The Gabriel-Chemie Group has announced the opening of a new warehouse that will now serve as the central logistics hub for the entire Gabriel-Chemie group. Covering a total area of 3,200 m² and with space for 5,000 pallets, the new facility sets standards in storage capabilities and efficiency. A significant contribution to the company’s sustainability efforts is the integration of a photovoltaic system with a power output of 320 kWp. This system supports the facility’s energy needs and contributes to a long-term reduction in the company’s carbon footprint. The semi-automated, mobile shelving system maximizes pallet space per square meter. Compared to…

Investors worldwide are scouring for their next big win after the door to the extremely lucrative obesity market was opened by pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Now benefiting on the Swedish stock exchange is a smaller Nordic biotech company.  Pila Pharma, a smaller Nordic biotech company listed on the Nasdaq First North exchange in Stockholm, has enjoyed an unusually good stock market year. The company was founded by Dorte X. Gram, a former Novo Nordisk researcher who during her time at the company discovered a potentially new mechanism of action for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Pila Pharma,…

Gerresheimer announces that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted SQ Innovation Tentative Approval for Lasix ONYU for the home treatment of fluid overload in congestive heart failure. Lasix ONYU is a combination product consisting of a novel high-concentration formulation of the diuretic furosemide and the Gerresheimer on-body drug delivery device. Tentative Approval indicates here that Lasix ONYU has met the regulatory standards for quality, safety and efficacy required for approval in the United States. Full approval was precluded because the FDA had granted market exclusivity in the USA for a competing product until October 2025. SQ Innovation will seek full…

Steriline, a European company producing standard and robotic lines for the aseptic processing of injectable products, ends 2024 by consolidating its presence in the ophthalmic sector, a market in which Annex 1 has required a significant improvement in technologies. Because of its over thirty years of experience in the sterile-environment filling of injectable drugs, Steriline was chosen by Tubilux Pharma, which is part of the Content Group.  The advanced technologies in the group’s plants, combined with extensive professional skills and human qualities, make Content Group a solid pharmaceutical company specialised in the development, production, filling and packaging of pharmaceuticals for…

Without aligned process improvements across Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Pharmacovigilance/Drug Safety, pharma companies risk limiting their overall market performance, says MAIN5’s Tobias Hitziger.  Multiplying market challenges mean pharma R&D organisations have no choice but to make their operational processes as efficient as possible if they are to remain commercially viable. Yet, today, across pharma Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Pharmacovigilance/Drug Safety functions, process rigour is wedded tightly to standard operating procedures (SOPs), ensuring a standardised way of working. These snapshot definitions of processes do not, of themselves, foster efficiency nor effectiveness however.   Even where processes are improved and optimised over time,…

Pharmapack Europe has announced the finalists for the Pharmapack Awards 2025. Winners will be revealed at an exclusive ceremony hosted during the event’s opening evening and will celebrate excellence and innovation across eight dynamic categories. Pharmapack welcomes over 5,700 industry professionals and nearly 400 exhibitors, and is widely acknowledged as the definitive hub for partnering across packaging and drug delivery, but also a key window in tomorrow’s biggest innovations. The annual awards recognise our industry’s brightest stars – companies, teams, and individuals – that are revolutionising the sector with novel approaches that prioritise sustainability, patient-centricity, and technical advancements. This year introduces three exciting…

MGS, in collaboration with its product design and development firm Technolution, share how they take sustainability into consideration in their product design process using a transformative set of six Eco-Design Principles to help Pharma, Diagnostic and MedTech innovators reduce their environmental footprint. In response to today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, where sustainability is becoming a priority for consumers, medical device manufacturers are at the forefront of balancing cutting-edge, eco-friendly solutions with the need for patient safety. As the demand for medical treatment surges—fuelled by an ageing population, sedentary lifestyles, and breakthroughs in pharmaceutical technologies—the healthcare sector’s environmental impact continues to…

Gerresheimer, an innovative systems and solutions provider and global partner for the pharma, biotech and cosmetics industries, has completed the acquisition of Blitz LuxCo Sarl, the holding company of the Bormioli Pharma Group announced in May 2024. The closing was preceded by the fulfilment of customary closing conditions. Bormioli Pharma has a portfolio of pharmaceutical primary packaging made of glass and plastic as well as closure solutions, accessories and dosing systems that is complementary to Gerresheimer. With this acquisition, Gerresheimer strengthens its European footprint with additional production sites and underpins its market position as a leading full-service provider and global…

