A once-a-day pill to treat HIV that combines three drugs has been
given the green light by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
in a response to patients' increasing demands for convenient
combined treatments.
Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and ARYx Therapeutics have
formed a partnership, which aims to take drug treatments for
gastrointestinal disorders to the next level with their novel drug
candidate
A new computational program has been developed by US researchers
that uses computational systems biology to better understand the
biochemical networks that regulate the interactions between
infectious organisms and the human or animal...
Malvern Instruments has acquired Spectral Dimensions, a provider of
near infrared (NIR) chemical imaging instrumentation and software,
seeking products that can enhance pharmaceutical formulation and
manufacturing processes.
Active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturers in Europe are
struggling to differentiate their capabilities and compete in an
outsourcing market suffering from overcapacity, diminishing
profitability and threats from Asia.
Analytical X-ray specialists, PANalytical has launched its solution
to enables X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of fuel, oil and oil
derivatives. The package attempts to overcome the traditional
challenges associated with XRF analysis...
Northfield Laboratories, a company specialising in the development
of human hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers, has splashed out $6.7m
(€5.2m) to buy a plant it previously leased in Illinois, as it
edges closer to commercialising its...
European healthcare organisations are being driven to outsource
more and more IT operations due to escalating financial burdens,
increasing complexity of IT systems, and new government
initiatives.
In a landmark decision that will speed up the manufacturing of
influenza vaccines, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
approved the use of reverse genetics technology in the production
of MedImmune's seasonal intranasal...
French-owned software firms Axway and Cyclone Commerce have joined
forces with US drug distribution firm McKesson to develop new and
cost-effective IT to support the pharma industry in its venture to
introduce item-level tracking...
Thermo Electron introduces its solution for researchers involved in
large volume pipetting, making available a pipetting aid that
incorporates a motor to allow faster pipetting of volumes saving
time and cost without compromising...
Maryland is no longer in the running for a $500m (€392m) vaccine
manufacturing plant Novartis is seeking to build in the US, as
speculation about which state will host America's first cell
culture-derived influenza vaccine plant...
Discovery Laboratories is claiming progress in its struggle to
correct manufacturing problems related to Surfaxin, its
experimental respiratory treatment for infants, yet the goal of
overcoming the process validation issues that prevent...
Chemicon are to supply drug targets for MorphoSys in a licensing
agreement that will see MorphoSys develop antibodies from its
proprietary HuCAL Gold antibody library.
Cardinal Health is the latest firm to benefit from Roche's global
recruitment drive for manufacturers to help boost its supplies of
the bird flu drug coveted by governments across the world -
Tamiflu.
Takeda Pharmaceutical has jumped at the chance to use a new
technology that its developer, Spherics, claims can improve the
efficacy of a drug while reducing side effects, providing more
consistent drug levels and enhancing compliance.
Locus Pharmaceuticals has announced it has entered a drug discovery
agreement with Ono Pharmaceuticals in a deal that will focus on
protein kinases as a molecular target.
The Videojet 1310 ink jet printer from Videojet Technologies is now
available in North America with a simpler user interface, similar
to its popular Videojet Excel ink jet printer.
Despite the uncertainty about its direction, German pharmaceutical
company Altana has opened a new tablet production facility in Cork
as it tries to cope with demand for Pantoprazole, its blockbuster
stomach ulcer drug.
A recent paper has emerged, which details results of a clinical
laboratory test and its ability to accurately predict drug response
in lung cancer. The test gives way to the possibility of less
invasive testing.
Abbott's Kaletra, the biggest-selling drug of a class of HIV
medications known as protease inhibitors, has won the thumbs up
from the European Commission with a melt extrusion formulation
which enhances solubility, requires fewer...
Nomeco, Denmark's biggest pharma wholesaler, has won a large
pre-wholesaling and logistics contract with Iceland's Actavis
covering the Nordic countries, typifying the regional shift in this
evolving sector of pharmaceutical...
UK firm PowderMed has contracted US firm Althea Technologies to
manufacture clinical supplies of its flu vaccine that can
significantly speed up production.
Parexel has linked arms with Synchron to cement itself in India for
the first time - joining the growing number of contract research
organisations (CRO) that are being lured to the region through the
promise of cost savings.
