Oxford Biomedica and Viragen have announced a breakthrough in
transgenic research in which scientists have successfully achieved
expression of significant quantities of a human protein in hens
that is a key component of the human...
Silicones are fuelling innovations in topical drug excipients, due
to their unique set of physicochemical properties that improve
active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) delivery and ease of product
application.
Hopax Fine Chemicals is building a new facility in Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, in a move to raise current production capacity by five
folds and become one of the top providers for biological buffers
and specialty chemicals for the pharmaceutical...
BASF launched its new dry binder excipient at CPhI, aimed at
increasing the hardness of pharmaceutical tablets and reducing the
manufacturing costs associated with damaged and broken tablets.
Degussa have discovered a catalyst that improves the efficiency of
reductive carbonylation reactions and will provide greater access
to new active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Solvias debuted its new 80-member ligand kit at CPhI 2005, offering
manufacturers increased flexibility in active pharmaceutical
ingredient (API) development and manufacturing.
Degussa used CPhI in Madrid to preview its new flow distributor,
which reduces the time it takes manufacturers to remove unwanted
transition metals from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), by
eliminating the filtration step.
Last month, In-PharmaTechnologist.com reported on
Cargill-Cerestar's plans to unveil a new excipient at CPhI which is
developed on the back of a directly compressible excipient platform
allowing tablets to be produced using lower...
Ferro introduced its new high-purity, low-endotoxin sucrose,
maltose and trehalose sugars at the recent CPhI in Madrid, designed
to improve product quality and broaden the market for injectable
protein-based APIs.
The chemicals industry could be revolutionalised by a new class of
environmentally friendly chemicals with the potential to replace
the use of hazardous, petroleum-based solvents in laboratories and
industrial plants.
Innovation in targeted areas like nutrition should add sales worth
€1 billion in five years time, said vitamin and specialty chemicals
maker DSM today.
FMC BioPolymer said today that effective 15 October, it will
increase prices for its pharmaceutical and food brand products by 5
to 10 per cent on average, blaming increases in its own costs.
Codexis has achieved a second technical milestone, earlier than
expected, in a collaboration with Pfizer aimed at developing new
biocatalysts for the manufacture of the number one drugmaker's
products.
A healthcare facility the US has been cleared by the Food and Drug
Administration to manufacture high-strength fludeoxyglucose F 18, a
drug used for diagnostic imaging with positron emission tomography
(PET).
Sun Pharma of India has provided additional details of its plans
for its new facility in Hungary, purchased in August and intended
as a springboard to launch the company's ambitions in Europe and
around the world, and its recently-acquired...
Avecia spin-out Reaxa has launched a new peptide coupling
technology based on 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (2-MBT), which it
claims offers major operational and cost benefits in both small and
large scale solid-phase peptide synthesis.
German chemical company BASF has completed its acquisition of
Orgamol, a transaction designed to boost its service offering to
the pharmaceutical sector.
Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva has signed a new three-year
agreement with Pfizer for the bulk supply of azithromycin, the
active ingredient in the antibacterial drug Zithromax.
UK microencapsulation specialist Micap has seen the departure of
both chief executive Michael Brennand and non-executive chairman
Ian Gowrie Smith in a bid to cut the executive payroll.
KemFine, the fine chemicals business created via a management
buyout from chemicals group Kemira last year, has acquired Avecia
Fine Chemicals' business based in Grangemouth, Scotland.
DelSite Biotechnologies has filed a Drug Master File (DMF) with the
US Food and Drug Administration for an excipient used for drug
delivery - called GelSite - used to formulate vaccines, proteins
and peptide drugs that are delivered...
Switzerland's Lonza has boosted its ability to make active
pharmaceutical ingredients (API) at its Visp site in response to
what it said was 'ever increasing hygienic and regulatory
requirements'.
Excipients, often overlooked by pharmaceutical companies with their
attention firmly focused on active pharmaceutical ingredients, are
benefiting from an increasing awareness of their potential to cut
the costs of drug development.
