BASF, the world's largest chemical company, and Seppic, an offshoot
of Air Liquide Healthcare, have embarked on a strategic cooperation
to jointly develop and market coating systems for film coating of
tablets in the drug industry.
Thermo Electron has launched a new rapid method for the analysis of
lyophilised (freeze-dried) materials using ts Nicolet Antaris
FT-NIR (Fourier transform near-infrared) analyser.
US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb has turned to Celltrion, a
company based in South Korea, for the manufacture of biologic
drugs, in another example of companies 'offshoring' production to
Asia, reports Phil Taylor.
Lexicon Genetics and Xoma have announced the formation of a
collaboration to jointly develop and commercialise antibody drugs
that could be effective in treating diet-induced obesity and
enhanced insulin sensitivity.
Israeli drug company Intec Pharma has published a results of a
clinical trial showing that its drug delivery platform can extend
the release of an active ingredient in the upper gastrointestinal
tract for more than six hours and double...
Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva has won its first European
approval for generic erythropoietin, a biologic drug used for the
treatment of low red blood cell counts, reports Phil Taylor.
Microcomponent manufacturer, thinXXS, has launched a novel
microfluidic device which combines microprocessing, micromolding
and circuit board technology to integrate more functions than other
lab-on-a-chip products on the market today.
Gilead Sciences has announced the initiation of phase I/II clinical
trial evaluating its latest HIV drug treatment that represents a
promising novel class of agents with the potential to inhibit HIV
replication, particularly for patients...
Lonza has started a SF 14 million (€9m) expansion of its biologics
manufacturing facility in Slough, UK, in response to what it said
was increasing demand for mammalian cell production for clinical
trials, reports Phil Taylor.
UK company ML Laboratories has won a new customer for its gene
expression technology - UCOE - used to improve the production of
proteins for drug discovery and use as therapeutics.
In-PharmaTechnologist.com presents a round-up of recent
appointments in the pharmaceutical development and manufacturing
arena, headed this week by senior appointments at world number one
drugmaker Pfizer.
The combined use of laboratory automation and laboratory
information management software (LIMS) has been shown to increase
productivity, reduce human error and improve tracking and
traceability in a microbiology lab in a recent case...
United Drug of Ireland has acquired TD Packaging, a UK-based
company which supplies the international pharmaceutical and
healthcare industries, in a deal valued at up to £11.4 million
(€17.1m), reports Phil Taylor.
A new algorithim, that enables a more accurate deduction of
oligonucleotide (oligo) melting temperatures under laboratory
conditions, could bring improvements in primers and probe design
for use in polymerase chain reaction (PCR)...
US biotechnology company Biogen Idec has said that it plans to sell
a California manufacturing plant built to produce its withdrawn
multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri (natalizumab) to Genentech,
reports Phil Taylor.
According to a new study, the microscopy sector is set to
capitalise on recent technological breakthroughs, with the
large-scale digitalisation and advances in image reconstruction and
restoration having a positive effect on the market.
Australian drug delivery company Acrux, which specialises in
administering medicines through the skin, has reported clinical
results of a contraceptive for women in the form of a spray,
reports Phil Taylor.
Indian pharmaceutical company Matrix Laboratories is aiming to buy
a 22 per cent controlling stake in Belgium's Docpharma in what is
the largest overseas acquisition yet in India's drug industry,
reports Phil Taylor.
New drug treatments and therapies for the management of bowel
cancer is a distinct possibility after researchers made a
surprising discovery about the immune system that details how the
body expels parasitic worms.
In the US, the National Institutes of Health has awarded $88.9
million in grants to nine institutions over three years to
establish a collaborative research network that will use high-tech
screening methods to identify small molecules...
A handful of Alzheimer’s drug treatments and lifestyle-based
interventions shared the spotlight at the first ever Alzheimer’s
Association Prevention conference, in which scientists worldwide
took the opportunity to showcase the latest...
Affymetrix has announced the launch of a scanner, which enables
analysis of microarrays that feature 500 per cent more data than
previous generations making it highly suitable for drug development
applications such as RNA expression...
Researchers have claimed that a fragment of the deadly yellow fever
virus may hold the key to a safer and more effective vaccine,
bringing hope to the 200,000 victims a year. Currently, no drug
treatment is effective against the virus.
