Pharma Capsules

Expansions

Cortegra to Unveil New Technology

Cortegra (Fairfield, NJ), a leader in packaging and labeling for the pharmaceutical industry, will introduce a biometric brand-authentication technology at the 2008 INTERPHEX Show March 26–28, 2008.

The company will also showcase its new "Cortegra XPress" service, which delivers a 3–5-day turnaround on various flexible-packaging structures. In addition, Cortegra will display its solutions to California's e-pedigree requirements, including packaging that incorporates serialized and certified 2D barcodes and data-transference capabilities.

Cook Adds New Capabilities

Cook Pharmica (Bloomington, IN), the contract biopharmaceutical manufacturing division of Cook Medical, will expand its capabilities to include formulation, filling, and finishing. The addition of these capabilities will enable Cook to be a centralized source for biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients' needs from cell-line development through parenteral finished packaging.

Cook Pharmica's Bloomington, Indiana facility.

After the expansion, Cook's manufacturing capacity will include aseptically-filled parenteral vials and syringes for products such as simple solutions and diluents, suspensions, vaccines, proteins, and biologics.

Vetter Builds New Facility

Vetter Pharma Fertigung (Ravensburg, Germany) started constructing a new facility for visual inspection and secondary packaging. The new building will be located near Ravensburg Vetter South (RVS), Vetter's existing state-of-the-art facility. The expansion will cost approximately EUR 20 million and create more than 200 new jobs.

Thomas Otto, Vetter's managing director, said the facility will meet new international requirements such as the adoption of anticounterfeiting safety systems. The facility will open by the end of 2008.

Mar-Kov Installs Software at J&J Site

Mar-Kov Computer Systems (Toronto, Canada), a leading provider of manufacturing execution system software (MES), completed the installation of its MES solution for pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers at Johnson & Johnson's site in Morris Plains, New Jersey.

The software supports research and pilot-plant environments. The system provides rules-based personal protection equipment assignment, project-based inventory planning, web-based ordering of bulk inventory, and support for at-risk manufacturing.

Alliance

Azopharma Partners with Accu-Break

Azopharma Product Development Group (Miramar, FL) and ACCU-BREAK Pharmaceuticals (ABP, Plantation, FL) signed a strategic alliance agreement. Under the agreement, Azopharma will be the "center of excellence" for developing products based on ABP's "ACCU-BREAK" tablet technologies, which allow for accurate and individualized dosage adjustment.

Dr. Allan Kaplan, CEO of ABP, said ACCU-BREAK technologies create an inactive break layer in tablets, thus enabling patients to break them into partial doses accurately. He said the technologies also provide a solution for formulation challenges such as separating incompatible active ingredients to facilitate the development of unique combination-therapy products.

People

Bilcare Welcomes New President

David Laskow-Pooley, former CEO of Surface Therapeutics joined Bilcare Global Clinical Supplies (Crickhowell, UK) as president. Laskow-Pooley will head the European Union Region of Bilcare GCS, a global firm with offices in the United States, India, and Singapore.

Laskow-Pooley has 30 years of experience in all aspects of the discovery, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical and healthcare products. He has worked for companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Abbott, Invitrogen, and Amersham in Europe.

Ross Names Senior Product Manager

Charles Ross and Son (Hauppauge, NY) promoted Bill Alhofen to senior product manager. Alhofen's new responsibilities include general sales and product-management duties. He will also work with the company's network of sales representatives.

Alhofen joined the company in 1986 and has worked in several areas of the business, including purchasing, inside and outside sales, and product-management positions. He works at Ross's corporate headquarters in Hauppauge.

Acquisition

SPX Buys APV

SPX (Charlotte, NC) completed the acquisition of APV (London), a global manufacturer of process equipment and engineered solutions primarily for the sanitary market. SPX first announced that it had agreed to acquire APV on Oct. 31, 2007. APV will be operated as part of SPX's flow-technology segment.

APV was previously a division of Invensys (London), an international industrial automation, transportation, and controls group. APV's primary products include pumps, valves, heat exchangers, and homogenizers for the pharmaceutical and food industries.