The Pack Expo International 2010 show, held by the trade association Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) in Chicago this week, featured the latest in packaging and processing technologies. Pharmaceutical Technology talked to representatives from two exhibitors, Systech International and Marchesini Group, to discover their impressions of the event. Read more »

A new report, Phony Drugs, Real Solutions: Practical Anti-counterfeiting Considerations, by technology product design and development firm Cambridge Consultants, gives an update of the problem of counterfeiting and diversion of pharmaceuticals and offers solutions to manufacturers for protecting their brands and consumers. The report’s authors conducted in-depth interviews with leaders from pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, as well as technology developers and industry bodies. Read more »

Industry executives revealed their biggest worries for global supply-chain management in a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the analyst firm Axendia that focused on major areas of concern in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The report, titled Achieving Global Supply Chain Visibility, Control & Collaboration in Life Sciences: Business Imperative, Regulatory Necessity, surveyed 112 executives from the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology sectors. Read more »

Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, spoke about the growing problem of counterfeit drugs at last Friday’s Counterfeit Drug Interchange Conference in Washington, DC, hosted by the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), a collection of more than 60 non-profit organizations focused on the safety of prescription drugs. Read more »

Johnson & Johnson CEO William Weldon admitted last week that the company “should have handled things differently” in regard to its “phantom recall” of Motrin. The second hearing of The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform focused on the “phantom recall,” in which outside contractors were hired to pose as customers and buy two lots of 8-caplet Motrin vials to remove them from store shelves. Read more »

Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO William Weldon is scheduled to testify at today’s hearing held by the The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Weldon is expected to answer questions about J&J/McNeil Consumer Healthcare’s April 30, 2010, recall of more than 135 million bottles of infants’ and children’s medication. Read more »

Sproxil, a provider of brand-protection services, has developed a program designed to track donated food and healthcare goods as well as prevent illegal diversion. The company will present its Commitment to Action, “Preventing the Diversion of Medical and Food Donations,” at the 6th annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), taking place September 20–23 in New York City. Read more »

The US Food and Drug Administration’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee yesterday voted 9–5 against approval of Arena Pharmaceuticals’ (San Diego) appetite-curbing drug candidate lorcaserin hydrochloride. The panel believed that the risks outweigh the benefits of the drug for the treatment of obesity. Concerns focused on increased rates of depression and memory loss in patients as well as the presence of tumors in rats during early testing of lorcaserin. Read more »

Last week, Japanese drugmaker Takeda (Osaka, Japan) struck a deal with biopharmaceutical company Orexigen (La Jolla, CA) for the commercialization of its investigational obesity drug Contrave (naltrexone SR/bupropion SR). Under the terms of the agreement, Takeda will pay Orexigen $50 million cash up front, more than $1 billion in milestone payments, and royalties for rights to commercialize the drug in the US, Canada, and Mexico (Orexigen will co-promote the drug in the US). Read more »

DePuy Orthopaedics, a business unit of J&J that makes joint replacements, announced a voluntary recall last week of two hip-replacement products, the ASR XL acetabular system and DePuy ASR hip resurfacing system. Read more »