Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - February 2012 - (Page 7)

NEWS BITES Outsourcing revenue to grow by 50% A report from Frost & Sullivan has forecast that the utilisation rates of pharma’s manufacturing plants will decrease by half in the coming years, triggering an increase in outsourcing. According to a European Pharmaceutical and Biotech Contract Manufacturing Markets report, the European pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market could earn revenues of up to $20.75 billion in 2018, almost double that of 2011’s revenue when the market earned $10.02 billion. Currently, Big Pharma companies contribute to around 10–25% of the total revenues for CMOs, but this could rise to 40% by 2013 and to 50% by 2018. PharmTech.com/ FrostReport FDA’s social media insight The FDA has released its Responding to Unsolicited Requests for OffLabel Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices draft guidance that includes recommendations on responding through online channels such as forums and chat rooms. Many firms encounter requests for off-label information about their products on the internet and the FDA recognises that firms can respond in a “truthful, non-misleading, and accurate manner”. If a firm responds in the manner described in the draft guidance, the FDA said that it will not use such responses as evidence of a firm’s intent that the product be used for unapproved or cleared uses. PharmTech.com/FDAInsight Takeda to axe 2100 jobs in Europe Takeda has announced “strategic measures to achieve efficiencies for long-term growth”, which includes cutting close to 3000 jobs, 2100 of which will come from Europe. According to Takeda, the measures will better align the global workforce, consolidate operations and help to integrate Nycomed, which the company acquired in 2011. A number of sites and functions will be consolidated, including the potential merger or liquidation of subsidiaries and a reduction of the company’s US workforce. Overall, 2800 positions are expected to be axed by the end of 2015. PharmTech.com/Takedacuts Call for funding to end animal experiments As the EU debates how best to spend billions of Euros’ worth of scientific research funding from the Horizon 2020 initiative, the Humane Society International/ Europe has issued a call to develop in vitro and computational techniques that can replace the use of animals in medical experiments. The society claims that there are many limitations in medical research that can be attributed to animal experiments, explaining that 92% of new drug candidates that are safe and effective in animal studies fail when given to humans. PharmTech.com/Horizon 2 SPECIAL FEATURE 12 INTERVIEW 7 NEWS BITES 13 COLUMN CRUNCH 9 BLOG 15 PEER REVIEW 11 CLOUD COMPUTING 16 TOP TECH http://www.PharmTech.com/FrostReport http://www.PharmTech.com/FrostReport http://www.PharmTech.com/FDAInsight http://www.PharmTech.com/Takedacuts http://www.PharmTech.com/Horizon

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - February 2012

Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - February 2012
Contents
Innovations, drivers and trends in self-injection technology
News Bites, twitter and poll
Blogs Abridged
Focus: Cloud computing
Interview: Nanomedicine advances
Column Crunch: Servier scandal, Biomanufacturing, and more
Evaluating drug impurities
Top Tech

Pharmaceutical Technology Europe - February 2012