German chemical company Bayer has posted flat first-quarter 2004
sales, but said that the results were on track given the negative
effects of currency factors. Organic sales growth rose 8.6 per
cent, it claimed, and was driven mainly...
Yesterday, German chemicals group Degussa said that it had got off
to a good start financially in 2004. Today, the company provided a
more detailed breakdown of the first-quarter results which shows
the fine chemicals division still...
The current rate of growth in the world generics market puts it on
pace to outgrow branded pharmaceuticals, which will only grow by
single digits in 2004, according to business intelligence firm
Cutting Edge Information.
Despite reporting a decline in revenues, Germany's third-largest
chemicalscompany Degussa said that it had 'got off to a solid
start' in the firstquarter of the year, ahead of presenting its
full results tomorrow.
India's Dr Reddy's Laboratories has acquired a US company that
brings in a proprietary drug delivery technology that could be
applied across a whole range of dermatological products.
Australia's Mayne Pharma has bought its way into the European
market with the acquisition of a Germany company specialising in
the manufacture of freeze dried and solution vial products for
contract customers.
Dutch nucleic acid specialist Qiagen reported strong growth in
sales in the first quarter of 2004, ahead of its forecasts, as
spending by companies in the pharmaceutical industry returns to
historical levels, writes Wai Lang Chu.
Swiss life sciences supplier Tecan has reported flat growth in
sales but higher profits in the first quarter of 2004, which it
said was largely the result of the restructuring measures
implemented in 2003.
Two leading central and eastern European pharma firms - both
producing both generic and branded drugs and active pharmaceuticals
- post results this week. Their results suggest CEE firms should
focus on foreign markets as pricing...
Two years into a major drive to exit the drug development sector
and reinvent itself as an informatics pure-play, Germany's LION
bioscience trimmed its net losses in the 12 months ended 31 March
to €22 million, in line with its...
Sigma-Aldrich has expanded its contract development and
manufacturing for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) at its
Buchs production site in Switzerland.
Isael's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries slipped into a loss in the
first quarter of 2004, as the cost of the acquisition of US
generics and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) firm Sicor took
its toll, but for the first time...
Fisher Scientific has opened a new small scale chemical
manufacturing facility in Loughborough, UK, to add new custom
synthesis services for the pharmaceutical and other industries.
The market for RNA interference (RNAi) products used as research
tools and therapeutics is still at an embryonic stage, but looks
set to more than double in value by the end of the decade,
according to new market research.
The raft of US laboratory equipment and consumables companies
reporting results for the first quarter of 2004 this week provides
convincing evidence that demand for these products has returned
among the pharmaceutical and biotechnology...
Chemical Synthesis Services of Northern Ireland has acquired a
controlling interest in Albachem, a company specialising in peptide
and protein synthesis based in West Lothian, Scotland.
BASF and Merck KGaA have joined DSM in reporting encouraging
first-quarter 2004 results, raising hopes further that the European
chemicals sector may be about to move into recovery mode, writes
Phil Taylor.
Manufacturers of custom synthetic oligonucleotides (oligos) could
see competition from new entrants into the sector, according to a
survey which finds that customers are not entirely happy with their
suppliers.
Italy's Recordati has sold off Sophartex, a French subsidiary
specialising in the contract manufacture of finished pharmaceutical
dosage forms, continuing its strategy of divesting businesses
outside its core focus of developing...
DSM has said it expects 'clearly higher' net profit from ordinary
operations in 2004, after reporting an unexpected increase in
first-quarter operating earnings.
DMV International, the industrial ingredients division of the
Netherlands' Campina, is planning to open a dedicated facility in
Germany for the production of excipients for direct compression.
St Louis, USA-based KV Pharmaceutical says that the US District
Court for the District of Minnesota has denied a motion for a
preliminary injunction by two rival drug delivery companies in a
patent dispute centring on its technology...
Switzerland's Lonza, one of the leading contract manufacturers of
active pharmaceutical ingredients, has forged a collaboration with
RNA-TEC of Belgium to provide broad-ranging contract production of
oligonucleotides, a new class...
