House and Senate leaders finally agreed on compromise legislation to renew prescription user fees, just a few days before the funding program was set to expire.

Company and People Notes: Catalent expands Bolton, UK, warehouse; Biotica appoints Edward E. Hodgkin as CEO and director; more.

Pfizer plans to cease all remaining manufacturing operations at its facility in Sandwich, Kent, United Kingdom. The closure will result in the loss of approximately 420 jobs, phased over the next two years, according to a company release

Bayer Schering Pharma officially completed the acquisition of Novartis?s biologics manufacturing facility in Emeryville, California.

US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach warned agency employees last Friday that 2,000 layoff notices could be coming as early as Sept. 21.

454 Life Sciences, part of Roche, and researchers at Columbia University identified a virus associated with the deaths of 2.4 million honey bee colonies.

Company and People Notes: Baxter and Halozyme Expand Relationship, Crucell Names COO, More.

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced the Physician Payments Sunshine Act to require pharmaceutical and biologics manufacturers to report the payments, gifts, honoraria, and trips they give to doctors.

More than 100 people attended this week’s Regulatory Affairs Conference by the International Pharmaceutical Excipients Council of the Americas to discuss the latest trends and challenges in the excipient supply chain.

The United States House of Representatives passed its version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908) in a 220–175 vote.

The US Food and Drug Administration issued a final guidance, Manufacturing Biological Intermediates and Biological Drug Substances Using Spore-Forming Microorganisms, which provides recommendations that allow for greater flexibility when manufacturing biological products with spore-formers.

Early this month, Congress is expected to debate what some companies are calling the most significant changes to the United States patent system in 50 years.

A team of researchers from the University of Idaho and Seoul National University have designed a potential drug delivery system by coating silica nanowires with the protein fibronectin.

The US Food and Drug Administration issued a draft guidance, Pharmacogenomic Data Submissions Companion Guidance to be used as a companion to an earlier guidance, Pharmacogenomic Data Submissions, which was issued in March 2005.

Ranbaxy Laboratories has gained approvals from the US Food and Drug Administation to manufacture and market galantamine hydrobromide tablets and carvedilol tablets.

Company and People Notes: SAFC Expands in Wisconsin, Amgen Reduces Rhode Island Staff, More.

Boehringer Ingelheim decided to voluntarily withdraw its “Silomat” drug, which contains clobutinol hydrochloride, in all countries where it is available.

Purchase-order contracting is a commonly used approach to conducting commercial transactions, but it is a risky proposition when applied to pharmaceutical transactions, including the buying and selling of contract services and pharmaceutical ingredients. The authors examine the contract provisions covered in a commercial-supply agreement that are likely to be omitted under purchase-order contracting and the risk-reduction benefits that a commercial-supply agreement can offer in pharmaceutical procurement transactions.

Aptuit expands its drug-development capabilities with the formation of Aptuit Laurus to take advantage of the growing pharmaceutical outsourcing market in India.

FDA must increase inspections of foreign API manufacturing facilities as more production moves offshore.

Poor processing and misguided projections lead to trashed product.

In an age of "pre-existing conditions," can a new bill help patients get the treatment they need?

When it comes to research, the United States scientific community is still way ahead of the game, but we're not sharing our findings as often as we should. According to a new National Science Foundation (NSF) report, the number of science and engineering articles by US-based authors published in major peer-reviewed journals has plateaued.

US and China Crack Down on Regulation after SFDA Chief Executed; Xcellerex Receives US Grant for Biopharmaceutical Production; New FDA Guidance on Polymorphic Compounds in Generic Drugs; Comment Periods Open for ICH Q10 and Biologics Guidelines

Company and People Notes: GSK Hires Jacobs Engineering Group, Agilent Exec to Retire, More.

Last week, it was reported that the US Food and Drug Administration may start outsourcing jobs to private companies.

Catalent Pharma Solutions and Danish pharmaceutical company ALK-Abelló (Hørsholm, Denmark) will substantially increase Catalent’s “Zydis” oral-dissolving tablet production capacity dedicated to ALK-Abelló’s immunotherapy products.

Pfizer (New York) proceeded with two agreements this week: a drug-development deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York) and a license agreement with Xoma (Berkeley, CA) for antibody technology.