Noema Pharma, a clinical-stage biotech company targeting debilitating central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced the close of a Series B extension financing round with an investment from EQT Life Sciences, bringing the total capital raised in the round to CHF 130 million (approx. $147 million).  With its investment in Noema Pharma, EQT Life Sciences joins the syndicate of previous Series B investors including Forbion, Jeito Capital, Sofinnova Partners, Gilde Healthcare, Polaris Partners, Invus and UPMC Enterprises. The new financing will support Noema Pharma’s four active Phase 2 trials, with key data readouts anticipated in 2025. This includes additional development activities for basimglurant (NOE-101), an mGluR5…

Asahi Kasei Pharma has taken another step in its transformation into a global specialty pharmaceuticals company through a new licensing agreement with Chiome Bioscience for its humanised anti-CX3CR1 antibody. The partnership exemplifies Asahi Kasei Pharma’s Open Innovation platform, which addresses unmet medical needs through strategic collaboration and cutting-edge science. The anti-CX3CR1 antibody, currently in preclinical development, works by inhibiting CX3CR1, a receptor involved in immune cell migration to inflammatory sites. By accelerating its development, Asahi Kasei Pharma aims to bring an innovative therapy to market that could significantly improve patient outcomes. “By establishing an effective co-creation framework with Chiome, we…

Astoriom has developed a new cryogenic storage suite at its Tramore facility, bringing unmatched capabilities for biological sample storage to Ireland.  Local representative Gerald Hurley, CEO of Waterford Chamber of Commerce, joined the Astoriom’s team for the company’s expansion into a new purpose built cryo suite, marking the significant milestone for the local community and Ireland’s growing life science sector.   The dedicated cryogenic suite meets the growing demands of industries requiring safe, long-term preservation of biological materials while ensuring the long-term viability of their samples.  Building on its existing customer base from its site in Tramore, which offers stability storage, disaster recovery,…

electronRx, a digital medicine and biomarker company driving healthcare through pulmonary innovation, has announced that it will launch purpleDx, a cardiopulmonary assessment app built to medical device standards, at CES 2025 from 7–10th January in Las Vegas, USA. The technology enables chronic respiratory disease (CRD) patients to detect and monitor digital biomarkers of lung function at home, while providing clinicians with real-time data to customise treatment plans and help improve patient outcomes. purpleDx is a smartphone app with accompanying clinical dashboard to support clinicians in detecting, monitoring, and treating pulmonary diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung disease and pulmonary…

The ENGEL Group subsidiary, TMA AUTOMATION Sp. z o.o., has begun construction of a modern office and production building in the immediate vicinity of Gdansk Airport in Poland.  The strategically favourable location offers an access to various educational and training institutions, including technical universities in the region. This supports the long-term recruitment of highly qualified specialists and strengthens the ENGEL Group’s position in the field of highly integrated and automated production solutions.   The background to the new building is the planned growth of TMA AUTOMATION: the workforce is to be doubled in the medium term, creating new jobs and enabling…

TekniPlex Healthcare will emphasise two recent EU-based capacity and capabilities expansions at Pharmapack Europe, 22-23rd January in Paris. At Stand E97, the company will highlight its efforts to meet growing demand for sophisticated vials, bellow bottles and cleanroom-produced multilayer blown films, and also showcase products from its existing portfolio of healthcare packaging solutions.   At its facility in Modena, Italy, TekniPlex Healthcare has added substantial injection blow moulding capacity for multidose vial packaging, which support a variety of pharmaceutical liquid applications – including the growing ophthalmic market. Standard bottles range from 5-30 ml, including a 10 ml squeezable container designed specifically…

Phastar, a specialist biometrics contract research organisation (CRO), has won the Best CRO – Specialist Providers category at the 2024 Scrip Awards.   Presented at Raffles London at the OWO on Wednesday, December 4th, Phastar was recognised for its specialised biometrics solutions, advanced clinical analytics, data visualisation, and its Recruitment Forecasting app, available through their Clinical Intelligence Portal.   Phastar’s Clinical Intelligence Portal was fundamental in securing the award, demonstrating advanced data visualisation and analytics techniques that transform data into actionable insights. As a certified B Corporation, Phastar illustrated how they support their environment, social, and governance (ESG) goals through SBTi Net-Zero targets,…

