News

Company and People Notes: sanofi aventis forms pact with Micromet; Laureate Pharma adds members to its business team.

Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years to increase research and development activities in China, including a significant expansion of The Novartis Institute of BioMedical Research (CNIBR) in Shanghai.

Last week, the steering committee and expert working groups of the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) met in St. Louis, Missouri. A major success of the meeting was the adoption of several annexes to ICH Q4B on pharmacopeial texts.

The author explores differences between two qualification documents, the draft guidance from FDA "Process Validation: General Principles and Practice" and the ASTM E2500-7 standard "Guide for Specification, Design, and Verification of Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Systems and Equipment."

A recent book reminds readers that small-molecule chemistry has enabled advances in biotechnology.

Cargill has recently announced a number of innovations connected to its range of polyol excipients.

An inhaler mouthpiece that optimizes drug delivery to the lungs and reduces the amount of wasted medication has been developed by US researchers.

A complaint submitted to the Federal Trade Commission has referred to Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth as "potentially monopolistic" and has urged the Commission to see that "the proposed merger is not in the public interest and is in conflict with a wide range of President Obama's objectives".

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved H.R. 2868, the "Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009," a measure to modify and codify existing requirements of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program.

Also, FDA's DDMAC issues Warning Letter to King Pharmaceuticals; draft guidance released for SPL standards for content of labeling.

The US Food and Drug Administration needs to enhance its oversight of drugs approved on the basis of surrogate endpoints, according to a September report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that was released this week.

Also, Astellas and Medivation sign development pact; WuXi PharmaTech appoints VP of business development, more...

The US Food and Drug Administration is using prescription data from Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions to track the treatment of influenza A (H1N1) and other influenza viruses, according to a statement that the company released last week.

The global API market has expanded from $69 billion in 2004 to more than $90 billion in 2008, according to a report from the Italian Chemical Pharmaceutical Association (CPA); in particular, the report noted a rapid growth rate for generic APIs.

Cheaper generic pharmaceuticals, emboldened by US law and patent challenges, restrict novel future innovations.

US-based CRO, Health Decisions, hopes to raise the efficacy standards for complex studies and help companies get products to market faster by establishing an international network of CROs.

The US Food and Drug Administration issued a guidance for industry and review staff titled, Labeling for Human Prescription Drug and Biological Products-Determining Established Pharmacologic Class for Use in the Highlights of Prescribing Information.

Company and People Notes: SurModics forms agreement with Roche and Genentech; Hospira names Daphne Jones senior VP and chief information officer; more...

Following the completion of its $68-billion acquisition of Wyeth (Madison, NJ), Pfizer (New York) began joint operations of the combined company last week.

The European Fine Chemicals Group (EFCG) gave an update of some of its activities at a press conference held at CPhI Worldwide (Spain) last week, and revealed some disturbing facts regarding counterfeit APIs, which the group is particularly concerned about.

The two agencies issued a joint Warning Letter to the owners of a website selling unapproved products intended to treat the swine flu virus.

The manufacturing process, which influences a drug's safety and efficacy, is particularly critical for drugs administered through injection, and personnel must closely supervise lyophilization to ensure product quality.

PharmTech's monthly newsletter, Equipment & Processing Report, reviews the Editor's Picks for the October 2009 edition from Emerson and Minitab.

Economic pressures are forcing pharmaceutical manufacturers to look for ways to become more competitive. Many companies realize that they must reduce operating costs but maintain or improve product quality.

ISP Pharmaceuticals is embarking on a Drug Solubility Initiative to support pharma companies working with poorly soluble drug actives.

SAFC Pharma has completed a $12-million expansion to its contract manufacturing facility in Carlsbad (CA, USA), which will expand the company's services for its later phase and commercial clients.

For the first time, cancer treatments accounted for 5% of overall drug spending in the first half of 2009, said Medco Health Solutions in a press release last week.

Company and People Notes: Bayer Schering Pharma forms collaboration with Compugen; Takeda San Francisco appoints VP of process science; more...

IMS Health delivered some good news last week with its updated pharmaceutical market forecast.

Also, USAID and USP launch counterfeiting public service campaign in Cambodia.