Formulation and Drug Delivery

Novartis acquired a majority stake in Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio-Pharmaceutical, one of the largest privately held vaccine companies in China. The acquisition gives Novartis an expanded presence in the Chinese vaccine market and will facilitate the introduction of Novartis's vaccines into the country.

Japan has suspended the use of two pediatric vaccines made by Pfizer and sanofi following the deaths of four children in three days.

Although tablet manufacture is traditionally a batchbased wet granulation process, there are many advantages to be gained by adopting dry granulation, including lower costs and increased yields.

Pfizer Completes King Acquisition; ViiV Healthcare Names Chairman; and More.

With a regulatory pathway for follow-on biologics, industry is wondering what FDA will do next.

The author provides an overview of QbD implmentation for biopharmaceuticals.

INTERPHEX 2011 aims to address the industry's unique characteristics.

The authors outline the key decision points FDA must consider in putting forth a US regulatory pathway for biosimilars.

Many solid oral dosage forms do not dissolve at the correct place in the gastrointestinal tract for them to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Could magnets solve the problem?

Gilead to Acquire Calistoga; Bayer Healthcare Appoints Former Pfizer Exec; and More.

HHS Releases a New National Vaccine Plan

Company and People Notes: sanofi to Acquire Genzyme; Lilly Makes Senior Appointments; and More.

PharmTech's monthly newsletter, Equipment and Processing Report, reviews the Editor's Picks for the February 2011 edition from Alfa Laval and GE Healthcare.

The recent India–EU summit was expected to bring news about the upcoming Free Trade Agreement between the EU and India; however, a dispute regarding the supply of generic drugs from India to developing countries has taken centre stage.

The pharma industry is constantly seeking drug delivery technologies that can increase compliance, improve the quality of delivered care, reduce medication errors and reduce the possibility of admixture-related contamination.

Needle-free injection technologies have been developed for injecting liquid formulations, as well as injecting drugs and vaccines in a solid dosage form.

The application of the first piston syringes to treat medical complications was described in Roman times during the 1st century, and forms of intravenous injection and infusion began as early as 1670.

The way in which a suspension nasal spray product interacts with the body depends not only on the droplet size of the delivered droplet, but also on the particle size of the suspended API.

Pfizer Acquires Ferrosan's Consumer Health Business; Patheon Appoints Former Biogen Exec as CEO; and More.

Taking inspiration from nature, researchers have devised a way of giving drug-bearing polymer vesicles armored protection that could enhance drug delivery.

Company and People Notes: Pfizer Completes King Tender Offer; Cook Pharmica Names VP of R&D and CSO; and More

Deep process characterization and "lab-on-a-chip" enable SMART bioprocess design.

Follow-ons were all the rage at this year's JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Multiple materials are involved in the packaging of drug products in prefillable syringes.

Prefillable syringe systems are still one of the strongest growing segments in the pharmaceutical primary packaging market

An interview with Vetter's Oskar Gold about the trends and growth in prefilled syringes.

Novartis Acquires Genoptix; Lilly Exec Becomes Savient CEO; and More.

The original autoinjectors in the 1980s and 1990s were designed for military emergency applications and for the treatment of migraine and anaphylactic shock.

Merck Teams with Parexel; Roche CFO to Retire; and More

FDA issued a draft guidance for industry on Jan. 18, 2011, about the size of beads within drug products labeled for sprinkle.