News

The President's Council on Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a group administered by the federal Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), issued recommendations to improve the country's ability to accelerate vaccine production and delivery in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak.

Genzyme (Cambridge, MA) confirmed that it had received sanofi-aventis's (Paris) proposal to acquire all of its outstanding shares for $69 each.

Despite the poor economic climate, large-scale mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry struck back with a vengeance in 2009.

An upcoming summit will assess the progress and gaps in realizing the UN Millennium Development Goals, including outcomes from global health initiatives.

A roundup of developments on corporate social responsibility from the bio/pharmaceutical industry, its suppliers, and other public and private organizations.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton details the progress and future direction of the US role in the Global Health Initiative.

Week of Aug. 23, 2010: Company and People Notes: Quark and Novartis Form Agreement; Hospira CEO Retires; And More.

The future of pharmaceutical R&D may lie in open-source research, with key data being made available to a number of people, including college students and university researchers, in an open and collaborative process.

US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released last week an examination of the federal government's system to produce medical countermeasures, or medications, vaccines, equipment, and supplies needed for a health emergency.

Regulatory Roundup: PDUFA Fees Published, And More.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Cephalon UK Ltd, and ProStraken Group plc have been accused of breaching the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's (ABPI) Code of Practice.

Two new reports describe the vaccine market's recent growth and predict future market expansions.

Members of a UK trade union working at AstraZeneca have voted to strike following cuts in pension benefits.

Recent figures published by the EMA relating to centralized procedure activities for human medicines appear to show a marked slow down in the number of generic product applications started and finalized this year to date (9 and 12, respectively).

The US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency (EMA) are looking for drug manufacturing companies to participate in their joint good manufacturing practice (GMP) inspection pilot program.

The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) welcomed the signing of HR 4380, the United States Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010, also known as the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) into law (Public Law 111-227) by President Barack Obama on Aug. 11, 2010.

Eli Lilly Ends Semagacestat Program; Selecta Appoints CEO; And More.

Commissioner Hamburg Says China is Improving Export Regulation

PharmTech's monthly newsletter, Equipment and Processing Report, reviews the Editor's Picks for the August 2010 edition from Lechler and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Changing or upgrading cleanroom gloves requires time and due consideration. A good decision could improve employee satisfaction and product yields, but a bad decision could necessitate millions of dollars worth of rework, recalls, and rejects if the gloves don?t perform as expected. Personnel should consider various criteria to choose the best glove for their cleanroom.

Making highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPIs) can be costly because the process often requires equipment specialized to achieve containment and extra attention to safety concerns. Pharmaceutical professionals may wonder whether disposable components, which have reduced the cost of some operations, might be appropriate in the manufacture of HPAPIs.

Novartis has been told off by the FDA in a letter about a social media Facebook widgit that appears on the company?s Tasigna website.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced a bill earlier this month, the Drug Safety and Accountability Act of 2010, which is designed to improve regulatory oversight of drug-manufacturing facilities and improve related quality standards and monitoring.

Merck & Co. (Whitehouse Station, NJ) has received letters from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking information about "activities in a number of countries" with reference to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

This week, the US Food and Drug Administration published on its website a summary of good manufacturing practices for the holding and distribution of drug products.

Penwest and Endo to Merge; Watson Makes Senior Appointments; And More.

In a draft guidance published this week, the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that makers of transdermal and transmucosal drug-delivery systems use "an appropriate scientific approach" during product design, development, and manufacturing to minimize the amount of residual drug substance present at the end of the products' labeled use periods.

FDA Approves Flu Vaccines; Caraco Names COO; And More.

Legislative efforts to modernize provisions in the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA), which involve chemical safety and reporting requirements is drawing criticism from the chemical industry.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a measure last week that would restrict the use of certain patent settlements by innovator-drug companies under which innovator-drug companies pay generic-drug companies to delay the entry of a generic product in so-called "pay-for-delay" cases.