Press Room

Article / May 29, 2008

Business of Counterfeit Heparin and its Implications

3rd EFCG Pharma Business Conference, 29 May 2008

Why this presentation?

  • Almost 100 deaths have been traced to counterfeit heparin, probably a better data collection system would establish that many hundreds are now dead – not because of a regulatory failure but because of greed. Crime has been committed with premeditation and with recourse to science and industrial means – and nobody spells it out. and nobody spells it out.
  • Did someone make millions in profit, and poisoned to death hundreds of weak, defenseless patients? hundreds of weak, defenseless patients?
  • Is a police investigation underway?
  • Penny wise, pound foolish – these events cost / will cost billions to several big companies – and damaged brands.

Where a drug begins...

 

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With key expansions coming to fruition on either side of the pond, specialist CDMO Hovione is making sure that drugmakers can access its particle engineering expertise across multiple geographies.  That flexibility will be key for the Portugal-based company in the coming years as the pharmaceutical industry continues to embrace more regional supply chains. In a recent interview, Hovione's David Basile, VP of technical operations for the Americas, discussed this trend and the manufacturer's expansion project, which is set to come online in New Jersey next month.  In the coming weeks, Hovione plans to debut a new spray drying expansion at its campus in East Windsor, New Jersey. The company has invested $100 million to expand its campus, including new construction and the acquisition of an additional facility and greenfield land.  Specifically, one of two pharmaceutical spray drying-3 units, or PSD-3 units, will come online in the coming weeks to tackle amorphous active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and amorphous solid dispersions, according to the company. With some 80% of new small molecules in development insoluble in water, Hovione’s particle engineering and amorphous solid dispersion platform helps medicine developers improve the solubility, bioavailability, and, in some cases, the stability of their drug candidates, Basile said.  The company boasts spray dryers from the lab scale to PSD3 at its original facility in East Windsor, in addition to the pair of large-scale machines about to be activated at the campus' new facility.  “We’re going for a single, unified site with capabilities across the campus to do drug substance through finished drug product under one governance and quality system,” - Basile told Fierce.   Read the full article at FiercePharma.com

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