Finnish chemicals group Kemira has agreed to sell off its fine
chemicals business to a private equity firm, exiting from what it
sees as a non-core sector, reports Phil Taylor.
The accusations levelled at GlaxoSmithKline and Forest Laboratories
that negative trial results on their products have been buried has
prompted the US industry to set out its own code of practice.
Charles River Laboratories has made a $1.5 billion (€1.2bn) bid to
acquire Inveresk Research in a deal that will create a contract
research powerhouse with nearly $1 billion in annual revenues,
writes Phil Taylor.
New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has continued in his
crusade to investigate pharmaceutical company practice by
requesting information from Forest Laboratories which is accused of
promoting its products for "off-label"...
Predictions that the generics industry will experience further
consolidation - made at the annual meeting of the International
Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance this week - have been swiftly
followed by the news that Sandoz is buying...
Lanxess, the new company in which Germany's Bayer will combine
almost all areas of its chemicals business and parts of its
polymers activities, begins operating as an independent unit today.
UK companies producing hazardous waste - including the
pharmaceutical industry - are facing a dramatic reduction in the
number of landfill sites in the UK that will accept the material.
Pricing pressure on the global market for citric acid has forced
DSM of the Netherlands to lay off staff at its Citrique Belge unit,
reports Phil Taylor.
The market for generic drugs is going to expand from its present
level of $35 billion (€29bn) to $80 billion in 2008, as
cash-strapped healthcare payors turn increasingly to cheaper
options.
ML Laboratories of the UK has entered into an agreement to supply
an unnamed pharmaceutical company with its C200 metered dose
inhaler, designed to deliver two drugs at the same time, for use in
a new asthma product.
A strong indicator of the potential of a new type of drug to treat
cancer - the Aurora kinase inhibitors - has come with Merck &
Co's decision to invest up to $350 million (€288m) in a license for
the lead compound in the...
The pharmaceutical industry must tackle the issue of pricing
disparity between countries if it is to avoid having the matter
taken out of its hands by government-mandated price cuts and
parallel imports.
Foreign drugmakers are failing to win ground against their local
counterparts in China, despite investing considerable sums in the
country over the last few years.
A group of research directors of leading pharmaceutical companies
met this week to agree a framework for working together on research
in a bid to make the European industry more competitive.
Reforms that demand the public disclosure of industry payments to
The National Institute of Health (NIH) employees are to be
introduced to crackdown on the violation of existing rules that
create a conflict of interest between the...
UK biotechnology company Xenova has been given regulatory approval
for a manufacturing facility for clinical trial materials for its
own use, as well as for its clients.
Rudolf Hanko, formerly head of the fine chemicals business unit at
Bayer, has joined Degussa as head of the company's exclusive
synthesis business line, part of Degussa's Exclusive Synthesis
& Catalysts business unit.
In the UK, the House of Commons Health Committee is to undertake a
broad-ranging inquiry into the influence of the pharmaceutical
industry on health policy, to look for conflicts between the need
for new drugs and commercial interests,...
A new drug delivery company, Merrion Pharmaceuticals, has been set
up to commercialise various technologies originally developed at
Ireland's Elan, which sold off many of its assets after growing too
quickly throughout the 1990s.
The European Union parallel trade in pharmaceuticals is offering
few benefits to cash-strapped national healthcare systems and may
raise the risk of medication errors and entry of counterfeit
medicines into the supply chain, according...
Ireland's Elan has signed its first major contract manufacturing
and supply agreement in a development that reinforces its
credentials as a player in the outsourcing sector.
Companies developing new drugs for the global market must deal with
the rising costs of the R&D process - and outsourcing may well
be the best route, according to Dr Faiz Kermani, a specialist in
outsourcing and research development.
Vectura, a UK biotechnology company which is developing an inhaled
alternative to orally acting impotence drugs such as Pfizer's
Viagra (sildenafil), has announced plans to float on the London
stock market.
