Thursday, 16 December 2010
Aesica expands into Europe
Aesica is to acquire three pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities from UCB. Aesica will acquire facilities in Monheim and Zwickau in Germany and Pianezza in Italy. In addition Aesica has signed a long-term supply agreement to supply UCB's products. 600 employees will be transferred from UCB to Aesica. Aesica believes acquisition of the UCB sites "will support and enable its future growth and evolution". Financial details of the deal, which is expected to close in Q1 2011, were not revealed.
Manufacturing Chemist
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Eden to expand facility
Eden Biodesign is to invest $100m in expanding its Liverpool, UK, manufacturing facility. The company plans to recruit 35 additional staff to fulfil Watson’s five-year contract to develop a Follicle Stimulating Hormone.
Liverpool Daily Post
Good H1 for Johnson Matthey
Sales for Johnson Matthey's fine chemicals division rose 8% to £122m in H1 and for its APIs manufacturing businesses, Macfarlan Smith and Pharmaceutical Materials and Services, sales rose 5% to £88m. The company said that growth at Macfarlan Smith was led by sales of bulk opiates and other controlled APIs and Pharmaceutical Materials and Services' strong performance was mainly due to continued good growth in sales of specialist opiates, amphetamines and platinum anticancer APIs.
Earlier in November, Johnson Matthey acquired a dedicated APIs manufacturing facility in Conshohocken, PA, together with some ongoing businesses. The company said the facility will provide additional capacity and greater flexibility to continue to grow its North American controlled substances business.
Johnson Matthey
Monday, 22 November 2010
Aurelius complete KemFine acquisition
Aurelius has completed its acquisition of KemFine. Aurelius plans to rename the Grangemouth, UK, based operation and expand its product line through acquisitions.
Herald Scotland
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Lonza partners with California Peptide Research
Lonza has partnered with California Peptide Research to provide small scale synthesis of peptides to the North American market, complementing its existing capabilities across Europe and in Asia. The alliance will provide customers with services from research through commercial supply and enable a seamless transition of projects between CPRI's small-scale facility and Lonza's cGMP facilities.
GEN
Roche to sell Colorado facility
As part of a company-wide programee of job cuts and plant closures, Roche plans to sell its Roche Colorado plant in Boulder. Roche acquired the site 16 years ago as part of its acquisition of Syntex. Roche Colorado is focussed on the production of peptides and employs 280 workers. John Tayer, a Roche Colorado spokesman, said "our expectation is that we will continue to build on our strong record of achievement in the peptide arena both in technical development and manufacturing, and whoever buys us would have a long-term relationship with Roche".
Boulder County Business Report
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Angel shares rise
Shares in Angel Biotechnology rose 80% today following the announcement that ReNeuron had commenced its Phase I clinical trial for disabled stroke patients using neural stem cells. Angel manufactures the stem cells for ReNeuron.
InvestEgate
Lonza and Dalton collaborate
Lonza has partnered with Dalton Pharma Services to provide customers, primarily in North America, with early phase chemistry and kg-lab manufacturing services for small molecules.
Lonza
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Mixed results for AMRI
AMRI reported mixed results from its contract manufacturing businesses in Q3 2010. The small scale manufacturing contract revenue decreased 6% to $9.1m, while large scale manufacturing contract revenue increased 20% to $21.9m. Thomas D'Ambra, AMRI's chairman, president and CEO said “results this quarter reflect the continued shift in customer demand for services in Asia and Europe, as evidenced by the on-going growth of our international locations". He also said it would take longer than expected to realise the synergies from AMRI's two recent acquisitions in Wales, UK and Burlington, MA. have shown signs that it will take a few months longer to demonstrate the synergies to our business than we first had anticipated. He added that AMRI was using internal and external resources to address concerns raised in an FDA Warning Letter for its Burlington sterile fill and finish business and hopes to have resolved the matter in H1 2011.
AMRI
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Angel to add capacity
Angel Biotechnology is planning to add additional GMP capacity in order to meet the demand of new orders and support the company's growth plans. Angel is in advanced discussions to take over a mothballed GMP-standard manufacturing facility, which when fully commissioned would have the potential to increase its GMP manufacturing capacity further by approximately five-fold. The company is also exploring a number of other options, but its preferred choice would be the mothballed facility, which can be brought on line in phases and in a shorter time frame than a new build.
InvestEgate
Dottikon expects loss
Dottikon expects to report considerably lower net sales and a net loss for its H1 2010/11, ended 30 September. The company said this was caused by several discontinued and delayed projects in the late development phase and ongoing currency pressure.
Dottikon
Monday, 8 November 2010
Avantor acquires RFCL
Avantor Performance Materials (formerly Mallinckrodt Baker) is to acquire RFCL (formerly Ranbaxy Fine Chemical Ltd) from ICICI Venture. Reports suggest that ICICI has sold around 90% of its holding in a deal worth $101-113m. ICICI Venture had bought RFCL for only $22m. In 2008, ICICI Venture was planning to acquire Mallinckrodt Baker but did not agree a price. ICICI has been seeking a buyer since the summer.
