Ingredients

Taking a cue from its electronics industry, Taiwan is seeking to put its biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries on the map. An interactive map shows pharmaceutical activity in Taiwan.

Manufacturers of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies consider new paradigms in purification technologies.

The organizations' presidents discuss market exclusivity, approval processes, and pending legislation.

Technology can solve enterprise-level problems.

Orally disintegrating tablets offer numerous advantages compared with traditional tablets and capsules, and can be an effective solution for developing line extensions of currently marketed therapies.

Also, Roche's Avastin trial does not meet endpoint; Innate Pharma names regulatory VP; more...

Also: Sanofi-aventis acquires BiPar Sciences; FDA issues Warning Letter to Chinese heparin manufacturer; Halo Pharmaceutical appoints chief scientific officer; more...

The United States Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Federal Service on Surveillance in Healthcare and Social Development of the Russian Federation (Roszdravnadzor) last week in Moscow.

Also, Sanofi-aventis acquires Medley and Laboratorios Kendrick; Eli Lilly's Cook to retire from board; more...

Also, Genzyme and Bayer HealthCare form agreement; FDA releases draft guidances; TransMolecular appointed Robert Radie president and CEO

The financial crisis is adding further injury to already weakened prospects for the pharmaceutical industry.

Follow-on biologics or biosimilars offer a niche growth market for the pharmaceutical industry. As the process for establishing a regulatory pathway for biosimilars is debated, companies, including Big Pharma, are positioning themselves to gain this piece of the pharmaceutical pie.

The US Senate introduced a bipartisan bill (S. 726) on Mar. 26, 2009, which establishes a regulatory pathway for approval of biosimilars.

Also, SOCMA changes name; two FDA approvals; Biogen Idec names chief operating officer; more...

Obama's cost-containment and science-innovation initiatives need to overlap.

A review of recent product innovations, policy developments, and growth prospects in the excipients market.

The financial and economic downturn is likey to have long-term implications for outsourcing.

The authors demonstrate how melt-extrusion and spray-drying methods can help to prepare solid dispersions of poorly soluble drugs using Eudragit polymers.

The authors examine common superdisintegrants (i.e., crospovidone Type A, crospovidone Type B, croscarmellose sodium, and sodium starch glycolate) with a set of poorly soluble drug actives and evaluate in vitro drug dissolution.

The authors examine the use of a novel highly functional pregelatinized starch as a controlled-release matrix excipient.

The authors studied the behavior of anhydrous lactose and the combination of anhydrous lactose and the combination of anhydrous lactose with microcrystalline cellulose on a pilot-scale roller compactor.

The authors examine the use of a hypromellose-based product as an excipient in a controlled release formulation using direct-compression tableting.

Also, Hospira to reduce workforce; WuXi AppTech makes senior appointments; more...

A bipartisan bill that would establish a regulatory pathway for the approval of biosimilars was introduced into the US House of Representatives last week.

The US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical Biological Products (NICPBP), China's agency for overseeing the quality of large- and small-molecule drugs, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to bolster the quality of medicines in China and in the countries that buy Chinese drug products, including the United States.

Also, Genzyme receives warning letter; Mesa Laboratories appoints John J. Sullivan CEO and a member of the board of directors; more...

Also, Penn Pharma to expand; stem cell research funding ban lifted; Bristol-Myers Squibb made senior appointments; more...

The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) said last week that Congress is likely to the include inherently safe technology (IST) measures in proposed chemical site-security legislation that is likely to be introduced in late winter or early spring.

Weakening fundamentals in 2008 and projected for 2009 dampen the outlook for pharmaceutical chemical outsourcing, but near-term growth and investments levels in R&D and capital spending remain fairly robust.

Gilles Cottier, SAFC's new president, plans to continue a growth strategy that emphasizes value-added technologies positions, growth in Asia, and customization in its supply-chain solutions.