UK-based Bibby Scientific Ltd., world-leader of Jenway, Stuart and Techne laboratory and industrial equipment brands, has recently opened its newest sale office in Singapore , in order to build closer relationships with customers and dealers in the whole Asian region, including China , South East Asia and India . “The key to Bibby Scientifics' strategy for growth is to invest heavily in both R&D and marketing, ‘'said Bibby Scientific in a press note. ‘'The company's aim is to develop a continuous stream of exciting and innovative products that deliver real value to the scientific in terms of functionality, connectivity and performance, ‘'added the note.

Andy Mooney, Sales Director, Bibby Scientific, commented, ‘'this initiative will help expand our geographical footprint and allow us to work more closely with our customers in this key region.'' He added, ‘'Deepening our understanding of the Asian market will lead to the development of products aligned to local customer requirements and our presence will also enable us to provide a higher level of support to both dealers and end users.''

Bosch has signed agreements on April 27, 2011 to acquire two subsidiaries of Oystar Holding GmbH, viz. Huttlin GmbH, based in Schopfheim, Germany; and Manesty Ltd., based in Knowsley (near Liverpool), UK. The two companies develop, manufacture and sell process equipment for the pharmaceutical industry. Huttlin specializes in drying and granulation equipment, right from powder to production of pharmaceuticals. Manesty specializes in tablet presses and coaters. The companies did not disclose financial terms, while the transaction is subject to approval by the antitrust authorities. In 2010, the two subsidiary companies generated overall sales of EUR 49 million, with 70 per cent of the sales obtained in Europe. Huttlin employs 80 staff in Germany and Manesty has 110 associates in Great Britain.

‘’Both companies are important stepping stones in the expansion of pharmaceutical process technology at Bosch, ’’stressed Friedbert Klefenz, president of the Bosch Packaging Technology division. ‘’They support the strategic alignment of the division by complementing the upstream value-added chain. This is a further step towards expanding the division to become a full-service provider. This move complements our primary packaging portfolio,’’ he further added. ”In selling Huttlin and Manesty, Oystar is continuing its strategic focus on the primary and secondary packaging business,’’ said Tom Graf, the chairman of the board of management of the Oystar Group. ‘’At the same time, having Bosch as their new owner equips our subsidiaries Huttlin and Manesty, well for the future. The companies can work together to extend their activities in the area a pharmaceutical process technology and successfully continue their growth course, ‘’ Graf informed.

Oystar has a strong position on the international market in the key segments of FFS/FS (cup fillers), cartoning and repackaging machines as well as tube and bag fillers. Oystar aims to expand this leading position even further. In this connection, Graf made reference to ‘’program ONE 600’’, in which Oystar formulated its strategic goals up to the year 2015. This concept provides for an increase in sales, in particular through newly developed machines. In addition, Graf attaches great importance to development of the company’s service products and does not rule out growth through acquisitions.

Bosch packaging Technology, based in Waiblingen, Germany, is one of the leading providers of one-stop solutions for packaging and process technology. The division has development and production facilities in 16 countries and markets its machines and systems for the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, and non-food industries worldwide. The division employs a global workforce of roughly 4,500 associates.

The strong thirty-seven member and twenty-three observers, European pharmacopoeia commission (EPC): adopted seven new individual monographs, two new general monographs and a new analytical method during its recent 139th session held here. The seven new individual monographs included monographs on Difloxacin hydrochloride trihydrate for veterinary use (2239); Olmesartan medoxomil (2600); Bicalutamide (2196); Nicotine ditartrate dehydrate (2599); water for preparation of extracts (2249); and two monographs, Tadalafil (2606) and nateglenide (2575),elaborated under the p4 procedure, which is dedicated to substances still under patent and developed in close collaboration with the respective manufacturers. On the other hand, two new general monographs included monographs on pillules for homoeopathic preparations (2153); and on Homoeopathic pillules, Impregnated (2079). Likewise, a new analytical method for the determination of methanesulfonyl chloride in methanesulfonic acid (2.5.39) was also adopted at the latest session. This analytical method was developed by the corresponding working party of the European pharmacopoeia (ph. Eur.), as it was not possible to combine the method with the one on the determination of methyl, ethyl and isopropyl methanesulfonate in active substances (2.5.38) adopted at the November 2010 session of the EPC.

The EPC also adopted 48 revised texts (37 individual monographs, three general monographs, four analytical methods, three general chapters and a new version of the technical guide for the elaboration of monographs).Three of these texts were revised following the new expression of acceptance criteria in the test for related substances which would be applied for new monographs. ‘’The list of all adopted texts will be published on the EDQM website to alert users to the future changes they need to be aware of. These texts will come into effect on April 1, 2012 and will be published in supplement 7.4,’’ informed the commission in a press note.

As envisaged in the Guide for work of the ph. Eur., the chairs of the various groups of experts and working parties are supposed to report regularly to the commission on progress with the work programme. According to tradition, this annual report is made available at the March session. Forty five reports were, therefore, presented to the commission highlighting the achievements, opportunities and challenges faced by the group in advancing their work programme (e.g. support from stakeholders and users in providing data and/or samples, need for additional expertise, and the REACH regulation).

At the current session, the commission was also informed that pharmeuropa, the Ph. Eur. Forum, will become paperless (to be published online only) and free of charge for all users starting January 2012 (issue number 24.1). To facilitate the transition, issue number 23.4 would be made available to users as paper and online versions. Texts would be published on an on-going basis, but the four issues per year and the four comment deadlines would remain unchanged, as well as the current channels for providing comments to published draft texts. The commission was further briefed regarding certain improvements made to pharmeuropa in terms of readable PDFs, easy printing (including individually or in bulk), customizable e-mail alerts, search functionalities and results lists.