Economic Times
SiFy
Cambrex sales fall
Sales at Cambrex fell 15% to $49.4m in Q3. The company said the fall was primarily due to the timing of orders for certain products, the effects of a supply chain disruption at a customer's facility, a negotiated contract extension for certain drug delivery products resulting in lower volumes and pricing, and lower custom development and controlled substances shipments. However, the company said it had higher sales volume of generic APIs.
Cambrex
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Jacobs to provide engineering for Porton facility
Jacobs Engineering will provide detailed engineering services for a new multi-purpose GMP manufacturing facility at Chongqing Changshou Chemical Industrial Park, Chongqing, China, for Porton Fine Chemicals.
Jacobs Engineering
GAO unhappy with FDA inspections
The US General Accountability Office has reported that the FDA failed to implement earlier recommendations that would close the gap between the agency’s approach to inspecting domestic and foreign drug manufacturing facilities. Despite a budget increase from $12m in 2008 to $41m in 2009, the agency only inspected 11% of foreign facilities and 42% of US facilities.
Pharmalot
DSM pharma results negative
DSM reported that despite seeing a 4% rise in sales to €168m in Q3, its operating profit was -€6m, below that from the same period in 2009. The company said this was the result of no change in the challenging business dynamics that the entire pharmaceutical industry is facing.
DSM
Codexis acquires rights to IP
Codexis has acquired the MolecularBreeding technology portfolio from its Maxygen for $20m in cash. Codexis will no longer have to make royalty payments to Maxygen, which spun out Codexis in 2002. Codexis will now be able to apply the technology in new markets, subject to previously agreements signed by Maxygen.
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Swiss Franc and regulators hit Lonza
Lonza said currency exchange to the Swiss Franc was having a impact despite solid sales in Q3. In its Custom Manufacturing business, Lonza said its capacity utilisation and project pipelines continue to increase. In its chemicals manufacturing Lonza has almost 300 projects in the pipeline and is seeing utilisation of almost 75%. In biological manufacturing Lonza has about 240 projects and capacity utilisation just over 75%. The company said the overall positive outsourcing trend it is seeing is counterbalanced by ongoing volatility due to more stringent drug approvals by regulatory authorities, especially in chemical custom manufacturing.
Reuters
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Fine chems sales grow in Albemarle Q3
Albemarle's fine chemicals business showed sales grow 7% to $138.4m in Q3 2010. The company said this was due primarily to higher volumes and improved pricing.
Albemarle
SAFC sales grow in Q3
Sales at Sigma-Aldrich's ice chemicals business unit, SAFC, grew 12% to $167m in Q3 2010. The company said this was partly due to improved growth in the sale of bulk chemical products for development and manufacturing. Rakesh Sachdev, Sigma-Aldrich's SVP, CFO and Chief Administrative Officer, expects SAFC sales in Q4 to continue to be strong, but said he expected the comparison to last year will be less favourable than earlier quarters as a result of strong sales of adjuvants for the H1N1 vaccine, which occurred in the fourth quarter of 2009. Jai Nagarkatti, Sigma-Aldrich's Chairman, President, and CEO, said that in Q3 SAFC's pharma sales grew in the US but fell in Europe.
Seeking Alpha
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Monday, 18 October 2010
Reaxa spins out antibody tech
Reaxa has spun out its antibody drug purification technology business. The new company, ADC Biotechnology, will use IP licensed from Reaxa and aims to deliver significant reduction in manufacturing costs for the new generation of cancer drugs based on antibodies.
Manufacturing Chemist
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Almac invests in biocatalysis
Almac is investing $4m in broadening its biocatalysis R&D expertise. The company said the investment "will be used primarily to focus around discovery of new biocatalytic platforms that can be rapidly implemented and scaled delivering cost effective processes to chiral intermediates".
Almac
SAFC complete Jerusalem expansion
SAFC has completed the expansion of its fermentation capabilities in Jerusalem, Israel. The 5000m2 facility, which is expected to begin production during October 2010, will focus on niche fermentation of APIs and bulk drugs, producing secondary metabolites (antibiotic-like molecules), cytotoxins and large-molecule proteins. 3000m2 of the new facility has been designed to be Biosafety Level 2 compliant which provides the company the capability for manipulation of human pathogens.
GEN
Monday, 11 October 2010
BASF adds microreactors
BASF has added two microreactors at its Ludwigshafen, Germany, site to manufacture chemical products on a small scale. One reactor can produce samples of up to about 20 kilograms, and the other can manufacture quantities ranging from one to 50 tonne. BASF said the microreactors operate continuously and are used for reactions that require high pressure or release high levels of heat. The continuous mode of operation and the short reactor residence time of the reaction media ensure end products of consistently high quality.
BASF
Elan launches manufacturing business
Elan Drug Technologies launched its Manufacturing Services business at CPhI. The new business provides drug product optimisation, scale-up and commercial scale manufacturing of solid oral dosage forms to pharmaceutical companies.
Elan Drug Technologies
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
UKTI seeks companies for UK pavilion at ChemSpec Middle East
UK Trade & Investment is seeking UK-based companies offering UK origin (or high UK added value) products and services within the fine and speciality chemical industry with the objective of meeting a Middle Eastern client base at ChemSpec Middle East on 29-30 November 2010.