Swiss active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) company Siegfried
believes it has found a shortcut on the path to market for generic
drugs in the European Union, allowing it to launch drugs
immediately after their patents expire.
India's Jubilant Organosys has bought two companies in Belgium as
part of a drive to improve its presence in the European market for
generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Membrane separation systems dominate the European market for
industrial process water treatment equipment, and the technology
looks set to consolidate and spread to Eastern Europe.
Scottish biotech firm CXR biosciences and Edinburgh's Roslin
Institute have entered into a collaboration with Geron to develop a
new technique that promises to reduce the need to test drugs on
animals.
US-based healthcare conglomerate Cardinal Health has stepped up its
presence in the European market with the appointment of a new
management team for the region based in the UK.
Hospira, the hospital products company spun out of Abbott
Laboratories earlier this year, has acquired a manufacturing
facility that will help it grow its pharmaceutical injectable and
outsourcing business.
Novartis generics subsidiary Sandoz has continued its expansion
with the purchase of Canadian generic drugmaker Sabex Holdings for
$565 million (€459m) in cash, bringing in a new range of injectable
products.
Fisher Scientific subsidiary Perbio last week opened a new facility
in the UK to manufacture its Hyclone range of cell culture
equipment and mediathat ramps up its liquid production capacity by
a factor of four, reports Phil Taylor.
German contract manufacturer Strathmann Biotec has won a contract
to manufacture clinical supplies a new type of cancer treatment in
development at Sweden's Active Biotech.
Cobra Biomanufacturing of the UK saw its losses halve in the first
half of the current fiscal year, in the face of continuing declines
in the market for contract manufacturing of plasmid DNA.
Danish ingredients company Chr Hansen has ramped up its production
capacity in the US for its pharmaceutical products via a $10
million (€8.2m) expansion of its facilities in Stoughton in the US.
Lanxess, the fine chemicals unit that is due to be spun out of
Germany's Bayer next year, will be headed by Axel Westerhaus,
currently in charge of the group's polyethers business in the US.
Japanese drug companies Yamanouchi and Fujisawa have said that the
entity to be created via their merger next year will be called
Astellas Pharma, drawing on a Japanese word that means 'shine on
tomorrow'.
In an unusual move, Finnish science park Medipolis has set up a new
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) pilot plant to take advantage of
the growing demand for biopharmaceutical production capacity.
Belgian group UCB, fresh from making an offer for UK biotech
company Celltech, has announced plans to sell off its chemicals
unit and become a pharmaceuticals pure play, reports Phil
Taylor.
Respironics, a US-based company specialising in sleep and
ventilation products, is to make a $44.6 million (€37.3m) cash
offer for Profile Therapeutics of the UK.
A new company has been set up in the UK to apply high-throughput
technologies to the development of new chemical materials,
including catalysts and novel drugs, for use in the pharmachem
industries.
UK biotechnology company Acambis is looking for new clients to take
up unused capacity at its facility in Massachusetts, US, now that
Baxter has pulled out of a manufacturing contract.
Belgian chemicals and pharmaceuticals company UCB has made an offer
to buy UK biotechnology firm Celltech for £1.53 billion (€2.25bn)
in a move seen as a way of getting hold of the latter's much-touted
arthritis drug.
Ireland's position as a hot-spot for inwards investment in
pharmaceutical manufacturing is under threat from companies in the
Far East and Puerto Rico, according to PharmaChemical Ireland.
Directors at Swiss fine chemicals group Lonza have appointed a
former BASF manager as their new chief executive, after major
losses led to the resignation of Markus Gemuend earlier this year.
Signalling its continued commitment to the emerging economies of
the recently expanded European Union, Switzerland's Novartis has
unveiled a €70 million overall investment in a new generics
production and logistics facility in...
Avecia Pharmaceuticals has consolidated its position in the
evolving Japanese pharmaceutical market by forging a technology
agreement with a local company,reports Phil Taylor.
