The QMN Weekly Bulletin

Manufacturers will be subject to a new rule effective March 18, 2008, designed to give more flexibility to firms regarding buildings and equipment used to produce live vaccines.

When Boston Scientific’s manufacturing operations recently underwent third-party verification audits, the firm used a companywide audit support operation that linked multiple production sites electronically to help manage the inspections process.

Novartis will fund a $65 million joint-research program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) aimed at developing new technologies to improve pharmaceutical manufacturing efficiencies.

Despite tactful handling of its Fidelis lead recall, Medtronic may have more problems on the horizon with the insulated defibrillation wires, according to a Deutsche Bank research report.

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck is to invest €200 million in Carlow to build a major vaccine production facility in the town with the creation of 170 jobs by 2011.

Smith & Nephew, Europe’s largest medical devices company, is to carry out its second product recall in three months over fears that almost 600 knee implants may contain higher than specified amounts of iron.

The flu vaccine plant to be built in Shenzhen, agreed in a deal signed between China and France’s Sanofi-Aventis, will be the largest investment ever by a foreign drug maker in China.

Employees of Bristol-Myers Squibb are bracing for word about the depth and breadth of a new campaign of layoffs and spending cuts.

ImmunoVaccine Technologies announced that it has successfully scaled-up the manufacturing process for its vaccine platform, Vaccimax.