July 12, 2007 Notes: The Bosch Group Acquires Pharmatech, InterMune Enters Supply Agreement with Boehringer-Ingelheim, More

Company Notes

Bridgewater, NJ (July 11)-Alpharma Pharmaceutical Co. completed its agreement with Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co. (Taizhou, China) to double its capacity to manufacture vancomycin, one of Hisun’s major active ingredients, subject to American and European regulatory approvals. Vancomycin treats severe gram-positive hospital infections. Alpharma currently manufactures vancomycin at its sites in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Budapest, Hungary.

Cramlington, UK (July 6)-Angel Biotechnology Holdings plc, a biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer, signed a contract with Materia Medica Holdings (Moscow) for the process development and manufacture of polyclonal antibodies. The contract is valued at approximately 450,000 ($914,000).

Stuttgart, Germany (July 1)-The Bosch Group acquired Pharmatec GmbH (Dresden, Germany) from Fresenius ProServe GmbH (Bad Homburg, Germany). This transaction includes Pharmatec’s subsidiary Schoeller-Bleckmann Medizintechnik GmbH (Ternitz, Austria) and was approved by the relevant antitrust authorities without conditions. Pharmatec is pharmaceutical-plant engineering company that focuses on hygienic and sterile process technologies.

Ahmedabad, India (July 9)-Indian contract-manufacturing organization Dishman Pharmaceuticals will buy Solvay Pharmaceuticals’s (Brussels) fine-chemicals and vitamin businesses for an undisclosed sum. As part of the transaction, Dishman will buy Solvay’s Veenendal, Netherlands, facilities, as well as the intellectual property rights for fine chemicals, vitamin D, and the vitamin D analogs business.

Rockville, MD (July 3)-Emergent BioSolutions Inc., signed a $30-million loan agreement with HSBC Realty Credit Corporation. The company will use these funds primarily for its manufacturing expansion in Lansing, Michigan.

Cambridge, MA (July 10)-Genzyme Corp. completed its tender offer to acquire shares of Bioenvision, Inc. (New York) capital stock. Bioenvision will now prepare a proxy statement for a shareholder meeting to occur before the end of the year.

Brisbane, CA (July 9)-InterMune, Inc. entered into a supply agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim Austria GmbH (Vienna) for “Actimmune” (interferon gamma-1b). InterMune thus eliminates roughly $91.6 million in future purchase commitments for Actimmune that existed under the previous supply agreement. InterMune will pay Boehringer Ingelheim Austria approximately $5.5 million to terminate the existing supply agreement and to enter into the new supply agreement.

Pasadena, CA (July 3)-Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. will provide engineering, procurement, and construction-management services for Novartis’s (Basel, Switzerland) new manufacturing facility to be located in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The new facility will produce trivalent pandemic and interpandemic influenza vaccines using a cell-culture-based process for American and overseas markets. Officials did not disclose the contract value.

Geneva (July 6)-The Civil Court of Basel cancelled all remaining publicly held shares of Merck Serono S.A. (Merck Serono) and annulled all outstanding rights to acquire such shares. Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) now holds 100% of Merck Serono’s shares, which will be delisted from the SWX Swiss Exchange on July 18. The final trading day is expected to be July 17, 2007.

Victoria, Australia (July 3)-Monash University joined forces with international life-sciences supply company Tecan (Zurich, Switzerland) to develop a new state-of-the-art monoclonal-antibody production system at the university?s Clayton campus. The facility will produce thousands of novel antibodies every year for researchers around the world and be the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.

Surrey, UK (June 27)-NextPharma Technologies announced a ?30-million ($41-million) fundraising round, of which ?16 million ($22 million) will be invested in expanding the company’s injectable-cytotoxics manufacturing site in Braine L’Alleud, Belgium. This investment will more than double the facility’s capacity, and the facility will be online in 2009. NextPharma also acquired Bioserv Corp. (San Diego, CA), a contract manufacturing company.

Miami, FL (July 10)-Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. agreed to acquire JDS Pharmaceuticals, LLC (New York) for approximately $125 million cash plus the assumption of approximately $10 million in net liabilities. JDS is a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company that markets two branded prescription psychiatry products and is advancing a pipeline of psychiatric and women’s-health drugs.

Parsippany, NJ (July 3)-As part of its effort to restructure and consolidate operations, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. sold its former headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, to the University of Utah. The company also sold its Mississauga, ON, Canada, pilot manufacturing and laboratory facility to Transglobe Property Management Services Ltd. NPS will consolidate its operations at a new headquarters location in Bedminster, New Jersey, later this year.

Research Triangle Park, NC (July 5)-Quintiles Transnational Corp. plans to expand and consolidate its Global Central Laboratories in Smyrna, Georgia, and its Clinical Development Services office in Atlanta, Georgia, within a single structure in nearby Marietta, Georgia. The 201,366-ft², three-story structure in Marietta will more than double the combined space now occupied by Global Central Laboratories in Smyrna and CDS in Atlanta and allow the addition of about 400 jobs through 2011. Renovation of the structure is expected to begin the third quarter of 2007.

Neuilly-sur-Seine, France (July 5)-Servier, an independent French drug company, opened a new manufacturing center in Sophyno, Russia, to produce brand-name drugs for the local market. The facility, the result of a 40-million euro ($55-million) investment, is expected to produce 60 million packs and employ more than 180 people.

Abingdon, UK (June 27)-Vastox completed the construction of its good manufacturing practices facility located at its subsidiary company, Dextra Laboratories (Reading, UK), which it will now use for in-house and contract manufacturing.

People Notes

Albany, NY (July 2)-Prasad S. Raje, PhD, assumed leadership responsibility for Albany Molecular Research’s (AMRI) manufacturing business in India. Raje transferred from Syracuse, New York, to the company’s offices in Mumbai, India. Raje will report to Jonathan Evans, AMRI’s vice-president for pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.

San Carlos, CA (July 11)-Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutic products for the treatment of celiac sprue, appointed Abhay Joshi, PhD, president and chief executive officer. Joshi will be based in the company’s new facility in San Carlos. Most recently, Joshi served as executive vice-president and chief technical officer at CoTherix, Inc.

Victoria, BC, Canada (July 11)-Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corp. appointed Dr. J. William Freytag chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Richard Glickman, effective immediately. Glickman, one of Aspreva’s founders and the company’s first chairman and CEO, had announced his planned departure from Aspreva in May 2007.

San Diego (July 10)-Cylene Pharmaceuticals added Dr. David M. Ryckman to its management team. Ryckman will serve as vice-president of manufacturing and pharmaceutical operations and will lead Cylene’s scale-up and manufacturing operations. He has nearly 20 years of experience in developing formulation and process chemistries.

Parsippany, NJ (July 3)-NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. promoted François Nader, to executive vice-president and chief operating officer. Nader will manage NPS’s research and development, regulatory affairs, and commercial operations and will plan and implement the company’s outsourcing business model Nader previously served as senior vice-president of integrated healthcare markets and head of North American medical and regulatory affairs at Aventis Pharmaceuticals.

Cambridge, MA (June 29)-Biopharmaceutical company Targanta Therapeutics promoted Vice-President of Operations and Manufacturing Roger Miller, naming him the site head for the company’s Indianapolis, Indiana, facility.