Chemicals NorthWest
DSM and Crucell launch newco
DSM and Crucell have launched Percivia LLC, a joint venture focused on the development of "biobetter" proteins and monoclonal antibodies using their PER.C6 technology. The company, which will be based in Cambridge, MA, will also license the PER.C6 human cell line for production of third party monoclonal antibodies and other proteins.
Crucell
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
KemFine UK sold to Aurelius
KemFine has sold its UK facility in Grangemouth to Aurelius. Financial details have not been disclosed and the deal is expected to close later this year. In February, Aurelius acquired Isochem from SNPE.
The Scotsman
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Grace to acquire Synthetech
WR Grace is to acquire Synthetech for $19.2 million, less Synthetech’s unpaid debt and transaction costs at closing, and subject to a minimum cash balance of $600,000. The acquisition will expand Grace's pharmaceutical offering by adding expertise in chiral and peptide intermediate synthesis in addition to capacity for the manufacture of specialty single-site and polypropylene catalysts used to produce plastics.
Baltimore Sun
Monday, 13 September 2010
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Lonza signs manufacturing deal with GSK
GlaxoSmithKline has selected Lonza to produce early stage monoclonal antibodies from its biopharmaceutical pipeline. Initially Lonza will manufacture clinical trial batches of five compounds currently in Phase I and II. In addition GSK will also have flexible access to Lonza's capabilities for future demand dependent upon progression of molecules through late stage development and commercial launch.
Reuters
Socma welcomes R&D Tax Credit decision
Socma has welcomed the decision by US President Barack Obama to to expand and simplify the R&E Tax Credit and to make it permanent to help encourage future productivity and growth. Socma has advocated for this for a numb roof years, said Socma President and CEO Lawrence Sloan welcoming the plan.
Socma
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Jubilant signs $33m CRAMS deal
Jubilant Organosys has signed its second major CRAMS deal in a week. The company has signed a $33m, long-term contract with a US life sciences company. R Sankaraiah, Jubilant's Executive Director of Finance, said the company would book $250m orders in this year and $250m-$300m in the next three-four years.
Money Control
Lonza acquires Vivante
Lonza has purchased Vivante GMP Solutions to give it a foothold in the viral-based manufacturing market. Lonza said the acquisition advances its strategy to broaden its biologics custom service offering for the growing viral vaccine and gene therapy markets. Vivante, which is based in Houston, TX, produces GMP viral-based therapeutics.
Lonza
CMC adds disposable manufacturing
CMC Biologics has completed the addition of a state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical disposable manufacturing facility at its Seattle, WA site. CMC Biologics has partnered with Hyclone to supply the multi-purpose, single-use facility with processing equipment, including a 100L and two 500L single-use bioreactors and disposable mixers.
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Jubilant signs CRAMS deal
Jubilant Organosys has signed a $51m, four-year research and manufacturing deal with an unnamed US company. The company is in discussions to expand the contract, which could be extended by a further five years. R Sankaraiah, Jubilant's Executive Director of Finance, said the deal takes Jubilant;s CRAMS order book over $1bn.
Money Control
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Aesica invests in high containment
Aesica is investing £3m in a new high containment facility at its Queensborough, UK, site. The facility, which is due to be completed by May 2011, will enable Aesica to manufacture potent drugs typically classed as Safebridge category 3 and significantly extend its current capabilities in the formulation and packaging of liquid and solid dosage forms. In addition, the new facility will also include security measures that will ensure it can manufacture Schedule II controlled drugs such as opiates.
The Northern Echo
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
EMA and FDA plan joint inspections
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US FDA are seeking potential candidate companies for a joint GMP inspection pilot programme for manufacturers of medicinal products. The agencies are hoping to see whether greater international collaboration can help to distribute inspection capacity allowing more manufacturing sites to be monitored and reducing unnecessary duplication.
EMA
Monday, 16 August 2010
Carbogen hinders Dishman
Dishman's Q1 turnover fell 12% to $43.2m. The company's CFO, VVS Murthy, put the fall down to reduced revenues at its Carbogen subsidiary. However, he expects Carbogen to see an overall 10% rise in sales over the full year.
Money Control
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Senator introduces safe drug manufacturing bill
US Senator, Michael Bennet, has introduced a bill, the US Drug Safety and Accountability Act of 2010, which aims to strengthen manufacturing quality standards, enhance the US FDA’s ability to track foreign manufacturing sites, and increase the authority of FDA to make drug product recalls. Socma welcomed the introduction of the bill and thanked the Senator for "introducing this common sense legislation which will strengthen the FDA and increase public health and safety by providing additional quality controls on drugs and their ingredients."
Senator Bennet
Socma
US consumers don't trust safety of foreign manufactured drugs
A survey conducted by the Pew Prescription Project has shown that US consumers do not trust the safety and freedom from contamination of drugs manufactured overseas. 78% of those polled trusted US made drugs, but only 6% trusted those made in China, 8% India and 30% Ireland. Swiss manufactured products were trusted by 47% and Canada made 60%.
