The lab automation company Beckman Coulter Life Sciences has acquired the Dublin, Ireland–based biotech company ValitaCell. ValitaCell specializes in developing analytical technologies based on rich cell data to reduce the cost of commercializing new therapeutics. ValitaCell  boasts that its ValitaTiter product fares better than other industry IgG quantification assays in terms of speed and ease…

The National Science Foundation has granted Purdue University researchers a $3 million grant to explore new pharma waste reduction strategies. While many life science companies have prioritized sustainability initiatives, the pharmaceutical industry continues to generate substantial sums of toxic waste. “It’s a waste problem that causes economic, social and environmentally negative impact,” noted project leader…

Demand remains strong for instruments used for measuring liquid samples thanks in large part to strong demand across the healthcare sector. Pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics labs and academic institutions are notable consumers of liquid handling systems.  Pipette tips are a notable example of a liquid handling product observing growth demand. According to Future Market Insights, the…

The presence of toxic nitrosamine impurities in drug substances and drug products has become a significant focus for the pharmaceutical industry following their identification above permitted limits in common drug products prescribed for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heartburn. To learn more about the situation, we interviewed David Elder – CMC consultant –…

Automation company Comau has introduced the ruggedized Racer-5 Sensitive Environments (Racer-5 SE) robot for use in the pharmaceutical, health and beauty, food and beverage and electronics industries. The robot is designed to support the demands of cleanrooms and other sensitive environments with significant controls against contamination. The Racer-5 can be used in grade 6 ISO…

Touchlight, a British biotech focused on enzymatic DNA production, has announced signing a non-exclusive patent license agreement with Pfizer. The worldwide deal will give Pfizer rights to Touchlight’s enzymatic doggybone DNA (dbDNA) patent portfolio for use in manufacture and commercialization of mRNA-based vaccines, therapeutics and gene therapies. dbDNA is a synthetic DNA vector and enzymatic…

The multinational conglomerate Fujifilm will invest $1.6 billion to improve and ramp up the cell culture manufacturing services of its CDMO subsidiary Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies. Most of the investment will focus on a site in Hillerød, Denmark. A site in College Station, Texas, will also benefit from a funding injection. The investment will increase the…

The robotics firm Wyzo (Ecublens, Switzerland) has announced that it has won two design awards. The first is the Design Award in the Industry & Tools Category from iF while the second is the Best of the Best Award from Red Dot for Industrial Equipment, Product Design and Robotics. “These awards show how important it is to take care of the…

The contract manufacturing firm SMC Ltd. has opened a new pharmaceutical development subsidiary known as Cambridge Pharma in Cambridge Research Park. The Cambridge Pharma facility will include sterile fill-finish offerings, a process development laboratory and an analytical laboratory. The company can fill batches of 100 to 10,000 units. It also will offer process development, scale…

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE:BDX) has partnered with the private equity firm Frazier Healthcare Partners to acquire Parata Systems, a provider of pharmacy automation solutions. The purchase price of the acquisition is $1.525 billion. Founded in 2006, Parata Systems offers a range of products and services, including medication adherence packaging technology and perpetual inventory…