A fall in demand from the pharmaceuticals industry has caused a
significant hole in 2003 profits for German chemicals group
Degussa, which implemented heavy restructuring to reduce production
capacity in its fine chemicals unit.
BioProgress of the UK, which makes cellulose based films for
coating tablets and capsules, is planning to buy a company which
would provide a rapid route to increase production capacity in the
US, and also accelerate the development...
The Chinese pharmaceutical industry is still showing above average
growth, but the country's entry into the World Trade Organisation
means that tough times are ahead for manufacturers of active
pharmaceutical ingredients - which...
Microencapsulation specialist Micap has made its first foray into
the pharmaceutical sector after clinching a licensing deal with UK
drug delivery specialist SkyePharma.
Chemicals company Sigma-Aldrich is to build an $8 million (€6.5m)
laboratory-scale production facility for pharmaceuticals in
Hyderabad, India, that will act as a feeder site for its plants
elsewhere.
Diversa has entered into a deal aimed at boosting its manufacturing
capacity in enzymes used for industrial processes, including the
production of pharmaceuticals. The agreement with Mexico's Fermic
is designed to step up the...
Lonza has signed two new agreements for the supply of monoclonal
antibody-based drugs that provide an early fillip for its contract
manufacturing business, which was adversely affected by
overcapacity in 2003.
Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has reported strong
increases in sales across its branded, generic and active
pharmaceutical ingredient (API) operations in the fourth quarter of
2003, as net income rose by more than a...
Troubled chemicals company Rhodia has pressed ahead with plans to
sell off its food ingredients portfolio, allowing it to focus on
its core chemicals and pharmaceuticals businesses.
Eastman Chemical has extended its agreement with Johnson Matthey
subsidiary Alfa Aesar in a move that will for the first time make
its proprietary BoPhoz catalyst ligands available in research
quantities.
Germany's KGaA has announced plans to sell off its laboratory
distribution business VWR International and operate as a smaller,
higher-margin business focused on pharmaceuticals, chemicals and
liquid crystals.
Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug Administration suspended
the approval of a generic version of Pfizer's high blood pressure
drug Norvasc (amlodipine besylate) developed by India's Dr Reddy's
Laboratories. The...
BASF has claimed a first with the launch of a new pellet form of
triphenylphosphine (TPP), used in the production of active
pharmaceutical ingredients, that minimises dust and improves
handling and processing.
DSM of the Netherlands saw its operating profit slump 23 per cent
to €294 million last year, hit by higher raw material costs and
declining sales of its life sciences products.
The widely used vaccine adjuvant alum is not associated with an
increased risk of adverse events, despite fears to the contrary,
according to a new analysis. The study should allay patient fears
and help maintain immunisation rates...
Shares in Cobra Biomanufacturing of the UK fell 30 per cent
yesterday after the contract manufacturer of proteins, DNA and
viruses gave a warning on profits.
UK-based Avecia, Europe's largest privately owned chemicals
company, has teamed up with Germany's IEP to develop new synthetic
routes for pharmaceutical intermediates using biocatalysis.
Israel-based Biodar, a subsidiary of food ingredient company
Lycored, has announced its acquisition of Karma Pharm in a
transaction that boosts its activities in pharmaceuticals.
It is no secret that India is becoming a major force in the world
market for active pharmaceutical ingredients, but recent
developments suggest that companies in the country may be gearing
up to play a similar role in inactive ingredients.
Solvay has doubled the output of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at its
Solvay Interox industrial pilot plant in Povoa, Portugal, using a
new high-yield process.
Novartis' generic drugs subsidiary Sandoz has opened two new
manufacturing plants in Austria and Slovenia that mark its entry
into the contract manufacture of biopharmaceuticals using mammalian
cell culture.
Pharmaceutical, chemical and coatings company Akzo Nobel reported a
9 per cent slide in net income in 2003 but said the result was
better than expected given the difficult operating environment last
year.
The widely used food ingredient inulin could be a more effective
alternative to established excipients in stabilising protein-based
medicines and improving their shelf life, according to researchers
at the University of Groningen...
Manufacturers of pharmaceutical excipients that are imported into
the US must step up their compliance with new legislation or risk
having shipments turned back at the border.
Aventis could hang on to its 15 per cent stake in chemicals company
Rhodia under the terms of a new agreement with the European
Commission. The company will instead sell off its 49 per cent stake
in Wacker Chemie over the next several...
Switzerland's Lonza has negotiated exclusive rights to an
expression system, used in the manufacture of therapeutic proteins,
that could be used to shorten the development time for its
customers' biologic products.
Spanish manufacturer of choline salts Algry Quimica has signed
several new research agreements to develop active ingredients for
pharma and food applications.
UK chemical sector growth, including pharmaceuticals, is forecast
at 3.6 per cent for 2004, outperforming the 2.3 per cent growth
estimated for Europe as a whole, according to a study presented at
the Chemical Industry Association's...
Danish company Chr Hansen saw its revenues slip 4 per cent in its
first quarter, as the impact of the economic downturn and tough
dollar exchange rate was felt across its business units.
Active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer Tetrionics is
planning to double the capacity at a facility in the US to hike its
ability to make highly potent compounds.
Monsanto and Pfizer's Pharmacia subsidiary have asked a federal
judge to either deny or postpone a request by Solutia to eliminate
liabilities to its former parent Monsanto.
Germany's Wacker Specialties has signed an R&D agreement with
Finland's Prokaria to bolster its activities in chiral alcohols,
used as chemical building blocks by the pharmaceutical industry.
Switzerland's Bachem saw its 2003 sales slip by 3 per cent as
continued slack demand for research chemicals held back a modest
increase in its active pharmaceutical ingredients business.
Last year, pharmaceutical companies from India submitted a third of
all the Drug Master Files for active pharma ingredients (APIs)
received in the US, outstripping their international rivals by a
wide margin.
German contract ingredient manufacturer Girindus posted its first
profit since it was floated on the stock exchange in 2000 in the
last quarter of 2003, as sales rose 16 per cent to €32 million.
Dowpharma has developed new strains of the bacterium Pseudomonas
fluorescens that can be used to improve the yield of
recombinant proteins made in fermentation vats.
Large Scale Biology Corp has solved the problem of supplying large
quantities of aprotinin - widely used in the manufacture of
biologic drugs - by developing a recombinant form that is made in
tobacco plants.
Bayer Fine Chemicals has developed a new way to make chiral
epoxides that could shorten reaction times and reduce the amount of
expensive catalysts used in the process.
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.
A lactose product developed by DMV International of the
Netherlands, Pharmatose DCL14, has properties that give it
performance advantages over rival excipients used as
filler/binders, according to the company.
Franco-German drugmaker Aventis has confirmed that it is seeking to
delay the divestment of its stake in the loss-making chemicals
major Rhodia, on the grounds that this willwreak havoc on the
latter's restructuring drive.
Bayer Chemicals became a separate legal entity from the rest of the
Bayer group just over one month ago, having operated as a virtual
company since the middle of 2002. The company gave its first press
conference at the CPhI meeting...
After a difficult period which has seen the departure of its chief
executive and first-half loss of €150 million, Rhodia took the
opportunity presented by the CphI meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, to
reassert its commitment to the pharmaceutical...
US life science chemicals company Cambrex has altered the terms of
its agreement to sell Rutherford Chemicals and will make a slightly
higher loss on the new transaction.
