Canadian contract manufacturer Patheon has announced a $150m
(€114m) investment by a private equity firm - a move the company
sees as the best viable option to end its financial misery.
The implantable/injectable drug delivery market generated record
revenues of $9.8bn (€7.4bn) worldwide in 2006 but is set to
continue growing, driven by growing demand for novel drug delivery
technologies.
Amino acid manufacturer Ajinomoto Aminoscience announced that
increasing raw material and energy costs have driven the company to
increase prices of its L-Arginine products by $1/ kg.
Scientists have used a biochemical chip to explain the important
role a certain protein plays in the mating habits of yeast cells.
The finding could lead to new cancer drugs with fewer side effects.
AstraZeneca has this week announced 700 job losses the firm's
Macclesfield site in the UK. Representing over a quarter of the
site's workforce, the cuts come as part of the rationalisation plan
announced by the firm at the...
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has spent $3.65m (€2.78m) on an 89-acre
plot of land to build a new bulk biologics manufacturing facility
in Devens, Massachusetts.
Actavis has waded further into India and picked up new contract
manufacturing capabilities along the way with the purchase of a
division of Sanmar Specialty Chemicals (SSCL).
A bill unveiled by US senators yesterday would clear the way for
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve low cost, generic
versions of biotech medicines. There is currently no statutory
pathway allowing such generic copies...
A Japanese firm announced this week that it has developed a
biodegradable polymer based drug delivery system that could
significantly improve the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs and reduce
drug development costs.
Materia's metathesis platform continues to excite the
pharmaceutical industry as they follow their recent license to
Merck with a license to Aileron Therapeutics.
Albany Molecular Research (AMRI) has slipped again in the fourth
quarter of 2006 recording an operating loss of $2.5m (€1.9m) - six
per cent worse than the same quarter the previous year - despite
encouraging revenue growth in its...
A new partnership between India's Reliance Life Sciences (RLS) and
Ireland's GeneMedix will provide new contract opportunities for
European contract bio-manufacturers.
A combination therapy to help smokers kick the habit has begun
evaluation in Phase I pilot studies in the US. A sustained-release
formulation of Cary Pharmaceutical's QuitPak has been developed
with IntelGenx Technologies as...
European scientists have introduced a dental prosthesis capable of
dosing drugs, which they suggest could be a more convenient option
than swallowing pills.
US firm SCOLR Pharma has dropped development plans for a controlled
release phenylephrine (PE) formulation, in light of slow progress
in the over-the-counter (OTC) PE market.
A naturally occurring molecule helps protect the immune system from
being destroyed by HIV and could open up a new way of fighting the
effects of the virus, according to new research.
A multinational team of researchers based in the UK has found a way
to make carbon nanotubes easily cross biological barriers, opening
up the potential for a new form of drug delivery.
Indian generics company Ranbaxy Laboratories has signed a
development and marketing agreement with generic injectables
company Zenotech Laboratories to produce its first biosimilar, a
granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF;...
US-based drug delivery firm, BioDelivery Sciences International
(BDSI), has asked for approval to start clinical trials of a soya
bean-based delivery technology that would lead to the first oral
version of amphotericin B, a widely-used...
UK-based firm BioProgress has developed novel tablet cores that
mean pills which were previously very difficult to coat can be
reformulated and easily coated using the company's innovative
TabWrap technology.
US-based start-up company Medipacs is developing a miniaturised
digital pump, no bigger than a quarter, which could become the
first patch-like product to help diabetics manage their insulin
therapy.
Major pharmaceutical player GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has begun
construction of a €23m facility in County Waterford, Ireland. The
new facility is already under construction at the company's
consumer healthcare manufacturing site...
A team of researchers in the UK have come up with a novel drug
delivery system using pollen-based microcapsules to encapsulate the
active ingredients, opening up whole new avenues for oral delivery
of injection-based drugs.
Microbiology specialists Oxoid have added a new growth medium
product to their catalogue of microbiological culture media, for
use in aseptic process simulations.
UK biotech company Verona Pharma has contracted fellow UK firm Onyx
to manufacture supplies of its new hay fever drug candidate for
forthcoming preclinical and clinical studies.
BioProgress are set to speed up commercialisation of NRobe, their
solid oral dose system, following completion of a restructuring
agreement with Magenta Oral Dose Design.
Finnish company DelSitech has signed a license agreement with Bayer
Innovation, a subsidiary of the Germany's Bayer group, in a deal
that could lead to the creation of a new generation of wound care
products.
Russian researchers have developed an intranasal influenza vaccine
using a novel adjuvant technology, with plans to develop what could
become the first tablet flu vaccine formulation.
Canadian contract manufacturer QSV Biologics has signed two
manufacturing deals in as many weeks, strengthening its position in
the Phase II and III clinical supplies arena.
US-based researchers have developed a transdermal vaccine for
Alzheimers disease which has been shown to clear brain-damaging
amyloid plaques in preclinical studies, offering hope to millions
of sufferers worldwide.
US-based researchers have proven that 'large' nanoparticles can
pass through human mucus, which means that they could serve as
sustained-release carriers for drugs treating diseases affecting
the mucous membranes, such as...
Novel transdermal patch products for two protein drugs could be on
the horizon as Altea Therapeutics announces research agreements
with two 'large' pharmaceutical companies.
Researchers at the University of Leeds have genetically modified a
common gut bacterium to respond to a sugar and produce a treatment
for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
New French research into biodegradable polymers is opening up the
door to controlled release treatments for a broader range of drugs,
potentially doing away with traditional delivery methods of a
variety of drugs.
A new player has entered the pharma formulation development
services arena, offering technologies used in the food industry to
improve drug palatability.
Researchers in Belgium have succeeded in using plant seeds to
produce high yields of proteins that bear a strong resemblance to
human antibodies, thus bringing the possibility of using plant
systems as an inexpensive alternative to...
The rapidly growing market for oral drug delivery is forecast to
increase 48 per cent to reach a $52.1 billion in revenues by 2010,
with an annual growth rate of 10 per cent, according to a new study
by Kalorama Information.
More and more drug makers are turning to reformulation to prolong
the lifecycle of their top sellers and protect precious revenue
from generic copies, as well as supplement dwindling pipelines.
Researchers in Scotland have successfully bred five generations of
transgenic hens producing therapeutic proteins in the whites of
their eggs. This latest news takes the field a step closer to
establishing transgenic flocks that could...
The booming pharmaceutical contract research market sees a new
player enter the arena as analytical lab Eno River Labs separates
into two independent divisions to create a new business that will
provide analytical and formulation...
Canadian firm SemBioSys Genetics last week announced that its
proprietary plant-produced insulin has been shown to be
indistinguishable from human insulin, opening up a whole new
potential source of the hormone.
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has started the first human clinical trials
to evaluate a new antiviral drug against respiratory synytial virus
(RSV) - the major cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in children.
US-based researchers have stepped up anticancer drug usage as
dendrimer-encapsulated technology improves camptothecin solubility
10 times and accelerates drug accumulation 16 times in cell culture
studies.
Helix BioPharma and BioVectra have signed a deal for the
manufacture of Helix's new lung cancer drug for clinical trials - a
move that strengthens the already existing relationship between the
two Canadian firms.
