Pharma Capsules

Expansions

Gibraltar Adds Testing Capacity

Gibraltar Laboratories (Fairfield, NJ) is adding 16,000 ft² of space to its newly-acquired facility in Fairfield. The space will comply with current good manufacturing practices. Together with the current 10,000-ft² laboratory and office complex, the acquisition will buttress the company's ability to provide microbiology and analytical-chemistry testing to its pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients.

The new facility will include a Class-100 sterility-test suite, Class-1000 staging and gowning areas, and a walk-in incubator A laboratory will be dedicated to microbial-control and decontamination research.

Bilcare Inaugurates Centre of Excellence

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former president of India, and Dr. John L. LaMattina, senior vice-president of Pfizer, inaugurated Bilcare's (Pune, India) Centre of Excellence in Pune. The Centre has dedicated sections for packaging research, material research, analytical research, drug sensitivity studies, and package design. Dr. R. Chidambaram, principal scientific advisor to the government of India, opened the Centre's state-of-the-art pilot plant.

Azopharma Opens Analytical Laboratories Facility

Azopharma (Miramar, FL) opened a new Cyanta Analytical Laboratories facility in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The new 20,000-ft² modern laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation to support pharmaceutical and medical-device product development. The site is specifically designed to aid analytical method development and inhalation and respiratory services. The new facilities have been modified and updated to meet the demands of Azopharma's pharmaceutical, medical-device, and biotechnology customers.

Millipore Launches UHPLC Sample Prep Website

Millipore (Billerica, MA), a company that provides services for the bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing industries, launched a website (www.millipore.com/prep4UHPLC) for the preparation of samples and solutions used in ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC).

The website offers technical information about Millipore's "UHPLC Compatible" sample-preparation products. The site also includes a product catalog, a support center, and facilitates product ordering and tracking. In addition, the site features Millipore's brochure titled "Maximize the Performance of Your UHPLC System."

People

DIA Names Female Executive Director

The Drug Information Association (DIA, Horsham, PA) appointed Linda McGoldrick its new worldwide executive director. She is the first woman to serve in that role.

In her new position, McGoldrick will direct the association's global operations, expand its presence in strategic locations around the world, and lead the implementation of DIA's strategic plan. McGoldrick plans to establish a foothold in several markets such as India, China, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. McGoldrick replaces William Brassington, who served as acting executive director beginning in 2006.

Microfluidics Appoints CEO

Microfluidics (Newton, MA) appointed Michael C. Ferrara as its new chief executive officer. Ferrara will be responsible for overseeing daily company operations and will serve on the Microfluidics board of directors.

Ferrara was most recently president and CEO of X-Rite (Grand Rapids, MI), a color-management company. Under Ferrara's leadership, X-Rite achieved record revenues. In addition, Ferrara has extensive experience in building marketing and distribution channels with strategic partners in Asia–Pacific and Europe. These are areas that Microfluidics intends to focus on in the future.

Michael C. Ferrara

Agreements

DSM Signs Supply Agreement with IEP

DSM Pharma Chemicals (Parsippany, NJ), a business unit of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, entered into an enzyme- supply agreement with IEP (Wiesbaden, Germany) to enable fast and secure scale-up of chiral alcohol manufacturing. Under the terms of the agreement, DSM Pharma Chemicals has access to IEP's alcohol dehydrogenases, as well as a supply of IEP enzymes at commercial scale. DSM can source the enzymes from IEP or produce them in its own manufacturing facilities in Delft, The Netherlands, Capua, Italy, and Seclin, France. According to Oliver May, DSM's competence manager for biocatalysis, a flexible enzyme supply chain is key to the timely delivery of products to DSM's customers.

Akrimax Purchases Wyeth Plant

Akrimax Pharmaceuticals (Cranford, NJ) acquired Wyeth's (Madison, NJ) drug-product manufacturing and packaging plant in Rouses Point, New York. The acquisition prevents the plant's closure. Wyeth had planned to phase out its operations at the Rouses Point plant because of changes in product demand and a reassessment of its manufacturing network.

Akrimax is an emerging branded-pharmaceutical company led by a management team with expertise in the development, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and sales of pharmaceutical products.