An enzyme-based process operated by Lonza for the production of the
major chiral building block for Pfizer's Lipitor, the world's best
selling drug, has won its designer Codexis a top green chemistry
award for its high yield,...
Wyeth has announced that it has selected NovaScreen to conduct a
high-throughput screening (HTS) campaign, which makes use of
Caliper's microfluidic screening platform, which utilises
reproducible electrophoretic separation of...
Although patent expirations are set to increase the size of the
generic drug market, the impact of greater scrutiny from healthcare
policymakers means that generic manufacturers may make more drugs
but not necessarily more money.
In the face of generic competition, Abbott has asked Irish
biotechnology firm Elan to use its NanoCrystal technology to
develop an "all in one" oral dose formulation combining two
cholesterol drugs, AstraZeneca's Crestor...
A cancer biology discovery could lead to new diabetes treatments
after it was discovered that a mutation in a tumour suppressor gene
causes pancreatic islet cells to reproduce.
Isotechnika has received an additional US patent for its lead
immunosuppressive drug, which is the first patent to be issued in
this patent family in the US. The lead compound has demonstrated
encouraging results in recent Phase II...
SR Pharma has recruited Genzyme, BioSpring and OctoPlus to
formulate and manufacture its lead RNAi therapeutic product Atu027
to good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards, as its liposomal
drug delivry system moves forward.
Technology firm Symyx has acquired Autodose, a maker of precision
powder-dispensing equipment, as it seeks to develop the next
generation of high-throughput benchtop automation systems.
Inspection and certification group SGS has officially launched a
laboratory in Shanghai dedicated to quality control testing of
pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices, as China's
appetite for contract analytical...
Dynal has announced today the release of a new research tool in its
immunotherapy range that allow researchers to isolate and collect T
cells from immunocompromised patients for ex vivo stimulation and
expansion in a sterile environment.
The PiperJaffray conference gave biopharmaceutical company Speedel
ample opportunity to inform investors of its intentions for 2006
and beyond. The company have just released promising data on a new
first-in-class diabetic treatment.
PRA International has been busy implementing an advanced data
management system as part of a number of new internal measures
aimed at improving operating efficiency and cutting the costs of
clinical trials.
UK biopharma firm Adjuvantix has developed a new technology that it
claims can increase the effectiveness of vaccines as well as drugs
for cancer, inflammatory diseases and infectious diseases such as
tuberculosis and AIDS.
Genevac have developed a Fast Lyophilisation Process that aims to
provide the ultimate solution to the problems encountered by lab
technicians when handling HPLC solvents.
Tate and Lyle has announced the launch of Meritab - a new direct
compressible dextrose - that allows pharma tablet manufacturers to
stop using wet granulation processes, and so offers a cost
effective and simplified production process.
Covalent Group has won several new clinical trial contracts to the
tune of $2.1m (€1.7m) and said it expects the windfall to help it
return to profitability for the second quarter.
In an incident that state and federal environmental regulators are
treating as "serious," Merck released 25 gallons of a
cyanide-containing chemical from its West Point facility in
Pennsylvania to the sewer, killing hundreds...
GS1, the global not-profit organisation, that designs and
implements barcode standards, has announced a global adoption date
of 1 January 2010 for a new bar code with Reduced Space Symbology
(RSS), which can store more data in half...
Cambrex Bio Science has successfully completed its first monoclonal
antibody project in the company's new cell culture bioreactor, as
well as its first small-large molecule conjugation project.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced that the European
Commission has granted an approval for Baraclude (entecavir) for
the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
DanioLabs has announced the start of a Phase I proof-of-concept
trial of DL06001 and DL06002 for sialorrhoea (drooling) and
hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) in Parkinson's disease as the
company aim to meet the need for treating...
Tripos has introduced its answer to rapid in-silico drug screening
with its virtual screening software that uses a fully automatic
flexible molecular docking algorithm to offer speed, accuracy and
usability advantages over current...
The sale of Clariant's Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals (PFC) to
equity firm Towerbrook for around SFr110m (€70m) has been completed
and the unit, now called Archimica, is determined to dominate the
pharma raw materials market.
Chi-Med has been given the Food and Drug Administraton (FDA) green
light to broaden its oncology drug candidate clinical trials after
it exhibited encouraging results, which the company want to expand
into a much wider patient population...
