Manufacturing

The biotechnology company Discovery Laboratories Inc. (Warrington, PA, www.discoverylabs.com) reports that analysis of ongoing stability data from "Surfaxin" process validation batches indicates that certain stability parameters have not been achieved, and additional process validation batches will likely have to be produced.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA, www.agilent.com) announced April 17 that it acquired SynPro Corp. (Boulder, CO), a contract manufacturer of oligonucleotide active pharmaceutical ingredients. Earlier, Dalton Pharma Services (Toronto), announced that it had completed a multi-gram CGMP oligonucleotide production facility.

Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) has closed on its $5.4-billion acquisition of Chiron Corporation (Emeryville, CA), paving the way for the creation of a new Novartis division focusing on vaccines and diagnostics.

Reverse Genetics Avian Influenza Vaccine Approved in France

GSK Begins Clinical Trials of Two H5N1 Vaccines

The need to curb drug counterfeiting is spurring development of track-and-trace and product authentication technologies.

Performing D-value and population verification is critical in the acceptance criteria for allowing a new lot of biological indicators into a facility before acceptance and use of the lot in validation work or routine monitoring of sterilization cycles.

Despite worries that industry is slow to adopt anticounterfeiting technologies, the 2006 Interphex program is rife with new methods for securing the supply chain.

Absorption promoters and enhancers and enzyme inhibitors, either alone or in combination, can play an important role in improving the bioavailability of oral insulin.

Senior management must be the champions of change in companies that are struggling financially or organizationally.

Cell-culture technology and financial incentives give influenza vaccine makers a much-needed shot in the arm, but many downstream processing issues remain unaddressed.

The right choice [of coding and marking technology] depends upon the company's top priorities regarding legibility, cost, speed, ease of use, cleanliness and security.

Creation and qualification of scale-down models are essential for performing several critical activities that support process validation and commercial manufacturing. As shown in Figure 1, these activities include process characterization and production support studies that are performed to evaluate column and membrane lifetimes, demonstrate clearance of host-cell impurities and viruses and troubleshoot manufacturing issues. While the underlying fundamentals are relatively the same as those when scaling up, some unique considerations should be taken when scaling unit operations down.4

Once the brightest students are interested in bioprocessing, it is vital that they are prepared and inducted into industry.

Progress Continues in Vaccine and Antiviral Development

Implementing a PAT Strategy

RFID and the Future of Pharmaceutical Supply Chains

Chiron Withdraws Measles Vaccine

Development Begins on Mutated H5N1 Virus Vaccine

Proposed Legislation to Help Fight Counterfeit Drugs

Novavax, Bharat Biotech Team for Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Development

Facing still-sluggish market conditions and a changing world order in fine chemicals, the large Western custom manufacturers are responding by building their toolboxes in specialized technologies in chiral chemistry, catalysis, and biosciences and by adjusting their manufacturing networks via streamlining or investment in Asia.

Adding a cleaning step to the field-testing protocol, and combining it with the data generated to register sanitizing and disinfectant agents under FIFRA and the CEN TC 216 work program, produces a sanitation-and-disinfection validation methodology that is cost-effective, simple, and time-saving.

Quantitative data from the literature show strong relationships among average particle size, powder densification, tensile strength, and hardness.

Analytical tools and methods that require less water and detergent are gaining interest for faster, more efficient cleaning.