Pharma Times
Ampac revenues rise in Q3
Ampac's fine chemicals businesses reported revenues of $20m in its Q3 ended June, compared to $15.6m in 2009, reflecting an increase in revenues from products in development. However, the operating loss for the quarter grew from $0.8m to $2.5m as a result of higher than anticipated costs associated with validating a process change for a core product and general manufacturing inefficiencies.
Ampac
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
AMRI revenues rise in Q2
Q2 revenues for AMRI's contract division rose 5% to $40.7m. The small scale manufacturing business revenues rose 1% to $8.2m and the large scale manufacturing revenues rose 10% to $21m.
AMRI
Pfenex awarded anthrax tech contract
The US Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Pfenex $18.8m contract to support the development of a robust Pfenex Expression Technology based production strain and process for the production of bulk recombinant protective antigen (rPA) from anthrax. Pursuant to the contract, Pfenex will identify high producing expression strains capable of producing high titers of stable rPA and then develop commercial cGMP manufacturing process.
Xconomy
Cambrex sales fall
Q2 sales at Cambrex fell 4% to $57.4 million. Cambrex said the decrease is primarily due to lower demand for certain larger products including the effects of a supply chain disruption at a customer's facility, lower pricing on generic APIs and a renegotiated contract extension for certain drug delivery products resulting in lower pricing. However the company saw higher sales volume of controlled substances and generic APIs.
Outsourcing Pharma
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
DSM Pharma sales rise
DSM's Pharmaceutical Products business unit reported 5% sales growth in Q2 2010 compared to 2009. However, profit fell as a result of a challenging business environment and unfavourable product mix. DSM said the drop in results was somewhat compensated by the development of the US dollar.
DSM
Aesica raises £20m
Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets has provided £20m to Aesica Pharmaceuticals to support its continuing expansion through organic growth and acquisitions.
Pharmacy Business
Monday, 2 August 2010
SynCo to manufacture second product for Versartis
SynCo Bio Partners has extended its collaboration with Versartis, Inc. SynCo will scale-up a second manufacturing process on behalf of Versartis and provide fill and finish services for the manufacture, testing and release of formulated Drug Product vials.
Pharmaceutical Business Review
Aptuit partners with Siena
Siena Biotech has acquired a minority stake in Aptuit’s operations in Verona, Italy. In return, Aptuit will become the provider of choice for Siena’s development pipeline of compounds, focused in three key therapeutic areas, including Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease and oncology.
Mass High Tech
Fine chems sales rise at Albemarle
Sales for Albemarle's Fine Chemistry business rose 36% to $141.2m in Q2. The company said this was the result of increased volumes in both our performance chemicals and fine chemistry services businesses, and partly offset by product mix.
Business Week
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Signs of recovery for SAFC
Sales for Sigma-Aldrich's SAFC business unit showed double-digit growth in Q2, rising to $157m. The company said that several of the SAFC markets that were depressed in 2009 are beginning to show good signs of recovery. Jai Nagarkatti, Sigma-Aldich Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said "I think SAFC pharma business still is not recovered to the extent that we would like to see it recover" and Rakesh Sachdev, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added that "we expect the SAFC pharma business to improve in the second half".
Seeking Alpha
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Custom manufacturing sales hit Lonza
Profits for H1 2010 at Lonza were CHF135m up 14% from CHF118m in 2009, however sales fell 2% to CHF1301m. In the custom manufacturing division sales fell almost 7% to CHF658m due to anticipated low capacity utilisation in Portsmouth and Hopkinton in Q1 2010. In the chemical manufacturing business Lonza continued to be affected by customers’ efforts to optimise their overall cost base and net working capital. The company successfully implemented of a number of operational excellence programs which have increased the flexibility and throughput of most of its chemical manufacturing assets and will meet the new customer requirements. Lonza's biological manufacturing business continued to operate at high batch success rates, above the industry average and multiple new products and production campaigns had a positive impact on its mid- and large-scale asset utilisation.
Reuters
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Angel posts H1 profit
Angel Biotechnology has reported a profit of £106,000 in the first six months of 2010. The company said it has secured business for the rest of the year and expects to post a profit for the full year.
The Herald
Eden to develop Itero biosimilar
Eden Biodesign will provide process development for Itero Biopharmaceutical’s biosimilar recombinant follicle stimulating hormone. The product has been licenced by Eden's parent company, Watson Pharmaceuticals.
San Francisco Business Journal
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Monday, 12 July 2010
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Jubilant to focus on life sciences
Jubilant Organosys is to spin off its agri-chem and performance polymer business units into a separate business Jubilant Industries and rename itself Jubilant Life Sciences.
Reuters
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
BASF merges Swiss fine chems units
BASF has merged its Evionnaz, Switzerland- based businesses BASF Orgamol Pharma Solutions and BASF Fine Chemicals Switzerland into a single organisation, BASF Pharma (Evionnaz). BASF said the merger reduces complexity at its site and simplifies processes.
In-Pharma Technologist
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Aesica acquires R5, plans more
Aesica has acquired R5, which develops and manufactures new medicines and clinical trial materials, for an undisclosed sum. Chief Executive, Robert Hardy, said the company is currently considering a number of additional takeover targets overseas as part of its expansion plans including a formulation manufacturer in the US and Europe.