Portescap’s business development manager for medical applications, Dave Beckstoffer, explains how drive systems for wearable and automatic drug delivery devices are central to the patient outcome. Key to ensuring their value is materials specification, which helps achieve critical factors such as delivery precision, device reliability, and light weight for comfortable use. Material selection significantly impacts the industrialisation of the drive system too. Whether the design can achieve the right performance, at the right cost point, means focus on material choice is essential throughout a development project. In line with the increasing push from the pharmaceutical market to deliver biologics from…

NEC Bio Therapeutics presents 24-week promising interim results from an ongoing Phase 1 basket clinical trial of an orally administered cancer vaccine, NECVAX-NEO1, used in combination with checkpoint inhibitors (CPI) for treating patients with solid tumours. NECVAX-NEO1 is a personalised bacteria-based oral DNA therapeutic vaccine, developed using AI prediction of the most immunogenic patient-specific neoepitopes. This vaccine is designed to activate the patient’s immune system, prompting a T-cell response that can precisely target and eliminate tumor cells based on the individual’s unique neoantigens. In the phase 1 study, 5 patients with melanoma, renal cell cancer, or head and neck cancer,…

Neuraxpharm Group (Neuraxpharm) and Pharmathen have announced a strategic alliance to co-develop new long-acting injectable therapies within the psychiatry field under Pharmathen’s long-acting therapeutic technologies (LATT) program. Under this agreement, Neuraxpharm will have exclusive rights to commercialise these therapies in Europe, and in countries outside of Europe where the group has a direct presence, while Pharmathen will have exclusive rights for North America and all other countries not covered by Neuraxpharm. Pharmathen’s LATT program uses its proprietary technologies to replace traditionally available short acting dosage forms, such as tablets or injectables, into longer acting injectable therapies to address unmet needs of…

The global pharmaceutical industry is facing unprecedented supply chain challenges in the current climate of geopolitical uncertainty. Marco Gorgas, chief technical officer, Adragos Pharma explains. The intricate network of manufacturing, sourcing, and distribution that pharmaceuticals rely on is vulnerable to disruption due to rising tensions between major economies. These disruptions threaten the timely delivery of essential medicines, the availability of raw materials, and the stability of prices.  In light of this ongoing uncertainty, we spoke to Marco Gorgas, chief technical officer at contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), Adragos Pharma, to explore how it is working with partners to develop a…

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is working on enhancing the safety of modern lithium-ion batteries, thereby advancing the future of electromobility. This commitment was honoured with an industry award. Dr. Ruth Bieringer, vice president material technology at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, received the Meyer-Galow Prize for Industrial Chemistry 2024 for two innovations – the development of high-temperature-resistant plastics and flame protection barriers.  Bieringer, who has a doctorate in chemistry and oversees material development at the technology company, accepted the €10,000 award on December 10, 2024. Representatives of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, the German Chemical Society (GDCh), the society’s founder Professor Dr. Erhard Meyer-Galow and others paid…

NewAge Industries, parent company of AdvantaPure and NewAge Performance Products, has announced the appointment of Mary Marcus to the position of CEO.  “Since her arrival in 2008, Mary has been a vital part of NewAge Industries. In her most recent role as Interim CEO & General Manager, Mary has successfully led the organisation while strategically positioning it as a global leader with tremendous growth opportunity within the industry,” said Andreas Georghiou, lead director of the Board.  “I enthusiastically support Mary’s appointment to CEO. I have been impressed by her commitment and dedication to the Company, its team members and to our…

Concinnity Genetics, an Edinburgh-based gene control company, has announced the closure of its oversubscribed £3m seed funding round. The investment was led by Eos Advisory with support from Scottish Enterprise, Old College Capital (OCC) – the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund, and Maven Capital Partners. Co-founded by Jessica Birt and Dr Matthew Dale, Concinnity is transforming the safety of gene therapies by designing novel control mechanisms using its AI platform and synthetic biology expertise. These unique RNA-based systems enable the precise control of gene therapies even after dosing, conveying the ability to respond to and reduce their own…