Manufacturing

Pfizer is no normal company. As recently as 2007 it was still the industry's largest player with $47.5 billion (36.8 billion euro) coming in from pharma sales alone.

A discussion of the basic principles of immunity and the nature of antibodies.

During the last 20 years, pharmaceutical R&D spending has increased 15-fold while new product approvals have increased only 0.70-fold.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ), a membership organization that focuses on quality training in several industries including pharmaceuticals and healthcare, has adopted a new certification for good manufacturing practice (GMP) professionals.

Also, UCB will divest certain business in emerging markets to GSK; the KineMatik Group named Michael G. Jarjour president and CEO; more...

Pfizer will purchase Wyeth (Madison, NJ) under a definitive merger agreement approved by both companies' boards of directors.

Also, Elan explores strategic alternatives; NanoGuardian appoints John D. Glover to lead its Security Advisory Board; more...

Eli Lilly and Company has reached resolution regarding its previously reported government investigation into the company's US marketing and promotional practices for "Zyrexa" (olanzapine), an antipsychotic drug, thereby ending a government investigation started in 2004.

Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a draft guidance for industry, Standards for Securing the Drug Supply Chain–Standardized Numerical Identification for Prescription Drug Packages, and launched a pilot program to help protect the pharmaceutical supply chain.

The US Department of Health and Human Services's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has awarded Novartis a contract valued up to $486 million over eight years to support the design, construction, validation, and licensing of a US cell-based influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

The US Food and Drug Administration issued its Draft Guidance for Industry on Submission of Laboratory Packages by Accredited Laboratories.

One relatively new dosage form is the orally dissolving strip, a thin film formulated with hydrophilic polymers that rapidly dissolves on the tongue.

PharmTech's monthly newsletter, Equipment & Processing Report, reviews the Editor's Picks for the January 2009 edition from Clark Solutions and Neopac.

An integrated information technology environment can help pharmaceutical companies find new processes and approaches to improve manufacturing efficiency, productivity, and quality.

The US Food and Drug Administration announced that it had filed a Consent Decree on Dec. 23, 2008 and was awaiting the court?s entry of a permanent injunction that bars Actavis (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland), its officers Sigurdur Oli Olafsson and Douglas Boothe, and its subsidiary Actavis Totowa (Totowa, NJ) from manufacturing and distributing drugs at the Actavis Totowa facilities.

Also, Bristol-Myers Squibb forms collaboration with ZymoGenetics, Hana Biosciences appoints VP of regulatory affairs, more...

Also, Novozymes Biologicals settles pollution case with the US Department of Justice; EntreMed restructures management team; more...

Michigan State University researchers have discovered a technique for viewing whole cells to gain an understanding of protein inclusion bodies.

The generic-drug manufacturer Actavis reached an agreement on a consent decree of permanent injunction with the US Food and Drug Administration regarding the company?s US subsidiary Actavis Totowa LLC.

A California jury ordered Pfizer (New York) to pay $38 million to the Ischemia Research and Education Foundation (IREF), a medical-research nonprofit group, for stealing trade secrets to develop its "Bextra" analgesic.

Outsourcing sterile manufacturing involves an integrated approach in product life-cycle management.

The authors examine the challenges of integrating a large-scale chromatography and nanofiltration process for purification of a polyclonal antibody.

Although its domestic market is on the rise, Pakistan's market conditions have not proved welcoming enough to keep foreign investors.

Editors' Picks of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology Innovations

The incoming administration has renewed hope for stem cells, but less adequate copycats may follow.

After a year of increased attention on the pharmaceutical supply chain in Asia, what will be the region's short- and long-term role? This article contains bonus online-exclusive material.

A book explains the many pharmaceutical applications of polymers from natural sources.

Brief pharmaceutical news items for January 2009.

The authors describe a novel analytical approach that uses the shape-analysis capabilities of MFI to detect and enumerate silicone oil microdroplets in protein formulations that also contain aggregates of similar size and in a similar concentration.

The USP public-comment process exists for a reason. Industry needs to take advantage. This article contains bonus online-exclusive material.