Pharmaceutical Technology Europe-07-01-2010

To date, the pharmaceutical industry's primary defence to counterfeiting is to create more sophisticated packaging that makes imitation more difficult, such as packaging involving barcoding and RFID.

Europe needs a more standardised and consistent approach for supplying excipient information to the regulators.

The effects of counterfeiting are hard to measure, both in human impact and financial loss.

Xavier Parissaux of Roquette explains why the pharma industry's need to reduce organic solvent use is driving innovation in film coatings.

This month, PTE speaks with experts to reveal the true extent of the threat that counterfeiting presents to the pharmaceutical industry.

Phase 0 studies, though not widely accepted, could effectively bridge the gap between preclinical and Phase I studies, and reduce the number of drug failures owing to differences in drug behaviour between animals and humans.

The US Pharmacopeia recently convened a meeting of stakeholders to set goals for its 2010–2015 cycle.

X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) is a versatile, non-destructive technique that reveals detailed information about pharmaceuticals.

The 2D Data Matrix barcode is a familiar sight for most pharmaceutical manufacturers as printing is implemented to meet certain regulations.

How India and China are attracting R&D spend from the West.

We decided to dedicate this month's issue of PTE to a topic that affects all of our readers; the threat of counterfeit medicines.

In order to combat the threat of counterfeits in Europe, the EU's current anti-counterfeiting directive is being amended.

Rising labour rates in China may reduce its cost advantage, but will probably result in western suppliers facing more competition for higher value services.

Wyatt Earp, the legendary sheriff of Tombstone used to solve troubles in a simple way: aiming, pulling the trigger and bang! ... problem eliminated! Some manufacturers check the readability of their barcodes in the same way.

On-dose authentication, such as edible microtags, is a relatively new market that has been quietly developing but has the capability to provide new forms of anti-counterfeiting tools.

How can crystal engineering and pharma sciences be combined to enhance the clinical performance of drugs?