US packaging giant MeadWestvaco has started the second phase of a
restructuring programme aimed at improving productivity at the firm
and boosting both earnings and cash flow, at the cost of 1,000 job
cuts and a number of facility...
The restructuring activity that has features this year in the
European pharmachem industry continued yesterday with the news that
Germany's Merck KGaA had sold off BioMer, a joint venture focusing
on orthopaedic products.
Although there are a number of interesting new compounds in the
antibacterial pipeline, none of them are likely to reach
blockbuster status, according to a new report from Datamonitor.
The troubles affecting the global chemicals industry were brought
into sharp focus today when Solutia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection, citing onerous financial commitments to its former
parent Monsanto that are hampering...
Switzerland's Lonza has won a long-term manufacturing contract from
US biotechnology bellwether Genentech for Rituxan (rituximab) a
biological drug which recorded worldwide sales of $1.48 billion in
2002.
UK-headquartered separations company Whatman is to sell its filter
cartridge business to Graver Technologies of the US for $2.1
million (€1.7m) in cash, continuing a string of divestments as it
copes with a decline in revenues.
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo has opened a new
manufacturing facility in Aquitaine for the production of two of
its top drugs, the antithrombotic Plavix (clopidogrel) and Aprovel
(irbesartan) for hypertension.
Ireland's Elan has said that its US-based drug delivery business,
NanoSystems, will not be part of the sell-off in assets forced by
its onerous debt burden. The company is also retaining its US acute
care products business.
The lacklustre growth in the chemicals industry will continue to
lag behind world gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the next
few years, a reversal of the situation before 2000, according to
BASF chairman Juergen Hambrecht.
Scotland's PPL Therapeutics, once one of the brightest stars in the
UK biotechnology universe, came to desultory end this week when the
company auctioned off most of its remaining assets for just
£169,000 (€242,000).
The Scottish manufacturer of a safety syringe used in a new AIDS
drug has sacked most of its staff and shut down its only production
facility, but will continue to develop the technology.
Another report has slammed the so-called blockbuster model of drug
development in the pharmaceutical industry, in which R&D
efforts are concentrated on drugs that can command sales in excess
of $1 billion (€820m).
Sanofi-Synthelabo said it will invest €250 million over the next
four years to expand its production site in Veresegyhaz, Hungary,
and modernise its manufacturing processes.
Chemicals company Rhodia has played down reports in the French
press that it is considering a sell-off of its activities in
silicon, food additives and phosphates as part of an asset
divestment programme aimed at improving its profitability.
General Electric was yesterday cleared to press ahead with its €8.1
billion acquisition of UK Amersham by the US antitrust authorities,
and promptly announced a sweeping reorganisation of the business in
an attempt to boost its profit...
A number of senior executives at microfluidics and lab automation
specialist Caliper Technologies are leaving the company in a
reorganisation aimed at cutting costs and breaking even in cash
flow terms in 2005.
A new report claims that there is little future for small- to
medium-sized research-based pharmaceutical companies over the next
12 years, as they will simply not have the R&D muscle needed to
survive, says a new report from Decision...
UK encapsulation company BioProgress yesterday unveiled plans to
raise £6.6 million (€9.4m) through a placement of shares in order
to build a new pharmaceutical production plant.
Filtration and purification specialist Pall has reported a 12.5 per
cent hike in first-quarter sales to $374 million (€310m), with life
sciences putting in a strong showing, up 15.5 per cent to $152
million.
Akzo Nobel opened a new biotech vaccines production facility in
Boxmeer, the Netherlands, yesterday, that signposts a new ambition
in human vaccines for the group.
UK firm Cobra Biomanufacturing has ended its first year as a
publicly-listed company with a healthy 137 per cent increase in
revenues to £6 million (€8.6m), helped by an expansion of its
business in the US.
Denmark-based vaccines company Bavarian Nordic is investing DK 250
million (€33.6m) in a production facility that will be the largest
of its kind in Europe, producing up to 120 million vaccine doses a
year.
