Manufacturing

China is on the rise as a center for pharmaceutical R&D, but companies are still getting their footing for operating in China and the services industry has some maturing to do.

The hydrophilic matrix system continues to be the most popular and widely used strategy to achieve extended drug release. Hypromellose (hydroxypropylmethylcellulose [HPMC]) is typically the polymer of choice for the rate-controlling carrier in these systems.

One of the biggest barriers research and academic institutions face is the ability to get discoveries made in the lab into clinical testing. Because only small amounts of drugs are used in these early studies, they represent fewer potential risks for people in these trials.

Constraints associated with equipment can make scale-down a challenging exercise.

The big challenge for pharmaceutical companies is to mathematically model their production processes, combining both data from the laboratory and the production process.

The US Food and Drug Administration (Rockville, MD) approved the first generic versions of "Zocor" (simvastatin), the anticholesterol drug by Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ).

On June 15, 2006, the US Food and Drug Evaluation?s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (Rockville, MD) issued a 7-page warning letter to Ranbaxy Laboratories (Himachal Pradesh, India) for violations to US current good manufacturing practices.

Pfizer, Inc. (New York, NY) will phase out manufacturing operations in Groton, Connecticut, eliminating roughly 300 jobs.

This week, the US Food and Drug Administration (Rockville, MD) posted a Warning Letter issued May 31 by its New Jersey District Office (Parsippany, NJ) to Neil Laboratories (East Windsor, NJ) for CGMP deviations.

Drug development opportunities, specification development, and new vaccine technologies were highlighted at the AAPS National Biotechnolgy Conference in Boston this week. More than 1100 attendees from 19 countries participated in the event.

Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA) announced the winners of the Microsoft Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences Innovation Awards 2006 at this year?s meeting of the Drug Information Association in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A four-person panel of industry experts selected winners for the innovative use of Microsoft products in pharmaceutical and life sciences business processes and practices.

The ongoing battle between Bayer AG (Leverkusen, Germany) and Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany) in their respective quests to acquire Schering AG (Berlin, Germany) was resolved this week, with Merck KGaA agreeing to sell its 21.8% stake in Schering to Bayer.

NPIL Pharma, a subsidiary of Nicholas Piramal India Limited (Mumbai, India) has agreed to acquire the Morpeth, Northumberland, UK, manufacturing facility of Pfizer Inc. (New York, NY).

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK, London, UK) will invest more than GBP102 million ($188 million) over the next four years in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Singapore.

This week?s PharmTech Annual Event (www.pharmtechevent.com) in Somerset, New Jersey, targeted approaches to improving drug development and quality through optimizing processes, managing risk, and controlling variations in manufacturing operations.

The US Food and Drug Administration?s Counterfeit Drug Task Force (Rockville, MD, www.fda.gov) is recommending regulatory actions and the implementation of new technologies for reducing the risk of counterfeit drugs entering the United States. The group has followed up on its original 2004 report, in which it outlined the framework for protecting the public from counterfeit medicines, and an updated 2005 report with a third document encouraging electronic pedigrees, improved traceability in the drug supply chain, and the adoption of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tools.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, Washington, DC) awarded biotech company Cangene (Winnipeg, MB, Canada) a $362-million Project Bioshield supply contract for 200,000 doses of botulinum toxin immune globulin (heptavalent botulism antitoxin).

Recombinomics (Pittsburgh, PA) is again urging the World Health Organization to fully release all H5N1 avian influenza sequences, claiming their release would improve the selection of vaccines by helping scientists to identify the origin of the isolates and predict sequence changes.

Degussa AG (D?sseldorf, Germany) and Lynchem Co., Ltd. (Dalian, Liaoning Province, China) signed a contract to establish a custom manufacturing joint venture.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Foster City, CA) signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Canadian subsidiary Raylo Chemicals and most of its assets from Degussa AG (D?sseldorf, Germany) for 115.2 million euros ($147 million).

Noting several violations in current good manufacturing practice regulations, the US Food and Drug Administration has issued a Warning Letter to Wyeth Pharmaceuticals?s (Collegville, PA) manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico.

Sandoz (Holzkirchen, Germany), the generics arm of Novartis (Basel, Switzerland), received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (Rockville, MD) for "Omnitrope" (somatropin [rDNA origin]), a follow-on version of a previously approved recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) product.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS, New York, NY) selected Devens, Massachusetts as the site for its new, large-scale, multiproduct bulk biologics facility.

China?s State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA, Beijing, China) issued a notice on May 18, 2006, requiring drug regulatory departments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities to further strengthen the supervision and management of drug manufacturers.

Schering-Plough Corporation (Kenilworth, NJ) announced plans to phase out manufacturing operations at its Manati, Puerto Rico site, expecting to discontinue operations there by the end of 2006.