Thermo fisher scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of TKA Wasseraufbereitungssysteme GmbH, a European provider of laboratory water purification systems. Based in Niederelbert, Germany, TKA has nearly 60 employees and had 2009 full year revenue of approximately 10 million.
‘’The addition of TKA’s comprehensive offering of laboratory water purification systems to our portfolio of laboratory equipment and consumables enables us to meet our customers’ growing needs for versatility and productivity in their laboratories,’’ said Thomas Loewald, president-laboratory Equipment, Thermo fisher scientific ‘’The demand for ultrapure water, in particular, is driven by the ever-increasing sensitivity of analytical instruments used in lifescience research,’’ he further pointed.

TKA’s laboratory water purification systems include electro-de-ionization (EDI), reverse osmosis (RO) and ultrafiltration technologies. With a wider range of laboratory water purification options, customers can match the purity-level of water to their specific requirements, increasing the reliability of results across multiple applications and improving laboratory efficiency. ‘’The Niederelbert location will become a centre for R&D and manufacturing for laboratory water purification systems and will be integrated into Thermo Fisher’s laboratory products and services segment, ‘’said the company in a press note.

Waters Corporation has recently introduced its newest member of ACQUITY systems, the water ACQUITY UPSFC system, a holistically designed analytical system combining the advantages of sub -2um particle technology and the efficiency of supercritical fluid chromatograph (SFC).Built on proven Waters UltraPerformance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC). Technology, this new system offers up to 10x shorter run times, reduces solvent usage by as much as 95 per cent and cuts the cost of analytical by as much as 99 per cent; while giving laboratories a greener alternative to normal phase chromatography for chiral and achiral Separations.

The ACQUITY UPSFC System enables scientists to conduct normal phase chromatographic separations using carbon dioxide (CO2) as the primary mobile phase, rather than expensive and toxic solvents, saving laboratories tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of an instrument. The new UPSFC System offers laboratories significant advantages over traditional HPLC for routine UPSFC separations in research or regulated laboratories across many industries

“In 2004, Waters revolutionized LC with the introduction of sub-two micron UPLC separations resulting in significantly better data quality. Today this proven and reliable technology offers that same potential for analytical SFC,'' said Harbaksh sidhu, General Manager, Waters SFC Operations. ‘' The UPSFC System provides the same impressive separation, resolution and speed attributes of UPLC with the outstanding green benefits of SFC,'' he further remarked. Using specially designed Viridis columns, the UPSFC System offers the ruggedness and dependability scientists are looking for, with the ease of use they've come to expect from LC. The System is fully compatible with Waters industry-leading Empower and MassLynx informatics software and Waters line of UV (ultraviolet) and mass detectors.

Supercritical fluids share the physical properties of both a gas and a liquid and exhibit the positive chromatographic qualities of both. Relative to HPLC solvents, their low viscosity and high solute diffusivity result in faster analysis times, lower back-pressure, shorter re-equilibration times and higher throughput without loss in efficiency. For chiral and achiral separations, this means greater signal-to noise ratios, better peak shapes and higher peak capacity enabling scientists to rapidly confirm the purity of compounds down to the 0.01 per cent level, determine the enantiomeric excess, of when coupled to mass spectrometry, confirm compound identity.

In the 1990s, as the number of chiral drugs exceeded the number of achiral drugs, the FDA published regulatory guidance regarding enantiomeric drug compounds. SFC quickly caught on with scientists involved in drug discovery and found its niche in purification of chiral compounds. With advancements in instrument and column technology, and a focus on sustainability, the advantages of SFC have not gone unnoticed by other scientists and SFC is experiencing a resurgence in applications areas not limited to just purification but also analysis including: fossil fuels & hydrocarbons, agrichemicals, polymers, explosives & products, industrial chemicals, metal chelates and organometallic compounds.

UPSFC technology consumes a fraction of the solvent of traditional HPLC systems. And compared to the cost of solvents like acetonitrile, commercial grade CO2 is very inexpensive Furthermore; CO2 costs nothing to dispose of, naturally reverting to its gaseous state. Inert and nonflammable, CO2 is non-toxic and safer for laboratory personnel to handle. For laboratories seeking to cut costs and putting the principles of green chemistry into action, ACQUITY UPSFC System offers impressive advantages and is an ideal choice as an alternative to normal phase chromatography.

Waters Corporation has recently been awarded the 2011 North American product Quality Leadership Awarded in high-performance mass spectrometry (MS) by Frost & Sullivan, a growth partnership company. Specifically, Frost & Sullivan researchers evaluated Waters Xevo TQ-S and Xevo G2 Q-Tof (quadrupole connected to time-of-flight) compared to competitors within five categories, viz. product performance, product reliability, product design, product usability and perceived value. Xevo outperformed the closest competitor across all criteria.

‘'The current generation of Xevo bench-top MS systems offer scientists an unequalled combination of separations power with highest levels of sensitivity whether for compound identification, quantification and screening or for extracting the most information from the smallest sample volumes all in a single analysis, ‘' said Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst prasannavadhana kannan. He further added, ‘'Xevo Mass Spectrometers are optimized for use with Waters ACQUITY UPLC systems. UPLC technology is synonymous with sharper and narrower chromatographic peaks, increased peak heights, faster separations and better signal-to-noise performance leading to greater all-around MS sensitivity,'' Finally, he concluded, ‘'The combination of UPLC, Xevo MS, MassLynx software and UPLC chemistries has given rise to applications-specific MS systems uniquely qualified to address many different laboratory challenges, thereby leading us to confer the 2011 North America product Quality Leadership award category to Waters Corporation's exemplary efforts.''