North East Business
CPhI to be held in Frankfurt in 2011
The annual trade show will take place on 25-27 October 2011 at the Messe, Frankfurt.
PR Newswire
DCGI to inspect China plants
India's drug regulator, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), is planning to start inspecting manufacturers in China supplying intermediates and APIs to Indian manufacturers.
DWS Pillscribe
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
ICICI seeks buyer for RFCL
ICICI Ventures is looking to sell RFCL, which includes fine chemicals and in vitro diagnostics businesses. ICICI is believed to be looking to raise $87m.
Business Standard
Borregaard closes Italian plant
Borregaard Synthesis is closing its production plant in Ravenna, Italy, as a result of challenging market conditions which it does not see changing in the near future. 40 employees will be affected.
Borregaard
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Ricerca gains DEA licence; ISO 9001 certification
Ricerca Biosciences has gained a US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) licence for its Concord, OH, facility which allows the company to produce controlled bulk APIs for phase I to II trials. Additionally, Ricerca's Lyon facility has obtained the ISO 9001:2008 certification. The company's Taipei facility received the ISO 9001:2008 certification in October 2009.
Outsourcing Pharma
Ricerca
Monday, 21 June 2010
UKTI seeks companies for UK pavilion at CPhI
UK Trade & Investment is seeking UK-based companies offering UK-origin products and services within the fine and speciality chemical industry, as well as relevant service providers to the pharmaceutical industry for the UK pavilion at CPhI in October.
For more information contact UKTI
Codexis and Merck receive Presidential award
Merck and Codexis have been awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency for their development of a novel biocatalytic method for the synthesis of diabetes drug, sitagliptin. The award recognises new technologies that help prevent pollution by reducing or eliminating hazardous waste in industrial production. Additionally, the companies have published details of the process, which uses a customised enzyme to perform a key step in the synthesis, in the journal Science.
Codexis
Reuters
FDA plans new manufacturing rules
The US FDA is planning to new regulations to tighten up regulations for drugmakers that outsource manufacturing. The FDA said it may require drugmakers to conduct on-site audits of contract manufacturing facilities. Additionally, the agency is considering issuing warning letters to both the contact manufacturer and drugmaker if issues are found.
Wall Street Journal
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Jubilant invests in Gujarat
Jubilant Organosys is building two 10,000-tonne/year units at its special economic zone at Bharuch in Gujarat. One plant will produce niacinamide and the other 3-cyanopyridine.
Business Standard
SAFC invests in Scotland and Missouri facilities
Sigma-Aldrich's SAFC division is expanding its network of global 'Centers of Excellence' designed specifically to support the seamless upstream and downstream production of liquid cell culture reagents at its St. Louis, Missouri site and its Irvine, Scotland facility. The work is expected to finish in Q4 2010.
SAFC
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Lonza adds development services
Lonza has launched a new set of immunogenicity, stability and protein engineering services designed to improve the quality, safety, efficacy and manufacturability of antibodies, therapeutic proteins and vaccines. The Applied Protein Services platform complements the company's process development and manufacturing capabilities while advancing its efforts to incorporate Quality by Design (QbD) principles.
Lonza
Xcellerex building biomanufacturing facility
Xcellerex has started construction of its state-of-the-art cGMP biomanufacturing facility in Marlborough, MA. The facility will use Xcellerex's single use bioreactors and downstream unit operations to provide bridge biomanufacturing services for clients that are planning or building their own facilities using Xcellerex technology. The plant, which is due to be completed in September, will also support Xcellerex’s contract manufacturing operations.
Xcellerex
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Albemare to build kilo-lab in Belgium
Albemarle fine chemistry services division is building a state of the art kilo lab in Louvain la Neuve, Belgium. The facility will contain the highest quality processes and safety features and have capabilities up to and including 50L glass lined vessels.
Albemarle
Ash Stevens to expand capacity
Ash Stevens will invest $20m to expand its API production capabilities in Riverview, MI, over the next five years. CEO Stephen Munk believes this will expand production by 50-80% and allow the company to hire another 50 workers. In the first phase Ash Stevens will add a 1000m
Crain's Detroit
Fine chems sales grow for Johnson Matthey
Sales at Johnson Matthey's Fine Chemicals Division rose 2% to £219m and operating profit rose 13% to £55.8m. The company expects to deliver steady growth in the divison, but said that H1 results this year would be impacted by the absence of the $12m one-off benefit in 2009/10 from the launch of the generic version of Adderall XR.
Johnson Matthey
Thursday, 27 May 2010
AMRI cuts back in US
AMRI is closing its Rensselaer, NY, facility, with the loss of 50 jobs. A further 30 jobs will be lost at its other US facilities while the company plans to add 180 jobs in Asia as it invests $30m in its international facilities.
Albany Business Journal
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Pfizer cuts eight manufacturing sites; cuts back at others
Pfizer plans to cease operations at eight plants in Ireland, Puerto Rico and the United States by late 2015 and reduce activities at six factories in those countries, plus Germany and Britain. The cuts will result in 6000 job losses.