Chiron has said it will be unable to meet its projections for flu
vaccine production this year, because it has been unable to get
production back up to speed at its manufacturing facility in
Liverpool, UK, as quickly as hoped. The...
IDBS introduces the E-Workbook, an electronic laboratory notebook,
which aims to provide a viable alternative in the way chemists,
biologists and pharmacologists record, share and report all
relevant experimental information.
AstraZeneca has been fined a hefty €60 million by the European
Commission for manipulating patent laws to keep competitors out of
the market, marking the first occasion that antirust laws have been
used to combat patent abuse.
Pfizer has struck a deal to buy Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, for $1.9
billion (€1.6 billion) in cash, in a move that places the drug
company further into the realms of anti-infective R&D - an area
thought to be falling out of favour...
UK pharmaceutical company ML Laboratories has acquired Quadrant
Technologies, a company specialising in drug formulation and
stabilisation, for £46.7 million (€70m), boosting its capabilities
in the development of inhaled medicines,...
Germany glassware company Gerresheimer has opened a cleanroom
production facility at its Polish subsidiary Polfa, aimed at the
production of pharmaceutical vials.
The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the
first-in-class antibiotic, Tygacil (tigecycline), is set to provide
doctors with an alternative treatment for skin and intra-abdominal
infections that have previously been...
The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development has started testing a
promising tuberculosis drug in humans. This development represents
the first novel compound of a new class to be introduced for the
treatment of TB in more than 40...
Delphi Medical Systems Corporation has entered into an outsourcing
contract with Applied Biosystems in a move that adds a life science
instrumentation manufacturing facility to its operations portfolio.
The Supreme Court's decision to allow drug companies to receive
exemptions from patent infringement during key early-stage research
carries wider significance throughout the industry as it reduces
licence negotiation for patented...
Niro Phama Systems and Courtoy have developed a new module for
their range of tablet presses that solves a control dilemma that
has faced the pharmaceutical industry ever since automated tablet
presses came into use.
Solutia has drawn up an agreement with former parent Monsanto that
could finally bring it out of the state of bankruptcy
reorganisation it has resided in since the end of 2003, reports
Phil Taylor.
UK-headquartered Invensys has divested its stake in the Israeli
joint venture Foxboro NMR, which focuses the application of nuclear
magnetic resonance imaging technology in the process industries.
Scientists have created the nanotechnology equivalent of a Trojan
horse to smuggle a powerful chemotherapeutic drug inside tumour
cells - increasing the drug's cancer-killing activity and reducing
its toxic side effects.
Kreatech Biotechnology launches a series of array-based labelling
kits for genomic DNA for microarray based comparative genomic
hybridisation analysis, offering a one-step procedure that does not
require the need for amplification.
India's Malladi Drugs and Pharmaceuticals has acquired a US company
to boost its presence in the market for pseudoephedrine, an
ingredient used in cough and cold preparations, reports Phil
Taylor.
Teranode Corporation has launched new screening automation software
that claims to be the first ever solution to transform assay design
into assay automation - a tool that is to feature heavily for
screening laboratories with changing...
Australia's Nufarm has sold SEAC, the fine chemicals custom
manufacturing business it acquired in 1988, to recently-formed
Minakem Holdings for €23 million.
A new laboratory technique that displays a more effective way of
testing which mutations cause cancer and which are research
distractions has been discovered by scientists, who are hopeful
this application could become a standard...
A technique that boosts the laboratory production of human
papillomavirus by 1,000 times compared to existing methods could
accelerate research into new treatments for HPV infection, which
causes genital warts and cervical cancer,...
Johnson & Johnson has been forced to recall a series of
over-the-counter products for children, based on its Tylenol
(acetaminophen) brand, because their labelling is confusing and
could lead to overdosing, reports Phil Taylor.
An inhaled formulation of insulin developed by MannKind has been
shown to mimic the normal insulin response after a meal and reduce
glucose levels sooner than conventional insulin injections,
reports Phil Taylor.
BASF, the world's largest chemical company, said on Friday it plans
to buy Orgamol SA of Switzerland as part of an expansion of its
BASF Pharma Solutions unit, reports Phil Taylor.
A US company has revealed a unique method in drug development that
uses transgenic tobacco plants to cultivate the human protein
CaroRx, which could prevent tooth decay in the future.
The European commission came under heavy criticism after rheumatism
was not recognised as a major disease group in its research and
biomedical programme - an outrage, according to The European League
against Rheumatism (EULAR).
