Outsourcing

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), the chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, sent a letter to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), questioning the US Food and Drug Administration?s use of agency resources to hire an outside public-relations firm to create a positive public image of the agency.

Also, Merck & Co. discontinues development of its obesity drug taranabant; Synthetech names Frederic Farkas director of manufacturing; more...

Buoyed by increased demand for pharmaceutical outsourcing services, Ricerca Biosciences proceeds with an expansion plan.

Summer deals struck by Novartis and Lilly point to an evolution in contract services.

Advancements add yet another challenge for industry's already overextended regulatory body.

Emerging pharmaceutical companies represent an important client base for CROs and CMOs. Lessons learned for successful customer–supplier relations.

Can previous trends of Democratic and Republican administrations predict industry's future?

As offshore savings decline, pharmaceutical companies still have a lot of work to do to reduce costs.

Also, Alpharma advises shareholders to reject King's offer; ImClone rejects raised BMS offer; Immunogen appoints Daniel M. Junius, more...

The growth and globalization of the pharmaceutical supply chain make risk assessment more important than ever for pharmaceutical manufacturers. The authors describe a program to identify, prioritize, mitigate, and communicate risks in manufacturer–supplier relationships.

The authors provide detailed lists of important checkpoints to consider when selecting an outsourcing provider.

Securing the integrity of the excipient supply chain is a crucial task in ensuring the overall pharmaceutical supply chain. The authors outline excipient-control strategies and practices for the manufacture, distribution, and receipt of excipients.

CMOs must find new business models and strategies that reflect the many dimensions of the industry's realities...

Also, Zentiva accepts Sanofi's increased takeover bid, Oriel Therapeutics appoints Richard Fuller CEO, more...

Also, Quintiles to expand Singapore operations; Christine A. Poon, chairman of Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceuticals group, to retire; more...

Also, Human Genome Sciences enters pact with Hospira, Zosano Pharma names Gail Schulze chair and CEO, more...

Boehringer Ingelheim and and Hisoar (Taizhou, China), a pharmaceutical production company, formed a strategic production alliance in China.

Also, Novartis stops development on "Aurograb," Zealand Pharma appoints David H. Solomon as CEO, more...

CMC service providers are doing well, but clinical and preclinical CROs are doing even better.

Brief pharmaceutical news items for September 2008.

This year, the employment survey will acknowledge the industry's best employers.

FDA is taking several measures to ensure that imported drugs meet manufacturing standards.

Summer deals struck by Novartis and Lilly point to an evolution in contract services.

Are hypersanitation trends a result of scaremongering or a lack of faith in medicine?

The outlook is fairly optimistic as contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) gather at CPhI Worldwide in Frankfurt. CMOs are expanding capacity for small-molecules, biologics, and finished-product manufacturing.

All commercial sponsors want to maximize their profit and, with a population close to 500 million, the EU is an enormous potential marketplace that they simply cannot ignore!

EPedigree, track-and-trace technologies, and other tools for optimizing supply-chain management are of increasing importance to the pharmaceutical industry. The author examines the current regulatory and legislative framework for ePedigree for finished drug products as well as proposals to require electronic statements for pharmaceutical ingredients.

The authors describe the critical aspects of an ideal fermentation services provider.

The Healthcare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) released a new research study showing that New Jersey's life-science industry experienced stable growth in 2007.

The deadline for nominations for the Innovations in Pharma Science Awards is here. Check out http://pharmtech.com/Innovations to nominate your company's work in one of five areas by next week