Reuters
Consortium passes passes flu vax manufacturing test
A consortium led by Xcellerex has successfully demonstrated the production of purified swine flu H1 hemagglutinin (California strain) in 42 days starting from the amino acid sequence of the protein. The test results exceeded the goal for rate of production by at least 10 fold and exceeded all product quality specifications. The team, guided by BioPharm Services, combined Pfenex’s Pseudomonas fluorescens-based rapid strain engineering platform with Xcellerex’s microbial high speed process development and single-use manufacturing technologies and deltaDOT’s label free CE-based analytical technology.
In-Pharma Technologist
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
American Peptide expands peptide production capacity
American Peptide has expanded its Vista, California cGMP peptide production facility. The large-scale facility expansion includes four new peptide purification suites. The company will also add two new synthesis suites and multi-kg lyophilisation capacity.
In-Pharma Technologist
BioUetikon adds capacity
BioUetikon has installed a single use bioreactor train with 50L, 250L and 1000L capacity tanks. The train also includes complimentary scale GMP buffer and media preparation.
BioUetikon
Cambrex Q1 sales decline
Cambrex's first quarter 2010 sales declined 6.4%, compared to 2009, to $56.2m. Cambrex said the decrease is primarily due to the timing of orders for two APIs manufactured under long-term supply agreements, a customer supply chain disruption for an API manufactured under a long-term supply agreement, and a feed additive for which a contract expired. Additionally, Cambrex said lower pricing of certain generic APIs and a product utilising its drug delivery technology also contributed to the decrease.
Cambrex
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
DSM to build Australian biopharma plant
The Queensland and Australian governments will fund Australia's first biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing facility in Brisbane. The 7000m3 facility to be built and operated by DSM will provide mammalian process development and cGMP clinical and commercial manufacturing services. The new facility is anticipated to be commissioned and operational in 2013.
In-Pharma Technologist
BPTF introduces API quality agreement
Socma's Bulk Pharmaceuticals Task Force (BPTF) has developed a template to help manufacturers and customers standardise API quality agreements and comply with US regulatory requirements.
Socma
Thursday, 29 April 2010
India tries to prevent EU clampdown on manufacturing facilities
The Indian government is lobbying hard in an attempt to prevent European lawmakers introducing legislation to require the European Medicines Agency to carry out pre-inspection of manufacturing facilities. European fine chemicals companies have been lobbying hard for the legislation which is designed to prevent low quality APIs entering the European market.
Economic Times
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Stable Q1 for DSM; outlook tough
DSM said that activity for its Pharmaceutical Products business remained low and Q1 sales were stable compared to last year. The company saw lower API sales following the loss of some products, but this was offset by the completion of the H1N1 vaccine shipments. Looking forward, DSM said it expected the full year results to be lower than in 2009 due to ongoing challenges at in the business unit said there were "some very tough quarters ahead".
DSM
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Lower fine chemicals volumes at Albemarle
Sales for Albemarle's fine chemicals business grew 13%, compared to 2009, to $136m in Q1 2010. The company attributed this to increased volumes in performance chemicals but saw lower volumes in fine chemistry services.
Albemarle
Monday, 26 April 2010
Codexis launches IPO
Codexis launched its IPO at $13/share - the low end of its projected range of $13-15 - bringing in $78m. In its first two days of trading the shares rose to $14.
San Jose Business Journal
SAFC grows 14% in Q1
Sigma Aldrich's fine chemicals business, SAFC showed sales growth of 14.3% to $152m in Q1 2010, continuing the trend seen in H2 2009. The company also took a $6m restructuring charge during the quarter related to the consolidation of some facilities and the elimination of about 100 jobs. SAFC saw double digit growth of its custom pharma products driven by higher demand for HPAPIs and viral vectors met from its recently opened California and Wisconsin facilities. The company has also seen an increase in booked orders.
Seeking Alpha
Lonza remains cautious
Lonza's Q1 demand remained consistent with 2009, but reported that volatility still persists for its custom manufacturing businesses. The company said its pipelines remain strong and it expects higher capacity utilisation this year. Additionally, it is seeing increased levels of partnership discussion in specialty areas such peptides or HAPIs and continuous high level discussions on pipeline outsourcing.
Reuters
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Evonik opens China API facility
Evonik has started production at its new API facility in Nanning, China. The 70m3 capacity plan, which can be doubled in size if required, will primarily supply the Chinese market. The plant has been set up in collaboration with a European pharmaceutical company for which Evonik will produce various active ingredients under a multi-year supply contract and in compliance with cGMP.
Evonik
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Angel Bio profit rises in 2009; considers expansion
Angel Biotechnology saw both profit and revenues rise 55% during 2009 compared to 2008. The company reported revenues of £1.48m. Company chairman, Paul Harper said "Angel is well positioned to take advantage of the manufacturing opportunities that are emerging in an evolving business environment and are considering the Company's expansion options in the light of the increased volume of business."
InvestEgate
Monday, 12 April 2010
Ampac acquires Texas facility
Ampac Fine Chemicals has acquired a fine chemicals manufacturing facility in LaPorte, TX. The $475,000, plus costs, acquisition increases the company's capacity by 30%. The facility, which passed FDA in 2008, was completed in 2001 and significant new equipment was added in the last four years. Aslam Malik, President of Ampac said "this additional capability in Texas, which includes commercial scale hydrogenation, as well as azide, cyanide, and phosgene capabilities, fits well with our areas of established expertise in energetic chemistry and continuous processing."