Switzerland's Novartis has decided to withdraw from any
negotiations with Aventis over a possible merger, after official
discussions with the latter and fellow French-based company
Sanofi-Synthelabo got underway.
French chemicals company Rhodia has announced three new deals which
keep it on track to divest €700 million-worth of businesses by the
end of the year as it aims for a return to profitability in 2006.
The Netherlands-based pharmaceuticals, coatings and chemicals firm
Akzo Nobel has posted a 7 per cent rise in net income to €176
million for the first quarter of 2004, a little more than expected,
but has warned that its pharmaceuticals...
The global market for nanocatalysts will amount to $3.7 billion in
2004 and is expected to reach $5.0 billion in 2009, according to
soon-to-be-released market research.
Germany's MG technologies has agreed to sell the bulk of its
Dynamit Nobel chemicals division, sealing the fate of a company
that has been on the block since last November, writes Phil
Taylor.
Israeli press reports say US generics company IVAX is close to
finalising a merger with local firm Agis, which manufactures
generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
The Internet search engine Google has launched a pilot project with
17 universities around the world, including institutes in Italy and
the UK, aimed at improving access to research papers.
Germany's Merck KGaA has completed the $1.65 billion (€1.32bn) sale
of its laboratory distribution business, VWR International, to US
investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
UK fine chemical company Ultrafine is to be acquired by
Sigma-Aldrich of the US in a move aimed at strengthening the
latter's offerings for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
The global generics industry is growing at such a rate that it can
now support billion dollar companies, with activities crossing into
active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production and R&D. This
shift in the sector - from...
France's Sanofi-Synthelabo has announced plans to sell two of its
products to GlaxoSmithKline in a deal which forms part of its
strategy to take over Aventis.
General Electric has completed its €8.1 billion acquisition of UK
healthcare company Amersham, promising to create a new company that
will 'change the face of healthcare,' according to GE chief
executive Jeffrey Immelt.
The US Food and Drug Administration is planning to hold a meeting
in June to re-examine its regulations on electronic records and
signatures, used to generate the audit trail in the food and drug
industries, to examine whether some...
Despite years of promises, there is still not a single product on
the market that has been manufactured in a genetically-engineered
organism. But a soon-to-be released market report maintains that
the floodgates are about to open,...
Daiichi Pharmaceutical is to set up a new manufacturing subsidiary
in a bid to profit from forthcoming Japanese legislation that makes
it easier for firms to produce drugs for third parties.
US biotechnology company Genentech is planning to build a new
large-scale mammalian cell culture manufacturing facility in
California which will be the largest of its kind in the world.
Novo Nordisk has broken ground on a new manufacturing facility in
Kalundborg, Denmark, that will produce liraglutide, a potential new
product for treating type 2 diabetes.
Rhodia Pharma Solutions has completed a new extension to its
production operation in Dudley, outside Newcastle, in the UK to
strengthen its ability to provide custom manufacturing services to
pharmaceutical companies.
Drug companies are waking up to the notion that the environment a
researcher works in - whether in drug discovery or the quality
control lab - is a crucial factor in determining their productivity
and creativity. And they have started...
The European Commission has announced a collaborative tuberculosis
research initiative, underpinned by €32 million in funding for two
overlapping research projects aimed at developing an improved
vaccine for the disease. The news...
The pharmaceutical industry looks set to be one of the key areas of
contention for the two US Presidential candidates as they square
off ahead of the election in November.
The enlargement of the European Union to include 10 new countries
has raised fears about the impact this could have on issues such as
parallel imports and intellectual property protection, but it could
reinvigorate the industry in...
Switzerland's Novartis has confirmed that it is interested in
joining with Aventis, but will not proceed with a formal bid unless
the French government draws back from its hostile stance on a
link-up, reports Phil Taylor.
US-based biotechnology company Human Genome Sciences is planning to
set up the first protein manufacturing facility in India in
collaboration with local companies.
Researchers in France and the US have used a technique known as
click chemistry to discover potent new inhibitors of
acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that serves as a drug target in
Alzheimer's disease, writes Phil Taylor.