Researchers have developed a way of recovering catalysts used in
the manufacture of pharmaceuticals using simple magnets,
potentially doing away with the need for complex separation and
purification steps.
Pharmaceutical outsourcing firm Quintiles Transnational Corp is
selling three of its business units, covering preclinical services,
pharmaceutical sciences and clinical trial supplies, to newly
formed company Aptuit.
CyDex has won the first regulatory approval in Japan for a
pharmaceutical product using its Captisol drug delivery technology
designed to improve the delivery of insoluble and unstable active
pharmaceutical ingredients.
German specialty chemicals group, H&R Wasag, increased its
sales and earnings in the first half of the year, helped by its
in-house refinery operations that allow it to anticipate and react
early to changing oil prices.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has become the second Indian
drugmaker in a matter of days to announce the purchase of a
manufacturing facility in Eastern Europe that will serve as a
springboard for expansion into the broader European...
A chemically produced folate, said to be several times more
bioavailable than folic acid and recently approved for food use in
Europe, gives premium supplement makers a chance to differentiate
from the commonly marketed form of the...
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries continued its bid for world
domination in the generic pharmaceuticals sector yesterday with a
$7.4 billion cash and stock bid for US company Ivax, reports
Phil Taylor.
Dutch pharmaceuticals and chemicals giant Akzo Nobel reported
second-quarter sales of €3.34 billion, up 6 per cent from the
comparable period in 2004, thanks to price increases that overcame
flat volumes.
Invitrogen has opened a bioproduction facility in Australia to make
bovine sera products and reagents used in basic research and the
production of vaccines and biotherapeutic drugs.
Reports from a fresh Italian study alleging aspartame could pose a
cancer risk are not in harmony with the extensive research that
exist on aspartame, say suppliers of this popular sweetener.
The rapporteur trying to finesse the controversial REACH
legislation through the European Parliament, Guido Sacconi, has
formulated a compromise that aims to alleviate fears that the
regulations could pose a heavy financial burden...
American Pacific Corp has agreed to acquire the assets of Aerojet
Fine Chemicals for $119 million (€98m), in a deal which APC said
would give it access to 'fast-growing pharmaceutical markets'.
Scientists at Chr Hansen's US research operations have developed a
gum acacia-based film coating, suitable for use in pharmaceuticals,
that combines low cost, long shelf life and low shipping costs.
French public prosecutors have expanded their criminal
investigations into alleged accounting irregularities by specialty
chemicals maker Rhodia, with a raid on the country's Ministry of
Finance.
Another week, another Indian acquisition of a European or US
pharmaceutical company. In the latest case, Torrent Pharmaceuticals
has agreed to acquire Heumann Pharma Generics of Germany through
its wholly owned German affiliate, Torrent...
Shares in German generic drugmaker Stada rose last Friday after
rumours resurfaced that Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries was gearing up to launch a €2 billion bid for the
company.
In the US, the New York Senate last week passed that would prohibit
the administration of any vaccine containing more than a trace
amount of mercury to children under the age of three or pregnant
women.
Reaxa, a new catalyst technologies company, has formally commenced
trading following a successful spin-out from UK-headquartered
chemicals company Avecia, reports Phil Taylor.
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.
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.
Australia's Nufarm has sold SEAC, the fine chemicals custom
manufacturing business it acquired in 1988, to recently-formed
Minakem Holdings for €23 million.
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.
Taiwanese company Panion & BF Biotech has been awarded a US
patent on high-grade ferric citrate that could be used as an active
pharmaceutical ingredient for the treatment of iron deficiency
diseases, renal failure and elevated...
Chinese vitamin C manufacturers are preparing their defence to an
anti-trust case filed by two American firms that allege
price-fixing and control of the market since 2001, writes
Dominique Patton.
One of the biggest challenges in catalysed chemical reactions is to
remove and recycle the catalyst once the process is complete. A new
approach, using Teflon, could make recovery simpler and cut down on
the use of solvents, writes...