Ampac
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Ranbaxy to use Pfenex technology
Ranbaxy will develop an undisclosed biosimilar therapeutic using Pfenex's Pseudomonas-based recombinant protein expression technology. The two companies will develop production strains and the production process for the product.
Business Standard
Monday, 29 March 2010
Ampac confirms manufacturing deal with Codexis
Ampac Fine Chemicals will use Codexis' proprietary biocatalysis technology to develop lower cost, more efficient and lower environmental impact processes for pharmaceutical intermediates and APIs.
PR Newswire
Lonza cuts jobs in Visp
Lonza continues to announce measures to meet the cutbacks announced last year. The company plans to cut fixed costs in Basel and Visp by CHF40m over the next 18 months, which will include 193 jobs at Visp.
Lonza
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Borgas rebrands fine chemicals
Speaking at the Socma dinner in New York, Lonza CEO, Stefan Borgas, said that the industry needed to consider itself the "fine molecules" sector as the products it makes are no longer just chemicals. He said the future of the industry lay in companies reinventing their current business models and taking a more collaborative approach to innovation.
Icis
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Successful audits for Jubilant facilities
Jubilant Organosys' Hollister-Stier's Spokane, WA, facility completed a successful audit by the Japanese Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Agency (PMDA) and its Draxis Pharma Montreal, Canada, facility completed a successful audit by the US FDA and Health Canada.
Hollister-Stier
UKTI and Chemspec Europe
UKTI and Chemspec Europe
UK Trade & Investment is co-ordinating a UK pavillion at Chemspec Europe in June. Grants are available to potential exhibiters. Contact Tricia Francis for more details.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
AutekBio to establish Chinese biologics facility
AutekBio, SUMA Ventures and Beijing E-Town Harvest International Capital Management Corporation will jointly invest $100m to develop a new biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing organisation in China. The joint venture will build an R&D and manufacturing center in southern Beijing with up to 20,000L capacity in multiple trains.
Business Wire
Partnership offers CMC services
Cambridge Major Laboratories has teamed up with Avantium Pharma, Xcelience and Beckloff Associates to offer an expedited CMC solutions program designed to accelerate drug development. The service is available to companies ranging from small biotechs to big pharma.
Fierce Pharma Manufacturing
Wacker refocusses pharma-facing activities; opens biologics plant
Wacker Chemie has restructured its biotech and fine-chemical segment. The Wacker Biosolutions division, formerly known as Wacker Fine Chemicals, will focus on services for the food, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals sectors alongside its existing portfolio of fine chemicals and chemical intermediates. Additionally, Wacker has opened a new €18m GMP-certified biologics facility in Jena, Germany, to enable the company to accommodate its customers’ rapidly growing demand for biotechnologically manufactured pharmaceuticals.
Wacker
In-Pharma Technologist
Aurobindo company launches CRAMS subsidiary
Indian pharmaceutical company Aurobindo Pharma has launched a subsidiary to provide CRAMS services. AuroSource will partner with global large, mid-sized and emerging biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
In-Pharma Technologist
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Dishman's Shanghai facility delayed
Dishman Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Shanghai, China, facility has been further delayed by a couple of months. VVS Murthy, chief financial officer, expects the facility to start functioning from the second half of 2010, maybe August-September 2010. Dishman has invested $10m in the project.
DNA India
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Pharma sales decline at DSM
Full year 2009 sales for DSM declines 11% as a result of low demand from pharmaceutical companies, delay in approvals and the loss of some large contracts. In addition the company recognised a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of €154m from its acquisition of Catalytica.
DSM
Aesica plans expansion
Aesica is seeking to acquire manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe and to add high containment capabilities at one of its sites. The company believes that adding US facilities will help it attract contracts from US pharma customers.
In-pharma Technologist
Monday, 22 February 2010
Recipharm launches new biologics unit
Following its acquisition of Cobra Biomanufatcuring, Recipharm has combined the two biologics manufacturing businesses into an integrated business, RecipharmCobra Biologics.
Recipharm
Saturday, 20 February 2010
EMS Chemie interested in Lonza?
Lonza shares rose on market rumours that EMS Chemie is considering acquiring the company.
Reuters
Thursday, 18 February 2010
AMRI acquires Excelsyn
Excelsyn has been acquired by AMRI for $19m. The Holywell, Wales-based business, which was formerly part of Great Lakes, includes kilo lab, pilot plant and large scale manufacturing capabilities. AMRI Chairman and CEO Thomas D’Ambra said, "The acquisition of Excelsyn further builds out AMRI's global continuum and will increase our ability to penetrate a market space relatively untapped to date, including customers in large pharma based in Europe."
Ian Shott, President and Chief Executive of Excelsyn, acquired the Holywell business in 2004 for a £3m package including debt.
Albany Times Union
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Codexis selects Dishman and Ampac Fine Chemicals
Dishman has been selected as the preferred contract manufacturer for Codexis. Dishman will use Codexis' biocatalysis technology to manufacture building blocks, intermediates and APIs for innovator pharmaceutical companies. Dishman will also offer the technology to its own customers. Codexis will also collaborate with Ampac Fine Chemicals to expand the application of its technology.
