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The November-December Issue



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Features
Breaking News
Online Exclusives
Meetings & Events


Breaking News:

Akorn-Strides Venture Expands Pipeline
Akorn, Inc. and Strides Arcolab Ltd. have agreed to fund, develop, and commercialize an additional 10 ANDA injectable drug... » Read More


Winning R&D Productivity Strategies: Exploiting innovation, licensing and outsourcing opportunities

The need to produce novel drugs faster and more cheaply has put biopharma under intense pressure to innovate, despite rising costs and high risks. Use this report to identify key areas of growth, effective strategies and innovative technologies to improve lead generation, attrition rates and return on investment from your portfolio.

For more information on this report or to purchase it, click here


Ricerca, Bicoll Join Forces in Drug Development
Ricerca Biosciences, LLC and the Bicoll Group have signed a collaboration agreement that will combine their strengths in... » Read More



Executive Moves: Endo
Charles A. Rowland, Jr. has been appointed executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. ... » Read More



Intertek Acquires Alta Analytical Labs
Intertek Group's Oil, Chemical and Agri division (Caleb Brett) has acquired Alta Analytical Laboratories, Inc., a supplier of... » Read More



Isis Earns $1M Merck Milestone
Merck has initiated clinical development of a compound that was discovered as part of a funded research collaboration between Merck and ... » Read More



Features:

Newsmakers: Wyeth R&D
An interview with Dr. Frank Walsh, Head of Discovery Research, on Wyeth’s outsourcing strategy
by Gil Roth

How do you cope with success? Wyeth’s drug pipeline has grown by leaps and bounds, with a 400% increase in productivity from 2001-2005, in terms of compounds entering the clinic. With chemistry as the major bottleneck, the company elected to find an outsourcing partner. Searching worldwide and running pilot projects with partners in Russia, China and India, Wyeth signed an agreement Hyderabad-based GVK Bio in November 2005.

To find out how the company developed its R&D outsourcing strategy, and to see how that strategy fits into the company’s overall approach to outsourcing, we interviewed Frank Walsh, Ph.D., executive vice president, Head of Discovery Research, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Walsh joined Wyeth in 2002 and was named to his current post in January 2005.... » Read entire article



Risk Management in the Biomaterial Cold Chain
Mitigating risks & ensuring compliance
by Jeff Clark

The biopharmaceutical cold chain has begun to play an increasingly critical role in pharmaceutical and biotherapeutic development processes. It defines how temperature-sensitive biological assets are packaged, transported and stored throughout the R&D cycle. When building or evaluating their cold chain processes, drug developers must remain aware of one basic, yet often-overlooked principle: the cold chain is the same as any other chain in one key area -- it is only as strong as its weakest link.... » Read entire article



Aseptic Process Validation
Is a new FDA guidance imminent?
by Tom Spurgeon

What are the regulatory pressures facing aseptic process validation today and what will they be like over the next few years? An inquiry into existing literature and with current industry personnel reveals a corner of the pharmaceuticals industry driven by a lattice of suggested improvements, a constant hum of activity and improvements that fight to keep pace with general industry trends and emerging technology. Those working in aseptic processing validation must consistently look five years ahead and five years behind, at rules and informative processes and market realities, all of which play off one another like so many strings on a musical instrument. With an important FDA guidance revision just now beginning its long fade into routine and a brand new one described as imminent, aseptic processing and its regulatory outlook is at the forefront of pharma and biopharma business plans.... » Read entire article



Online Exclusive:

Bio News & Views Interview
by Gil Roth

In September 2006, Tandem Labs acquired PharmaKD, a Boston-based, mass spectrometry-oriented provider of drug metabolite and biomarker identification services. With the acquisition, Tandem obtained proprietary informatics that can "reduce the difficulty, complexity, and time-consuming nature of developing and launching a drug to market," according to the company. This included MarkerScan, a biomarker discovery and screening process to "efficiently identify potential biomarkers that can be used to increase the understanding of disease, diagnosis, and predictive models as well as drug compound safety, efficacy, and side-effect profiles."... » Read entire article



Major Meetings

Feb 13-16: Informex 2007
The Moscone Center West, San Francisco, CA
Contact: Informex, Tel: 202-721-4100, Fax: 202-296-8120, Web: www.informex.com
Apr 24-26: Interphex 2007
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, NY
Contact: Reed Exhibitions, Tel: 203-840-5648, Web: www.interphex.com

May 6-9: BIO 2007
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston, MA
Contact: BIO, Tel: 202-962-6655, Fax: 202-589-2545 Web: www.bio.org


See all the meetngs at http://www.contractpharma.com/meetings.php