Pharmaceutical Technology Editors

Udit Batra, current head of Merck KGaA’s life science business, will lead the combined life science businesses following successful completion of Sigma-Aldrich acquisition.

As the prevalence of falsified medicines continues to increase, Switzerland is taking measures to secure its supply chain such as the implementation of serialization.

FDA issues a Warning Letter to Hospira S.p.A. for GMP violations at the company’s Liscate, Italy facility.

Baxter voluntarily recalls select lots of IV solutions due to possible particulate matter.

Aptar Pharma has partnered with Shanghai Sine Promod Pharmaceutical to develop and launch its new budesonide dry powder inhaler (DPI), which features Aptar Pharma’s user-friendly and cost-effective Twister DPI.

Eppendorf announces that it won the Best New General Lab Product at the Scientists’ Choice Awards.

Meggle’s business group, Excipients and Technology, has appointed Alexander Torster, MBA, as its new head of sales and marketing.

Avomeen Analytical Services announces that David W. Riggs, PE will take the role of president of the company.

Cornell Stamoran, Catalent Pharma Solutions vice-president, is elected to the board of trustees of the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association.

Mylan announces that it would offer Perrigo $29 billion in cash and stock to buy the Irish company.

Theravectys has been granted authorization by the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Product Safety to produce lentiviral vectors for Phase I to Phase III testing at its manufacturing plant.

The move was made to meet an upsurge in Phase I/II GMP campaigns from clients in Europe and the United States.

Facilities in China, Ireland, Germany, and the United States have been recognized by ISPE in the 2015 Facility of the Year Awards program.

Pall’s acquisition of BioSMB from Tarpon Biosystems expands its downstream continuous processing offerings.

Catalent acquires Pharmapak Technologies, a pharmaceutical packaging company based in New South Wales, Australia.

GlaxoSmithKline announces global vaccines research and design facility to be based in Rockville, MD, USA.

NIH announced positive safety results from the vaccine, VSV-ZEBOV, and found that all patients in the study experienced a strong antibody response.

USP announces an implementation date of Jan. 1, 2018 for General Chapters Elemental Impurities-Limits and Elemental Contaminants in Dietary Supplements.

Merck Serono announces that it will work with Intrexon to develop a cancer therapy using chimeric antigen receptor T-cells.

Rentschler Biotechnologie launches 2000-L single-use bioreactor and announces additional expansion.

Xcellience receives approval to handle both analytical and manufacturing of DEA Scheduled products.

As an affiliate member, TraceLink brings serialization expertise to the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association.

Horizon Pharma offers to buy Hyperion Therapeutics for $1.1 billion in cash.

Novartis announced that it entered into a multiyear alliance with Aduro Biotech to develop cancer immunotherapies, offering up to $250 million in upfront payments and equity investments.

The agency outlines recommendations for the development and submission of near infrared analytical procedures.

Adroit Science AB will support Recipharm’s pharmaceutical development with solid-state characterization services.

The WHO report outlines possible policies that may help governments reduce the high prices of new medicines.

Germany is a mature market with high healthcare expenditure and pharmaceutical production but future growth could be potentially hindered by cost-saving government policies.

FDA has concluded that Kemwell’s facility, systems, and practices comply with FDA’s requirements and no observations were reported on Form 483.

Genentech plans to invest more than $125 million in an expansion of its fill/finish facility in Hillsboro, OR.