A new report has been released this week calling for reforms in
first-in-man clinical trials in the wake of the TGN1412 drug trial
disaster in London last year.
US services provider Frontier Biosciences has announced that it has
bought a majority stake in a China-based preclinical contract
research organisation (CRO).
A highly-acquisitive and research-intensive year has left drug
discovery services provider Galapagos further in the red at the end
of its 2006 financial year, although sales soared.
India's budget finance minister has today announced a tax exemption
on all services carried out by its contract research and clinical
trials industry – a saving of 12.24 per cent.
Preclinical and early-phase drug discovery will be the next service
area to take off in India, Dr. Reddy's CEO GV Prasa predicted at a
conference yesterday.
The massive R&D reshuffle Roche announced last week in its
pharmaceutical business will have no impact on any of the company's
outsourcing activities, a company spokesperson said.
A new start up company in the UK has been formed with ambitions to
shape itself into a global early-phase drug development services
group through an acquisition-based strategy.
In this week's review of activity within the preclinical research
services arena, new deals have emerged involving Immunicon,
Novartis, Southern Research Institute and Absorption Systems.
Bridge Pharmaceuticals has just launched a new training scheme
between its facilities in the US and China to enable its employees
to cross train in both labs - a potential competitive advantage for
a contract research organisation...
Pfizer's latest cutbacks will provide a new outsourcing opportunity
for contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) in low-cost
destinations as the drug giant announces plans to double its amount
of drug production outsourcing.
UK biotech company Verona Pharma has contracted fellow UK firm Onyx
to manufacture supplies of its new hay fever drug candidate for
forthcoming preclinical and clinical studies.
Charles River Laboratories confirmed it is persevering in its
intention to focus on its preclinical and Phase I businesses while
abandoning its late stage development services, during a conference
earlier this month.
Covance was nothing but optimistic about the future of contract
research organisations (CROs) during a JPMorgan healthcare
conference held last week, despite a slowdown in R&D spending
over the past year.
Singapore is planning to double the number of clinical trials it
runs over the next five year, particularly in early phase research,
as it looks to hold its ground amidst industry explosion in the
Asia Pacific.
The booming pharmaceutical contract research market sees a new
player enter the arena as analytical lab Eno River Labs separates
into two independent divisions to create a new business that will
provide analytical and formulation...
Caliper Life Sciences is making the most of its recent acquisitions
by launching a new drug discovery and development services business
- created from the integration of two companies it recently bought
- in a bid to offer a "in...
LAB Research has completed a $12m facility expansion in Canada that
will increase its preclinical testing services capacity at the site
by 40 per cent.
In the next one to two years there will be a trend towards
significant reductions in clinical outsourcing/contract research
organisation (CRO) budgets in the majority of biopharma firms,
reveals a recent industry survey.
Intertek has broadened its portfolio to offer outsourced analysis of biologics as well as small molecules by purchasing Alta Laboratories, for $25m (€18.8m).
AAIPharma has announced it has signed a contract manufacturing
agreement with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Outsourcing which aims
to provide a "one-stop drug development solution" for drug makers.
Evotec AG has sold its cell analysis instrument division, Evotech
Technologies, to PerkinElmer to allow it to focus more keenly on
its drug discovery pipeline and drug discovery services divisions.
Tripos has announced the sale of its Discovery Informatics
Business, as an initial step towards liquidation, in light of the
current trend to low-cost Asian outsourcing.
Covance has invested in mass spectrometer technology that it hopes
will give it the edge over other contract research organisations
(CROs) in the safety testing of new drug candidates.
US-based drug maker Merck, has agreed to outsource some of its
preclinical trial work to an Indian-based company, marking the
first time the pharma giant has used an Indian company to conduct
drug research.
Animal welfare group, PETA has reportedly targeted Pfizer, accusing
them of also trying to avoid US animal welfare laws by exporting
its animal testing to countries with no or poor animal welfare
standards.
Merck and Chi-Med have announced the start of their collaboration,
which aims to discover novel small molecule anti-cancer drugs
derived from natural products that modulate oncological pathways.
Accelrys are to expand its Discovery Studio software environment
with new and enhanced life science modelling and simulation
functionality, which is set to deliver a broader range of tools for
drug discovery in one environment.
The US government to pass new measures that make prosecuting
animal-rights activists who target enterprises much easier. The
move has lead critics to warn that peaceful demonstrators would be
labelled as terrorists.
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, has been asked to justify its
decision to outsource its animal testing to countries with no or
poor animal welfare standards, which go against Lilly's commitment
to reducing, refining, and replacing...
Asterand is to make available novel research materials to be used
in the investigation of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis,
cancer and other diseases making available a range of cell material
that is currently difficult to obtain.
Ground Zero Pharmaceuticals (GZP) has announced an expansion to the
services it offers enabling the expansion into more of its clients'
late-stage development programs, with the potential for creating
submissions that lead to...
Curalogic, a Danish biotechnology company, has appointed SAFC's
Pharma business segment to provide protein isolation, extraction
and purification services as part of its product development to
treat Allergic Rhinitis.
Charles River Laboratories has been awarded a $111.6m (€89m),
10-year contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), doubling
the size of the company's current contract with NCI.
For pharma companies that are hesitant about outsourcing during the
drug discovery stage, a world of opportunity awaits.
OutsourcingPharma.com gives a brief run down of what kinds of
services are on offer, as well as a few potential...
Covance has announced it has licensed the use of a technique that
is the only known in-vitro method to predict
in-vivo liver disposition allowing users to identify and
select better drug candidates.
Millipore has now made available its GPCRProfiler screening service
that allows more accurate characterisation of lead compounds
enabling pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to accelerate
their lead optimisation efforts.
Clinical research organisations (CROs) should be enlisted to run
Phase I oncology drug trials in order to improve efficiencies,
delegates heard at Pabord 2006 in London.
Targeting the market for drug metabolite identification and
biomarker discovery, Tandem Labs has acquired PharmaKD, a
Massachussets-based division of Linden Technologies.
The use of internal standards (IS) is essential for developing and applying liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) quantitative bioanalytical...
Global regulatory standards govern bioanalytical method development, validation and the subsequent assays. When those standards are updated, industry stakeholders...
Understanding pharmacokinetic behaviors ahead of later-stage development means making informed decisions earlier. This enhanced capability helps your drug...
