With the price of crude oil going up almost every day it is no
surprise that this has a knock-on effect to the price of raw
materials for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. But DSM
and Roquette have developed a process that...
Separations expert Millipore is collaborating with Rohm and Haas
Company to develop new high-performance chromatography products for
use in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
Sigma-Aldrich has continued its push into the RNAi field with the
launch of its new mirPremier miRNA (microRNA) isolation kit that
promises to speed up miRNA preparation while removing all large,
unwanted RNA.
LabTechnologist.com brings you its periodic round up of product
news, with announcements from Air Science, Beckman Coulter,
Bio-Rad, Biohit, Carl Zeiss SMT, Proxeon, Shimadzu and Thermo
Fisher Scientific.
Normally, they are green, sort of spongy and found in dank nooks
and crannies - but mosses have now been designed as therapeutic
protein producing factories and are being implemented on a grand
scale.
Two new techniques have been developed that could signal the end of
PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification for sequencing
applications and dramatically increase the efficiency of sample
preparation.
There have been a few changes in the top ten employers according to
leading journal Science's annual survey of the best
companies to work for in the biotech, biopharma, pharmaceutical and
related industries.
Netherlands-based DSM has invested an undisclosed sum in Danish
purification technology company Upfront Chromatography to boost its
protein separation business.
SolVin is to expand its polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) latex
manufacturing site in Tavaux, France, in a bid to meet growing
demand for the packaging material.
ZS Genetics has signed up outside academic assistance to speed
up development of its 'revolutionary' microscopy-based genetic
analysis technology platform.
Industrial microbiology expert bioMerieux has acquired Australian
firm BTF, strengthening its quality control (QC) and manufacturing
quality assurance (QA) offerings to the pharmaceutical industry.
J&J has expressed its concern over patient safety as Novartis'
subsidiary Sandoz has received the green light from the European
Commission to launch the first epoetin alfa biosimilar on the EU
market.
US researchers have shown certain organic solvents can be used to
selectively extract therapeutic proteins from host bacteria,
avoiding the need for cell lysis and increasing product purity by a
factor of five.
US-based Pall Corporation has launched a new depth filter which is
disposable and can be scalable from personalized medicine
applications to large scale commercial use.
Baxter Healthcare remains in murky waters in regard to its infusion
pumps after announcing yesterday it would be recalling an
additional 986 of its Colleague brand pumps.
Panacos, a US based pharma firm, has outlined its work to identify
three new series of compounds that inhibit HIV fusion at a
different site to the only approved fusion inhibitor, Roche's
Fuzeon (enfuvirtide).
The first study comparing traditional and optical sensors in cell
culture has been published and the authors are heralding it as a
potential paradigm shift in the realm of bioprocessing.
A new study by Deloitte Consulting has been developed to help
manufacturers assess the impact that the drive towards
sustainability could have on their business and operations.
Procter & Gamble (P&G) has announced its intention to
outsource the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) R&D and
manufacturing work undertaken at one of its US factories, with
resultant closure of the site and job losses.
A long-awaited and in some cases, long-feared, regulatory pathway
for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of follow-on
biologics is now closer to fruition.
A European regulatory committee has recommended the approval of
three generic versions of Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) anaemia
blockbuster Eprex in what could lead to the market launch of new
"biosimilars" by the...
Roche has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to an
early-phase rheumatoid arthritis drug, a move that is indicative of
big pharma's increasing tendency to license earlier phase
compounds.
At a time when single-use manufacturing equipment is riding on a
surge of popularity, in-PharmaTechnologist.com talks to Vijay Singh
of GE Healthcare's newly acquired Wave Biotech unit about the
impact disposables will have on...
Teva Pharmaceuticals has licensed some protein kinase B technology,
including preclinical drug candidates, adding to the buzz around
this up-and-coming cancer target.
BioFocus DPI has released a new informatics system that can combine
chemical and biological data from various sources to optimise
protein kinase inhibitor candidate selection.
This year's American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
conference is over and as 45,000 scientists head home,
DrugResearcher.com looks at some of the most innovative drugs that
were on show.
The apparent inability of current analytical techniques to fully
characterise complex biological drugs still stands in the way of
easy approval pathways for 'biogenerics' or copies of off-patent
brand name biologics.
Sartorius has signed a non-exclusive licensing deal with Dutch
biotech firms Crucell and DSM for the use of their PER C6 cell
culture technology which could result in the creation of a new
bioprocessing platform combined with disposable...
Just weeks after announcing intentions to snap up biologics firm
MedImmune, AstraZeneca has acquired DSM's old biologics
manufacturing facility in Montreal, Canada, a site that's been
gathering dust since it was mothballed...
UK biotech firm Acambis has decided to bring the manufacturing of
its soon to be approved smallpox vaccine in-house while its
agreement with contract manufacturer Baxter comes to an end.
Thermo Fisher Scientific and Sartorius have signed a supply
agreement continuing the relationship between Sartorius and
Thermo's recently acquired TC Tech.
The critical role transgenic animals could play in the future of
biopharmaceutical production has been tackled by a task force in a
new report out this week.
The BIO International Convention in Boston officially began
yesterday amid relative peace after concerns over possible large
and violent protests failed to materialise.
Technology and services provider Althea Technologies has stepped
closer to a significant increase in manufacturing capacity as it
announces the completion of the first phase of construction at its
new San Diego facility.
Biologic drugs are expected to account for over a quarter of
overall drug spending in the US by 2010, new research has revealed,
and clearing the path for generic versions of these drugs could be
a solution to controlling rising national...
Swiss contract manufacturer Lonza has announced it will invest
around $300m (€220m) in the expansion of its US biomanufacturing
plant, just two weeks after kicking off the construction of a
similar facility in Singapore.
A new method to identify the extent of contamination of our
waterways by pharmaceutical products has identified three products
previously unknown to accumulate in fish.
A new device has been developed that will further our understanding
of cell migration responses - an important factor in tumour
metastasis, immune reactions and the development of the nervous
system.
