.4m) research collaboration that will seek to develop drug delivery vehicles that can be tracked through the body with MRI and triggered using ultrasound.