A new drug for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), developed by Swiss drugmaker Novartis, will make use of two
technologies developed by UK drug delivery firm SkyePharma.
Cambrex has continued its recruitment of top-level executives in
its pharmaceutical and biopharma business unit with the appointment
of Edward Robinson as executive vice president for Europe.
Japan's Sumitomo Chemical is absorbing its wholly-owned Sumika Fine
Chemicals subsidiary and combining it with its own activities in
this area to bolster its role as a supplier of pharmaceutical
chemicals.
The new agreement between BioProgress and an unnamed US
over-the-counter pharmaceuticals firm could double the UK company's
capacity to manufacture cellulose films for drug encapsulation,
according to chief executive Graham Hind.
PURE Biosciences of the USA has opted to sell off its water
treatment business, which includes the Fillmaster line used in the
pharmaceutical industry, in order to focus on its
environmentally-friendly antimicrobial products.
Germany's Bayer has received offers to buy NewCo, the newly-created
company including parts of its chemicals and polymers divisions,
but will still go ahead with plans to float it on the stock
exchange , according to the group's...
Pliva, the Eastern European giant, is today hosting a R&D day
in London. The company says that it plans to update investors and
analysts alike on the recent developments in the company's R&D
pipeline.
Pierre Fabre shuts down a facility manufacturing over-the-counter
pharmaceutical products at its Veyron & Froment subsidiary in
Marseille, blaming the move on France's de-reimbursement strategy.
Like many life sciences companies before it, Crucell of the
Netherlands has started a major shift in strategy from a technology
platform company to one involved in in-house product development.
Could this put pressure on its well-established...
After acquiring local firm Erre Emme Reference Mterials, LGC
Promochem has opened a new sales office in Italy as part of its
strategy to expand its network of operations across Europe.
Micap, which specialises in using yeast and other organisms as
microcapsules for protecting active compounds, is set to expand its
business after extricating itself from an 'onerous' license with
Unilever Bestfoods.
Rhodia has revealed the extent of job cuts that will take place in
the wake of its restructuring exercise, initiated in response to
the financial pressures facing the chemicals group.
Serono has unveiled a $200 million (€168m) investment in an Israeli
facility that will be used to produce Rebif, the company's drug
treatment for multiple sclerosis.
Funding shortfalls and a capacity gap are threatening to hamper the
European biopharmaceutical industry's progress and could lead to a
reduction in its global market share, according to new market
research.
Cambrex has appointed a new CEO to oversee the combination of its
small-molecule and biological active pharmaceutical ingredient
(API) activities into a single business unit.
Isotag and Biocode merge to form Authentix, specialising in
technologies used in the prevention of counterfeiting, adulteration
and diversion of products. Pharmaceuticals will be a key focus of
the combined entity.
Transgenomic has won a contract to manufacture an
oligonucleotide-based ingredient for an adjuvant candidate used to
increase the immunogenicity of vaccines.
Agilent returns to profit for the first time in two years in the
fourth quarter ended October 31, as cost-cutting compensated for a
modest decline in revenues.
Denmark's Novo Nordisk has signed a €47m deal with Neose to develop
long-acting versions of three protein drugs using a proprietary
PEGylation technology.
Merck KGaA drops plans to build a €300m biomanufacturing plant in
Jena, Germany, on the grounds that late-stage product failures have
left plenty of free capacity in the contract sector. The company's
move suggests that the often-repeated...
Eisai has announced a further hike in investment in manufacturing
in order to cope with increasing overseas demand for its
top-selling Aciphex and Aricept products.
German biotechnology company TeGenero has signed up Boehringer
Ingelheim to make clinical trials of its antibody drug in a move
that reflects an emerging trend in the contract manufacturing
sector.
Germany's CyBio, which makes laboratory instruments and equipment,
has seen its revenues in the first nine months of the year fall by
a third and expects to post a full-year loss.
Dutch company Organon has upgraded its manufacturing facilities in
China in a move that will for the first time allow it to create
pharmaceuticals for local consumption.