Codexis
Monday, 15 February 2010
Albemarle to provide manufacturing for PharmaCore customers
Albemarle will provide manufacturing services for PharmaCore customers with projects that require high volume capacity. The alliance will allow seamless technology transfer when customers require higher volumes of APIs and active ingredients.
Albemarle
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Aurelius acquires Isochem
German private equity house Aurelius has acquired Isochem from SNPE for €8m. SNPE will take on €50m in debt from Isochem. The deal is subject to approval by the SNPE board. Unions at Isochem are opposed to the deal and are expected to call for a strike. Aurelius was one of five potential acquirers and was given exclusive negotiating rights in December.
Les Echos
Cambrex sales decline in Q4
Cambrex sales decreased by 9.9% in Q4 2009 and full year sales were down 5.3% on 2008. The company said the decrease is primarily due to lower volumes of an API that utilises its polymeric drug delivery technology, lower sales of two APIs manufactured under long-term supply agreements and lower custom development revenues.
Cambrex
Year ends with an upturn for SAFC
Sigma-Aldrich's fine chemicals business, SAFC, had its best quarter of 2009 in Q4, meeting the company's expectations of improved sales as the year ended. CFO, Rakesh Sachdev, put this down to "continued demand for adjuvant products for the H1N1 vaccine production and industrial media for pharmaceutical customers, as well as customer efforts to push early stage clinical trials".
Seeking Alpha
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
EFCG welcomes excipient amendments
The addition of excipient GMP requirements to the draft amendments of the EU falsified medicines directive has been welcomed by the European Fine Chemicals Group.The European Commission's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) has proposed GMP requirements for excipients in its draft opinion.
In-Pharma Technologist
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Dishman restructures Carbogen Amcis
Dishman is restructuring its Carbogen Amcis subsidiary. Staff levels have been cut by 20% and a new CEO - currently working at another company in the sector - will join in March. Q3 sales at Carbogen Amcis fell 27% this year and the company expects to save CHF8m through the restructuring.
Business Standard
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
SynCo signs US deal
SynCo Bio Partners will provide process validation and GMP commercial manufacturing services to support the commercial launch of two separate biopharmaceutical products, from an unnamed company, for the US market. The recombinant proteins will be produced in E. coli.
SynCo BioPartners
UKTI and Chemspec USA
UK Trade and Investment is considering running a UK pavilion at the inaugural Chemspec USA show in Philadelphia in May 2011. For further information contact Tricia Francis.
Watson acquires Eden
Eden Biodesign has been acquired by Watson Pharmaceuticals for $15m. Watson had previously acquired 36% of the business through a previous acquisition last year. Following the acquisition Eden will continue to offer contract manufacturing services.
Business Week
Tough year for Lonza in 2009; cautiously optimistic for 2010
Lonza's full year results showed a 8.4% fall in sales in 2009 compared to 2008. The company said that clinical results had driven order reductions for its biopharmaceutical manufacturing business. CEO, Stefan Borgas remains optimistic for the future and said the company's previously announced re-engineering would help generate cash flow in 2010.
In-Pharma Technologist
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Albemarle fine chemicals sales decline
Sales for Albemarle's Fine Chemicals segment were down 10% - to $146m - in Q4 2009 compared to 2008. The company has seen fine chemicals sales and profitability steadily increase over the past three quarters. Mark Rohr, Albemarle's Chairman, President and CEO, said the company was looking at a number of bolt-on acquisitions to continue growth, primarily in its fine chemicals business.
Seeking Alpha
Monday, 25 January 2010
Merck builds pharma salts plant
Merck KGaA has started construction work on a pharmaceutical inorganic salts manufacturing plant in Darmstadt, Germany. The €30m investment will add 50% to the company's current capacity and is expected to be online in mid-2011.
Merck
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
German grant for downstream processing research
A German research consortium including Rentschler Biotechnology and Boehinger Ingelheim has received €3.2m to develop a pioneering scalable purification method that could cut the cost of downstream protein processing by up to 90%.
Euro Biotech News
Monday, 18 January 2010
Dishman to build four API plants
Dishman plans to build four new API plants, two of which are due to be operational by March 2011 and two by 2012. Dishman will invest $27.4m on the expansion, the majority of which will be from the previously announced fundraising. J R Vyas, Dishman's managing director, said the new plants will increase capacity 400m3.
Economic Times
Lonza closes API plant
Lonza will close its API manufacturing facility at Riverside, PA. Production will be moved to Lonza's other facilities in Europe and China. The closure will affect 175 employees and cost €94.5m.
In-Pharma Technologist
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Dishman seeks 20% growth in CRAMS
Dishman is expecting growth of about 20% for its CRAMS segment in the next year according to cfo V V S Murthy. He put this down to easing of inventory rationalisation by big pharma and increasing outsourcing to India.
DNA India
26 drugs approved in 2009
The FDA approved 26 new drugs in 2009 - just one more than in 2008. Of these seven were biologics and 19 small molecules according to analysts at Washington Analysis.
Wall Street Journal
