Two firms have announced a licence and supply agreement for a novel
formulation of valproic acid presented as a softgel capsule, which
could challenge Abbott's top selling drug Depakote (divalproex
sodium).
The fine chemicals division of Japanese contract manufacturer Daiso
has taken out a license to a highly-selective technology used to
synthesise chiral molecules.
Scientists who have genetically engineered mice to be more
intelligent, claim the results could lead to new treatments for
Alzheimer's, post-traumatic stress disorder or drug addiction.
An oral formulation of salmon calcitonin based on Emisphere
Technologies' eligen delivery system has entered Phase III clinical
trials for the treatment of osteoarthritis.
Suppressing granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor
(GM-CSF) to tackle inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is the
concept behind a new worldwide collaboration between
German-American biopharmaceutical company Micromet and...
MFIC is looking to introduce a new microfluidic system that
could help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to
manufacture difficult to formulate drugs.
Inovio Biomedical, a US company developing novel DNA
immunotherapies and other treatments based on electroporation
technology, has reported interim data from a Phase I/II clinical
study showing that its MedPulser system significantly...
YM BioSciences today announced that the upgraded manufacturing
facility for the firm's humanized monoclonal antibody (MAb) for the
treatment of cancer has successfully passed a series of regulatory
reviews.
Indian firm Alembic has landed a licensing deal with biopharma
heavyweight UCB to apply the company's novel drug delivery system
for a once-a-day version of UCB's market leading epilepsy drug.
A young start-up company is gearing up to challenge the likes of
Pfizer by developing a new insulin product, based on its novel
nano-based intranasal delivery technology.
India-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories has boosted its revenue by 168
per cent for the 2006 year, fuelled by a strengthening position in
the international market.
Novel tabletting technology developed by US company ACCU-BREAK Pharmaceuticals promises to solve the problem of uneven doses when pills are split by hand.
An approvable letter for Shire's long-lasting formulation of its
best-selling attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
drug Adderall is not the stumbling block it may appear says the
company.
Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals is buying a commercial-scale
radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Texas for $3m as it
moves towards increasing its manufacturing in the increasingly
profitable pharmaceutical area.
US company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has consolidated its
relationship with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) by signing an agreement to sponsor a five-year
program at the Institute's Center for Cancer...
A white knight in the form of Indian-based Sun Pharmaceuticals, has
rescued an Israeli company from a looming financial crisis by
investing more than $400m in the company.
The significance of the aborted deal between GlaxoSmithKline and
Cobra has been exaggerated due to GSK's high profile and is not the
end of the world, the British contract manufacturer said.
Solvay's Epicerol process for manufacturing the chemical
intermediate epichlorohydrin from glycerine won the Belgian company
the 2007 Glycerine Innovation Award at the Annual Meeting and Expo
of the American Oil Chemists'...
A live attenuated replication-defective vaccine against the
influenza virus has started a Phase I clinical trial at the Medical
University of Vienna in Austria.
US company Digestive Care (DCI) is quadrupling its manufacturing,
research and development capacity following an increase in demand
for its drug Pancrecarb (pancrelipase).
US contract manufacturer Albemarle has announced it will move
operations of its pilot plant in Ohio to its recently acquired
manufacturing facility in Michigan.
Contract manufacturer Granules India is moving towards vertical
integration, with a new tabletting facility scheduled to come
onstream this August at the company's Gagillapur site near
Hyderabad in India.
India's Lupin Ltd is ramping up its active pharmaceutical
ingredient (API) capability by teaming up with compatriot and
corticosteroid specialist Symbiotec Pharmalab Ltd.
It might look like a simple breath freshener dissolving mouth-strip
but the John Hopkins University innovation is just steps away from
cutting costs and saving thousands of lives from the deadly
rotavirus.
The market's first nebulized form of formoterol fumarate for
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been given the go
ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Lower than expected yields of varicella zoster virus (VZV) have
forced Merck & Co to run down US supplies of ProQuad, its
all-in-one children's vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella (German
measles) and varicella (chickenpox).
A French firm developing an innovative gene delivery tool has
received a cash boost of €80,000 to ramp up good manufacturing
processes for its synthetic delivery molecule.
After months of speculation and bartering following Merck KGaA's
decision to put its generics arm up for sale, the winning bid has
finally been announced, with US firm Mylan Laboratories emerging
victorious beating off the competition...
Lonza is betting on the growth of antibody-drug conjugates as the
way-of-the-future cancer treatments by moving to large scale
production of the emerging drug class by 2008.
BASF is boosting by 30,000 tons its annual production capacity for
the chemical intermediate tetrahydrofuran (THF) at the group's site
in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
A new human vaccine to be used in the case of a flu pandemic has
gained approval in the EU. The Novartis vaccine, Focetria,
will be manufactured containing the offending virus should the
World Health Organization's warning system...
The UK's Midatech Group has opened what it describes as "the
world's first cGMP-grade manufacturing plant for the production of
nanoparticles at a scale commensurate with pharmaceutical
applications".
Clariant has cut its ties with the life sciences industry and will
no longer offer custom manufacturing services in this arena after
the sale of the last piece of its Lifesciences division.
Do-Coop Technologies, an Israeli company that uses nanotechnology
to create an equivalent of intracellular water as a medium for
enhancing existing chemical and biological reagents, reactions and
processes, has announced two "significant...
Amylin Pharmaceuticals is expanding significantly on the US
manufacturing facility it is building in West Chester, Ohio for a
long-acting version of its injectable diabetes drug Byetta
(exenatide).
Construction has finally begun on Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMS) new
biologics manufacturing facility in Massachusetts, with the company
upping its original investment estimates for construction from
$660m (€485.7m) to $750m.
Technology and services provider Althea Technologies has stepped
closer to a significant increase in manufacturing capacity as it
announces the completion of the first phase of construction at its
new San Diego facility.
US contract manufacturer PharmaFab has agreed to stop the
manufacturing and distribution of some of its drugs after
regulators found they were produced illegally.
Dutch company OctoPlus has extended its rights to the PolyActive
delivery technology used in its lead drug candidate Locteron, based
on interferon alfa.
Paladin Labs has reached an agreement in principle to acquire the
outstanding shares of BioEnvelop Inc, which develops, manufactures
and markets rapidly dissolving edible films for use as delivery
systems in the pharmaceutical and...
A novel buccal patch formulation of the opioid painkiller fentanyl
is on track to be filed for approval in the third quarter of this
year, following encouraging efficacy data from a Phase III trial.
French company Roquette has been awarded a US patent for a
dissolve-in-the-mouth drug delivery technology that makes use of
its novel StarLac excipient.
A new biotech company has been formed to fully exploit
technology for repairing genes that cause rare, hereditary diseases
such as sickle cell anaemia and spinal muscular atrophy.
Denmark's Novozymes has set up a dedicated business unit in the UK
to make and sell ingredients that support companies wanting to
produce biopharmaceuticals without using animal-derived
constituents.