AWARDS: Robert Edwards gets nod for developing in vitro fertilization
HE DEVELOPMENT of in vitro fertilization
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(IVF), an infertility treatment in which an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the human body and later implanted into a woman’s uterus so she becomes pregnant, has garnered Robert G. Edwards, a professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The honor comes with $1.5 million in prize money. Edwards’ “achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition afflicting a large proportion of humanity, including more than 10% of all couples worldwide,” the Nobel Prize announcement says. Edwards, 85, is also a founder of the Bourn Hall Clinic, a center for IVF treatment in Cambridge, England. At a press conference in Sweden, Göran K. Hansson,
REBOUND AWAITED IN FINE CHEMICALS CUSTOM CHEMICALS: Recession
over, pharmaceutical chemical producers seek an uptick in business HE CUSTOM AND fine chemicals industry is in a
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post-recessionary lull, and business is returning at a slower pace than many executives had hoped for. At CPhI Worldwide, the annual pharmaceutical ingredients conference, held last week in Paris, attendees said that tough economic times caused many customers to cancel or postpone early-stage drug development projects and that orders are only slowly starting to return. The custom-manufacturing business is moving into positive territory, said Gilles A. Cottier, president of Sigma-Aldrich’s SAFC business. “But funding for biotech and other customers is not yet where it should be,” he said. Strong, even double-digit, growth continues for those firms that can offer new technologies and differentiated capabilities, he added. One such area is highly potent compound manufacturing, which was the subject of several announcements at CPhI, mostly about project completions. SAFC has finished a $29 million expansion of its high-potency fermentation facility in Jerusalem. The site will supply proteins and small molecules that can be conjugated to
secretary of the Nobel Prize committee, said Edwards is in poor health, so news of his award was communicated by telephone to his wife, “who said she was delighted and was sure he would also be delighted.” On July 25, 1978, the first baby was born through IVF treatment. This year, approximately 4 million babies will be born from the procedure. “Every clinician in the field of reproductive medicine worldwide will celebrate,” says Enda McVeigh, the medical director of Oxford University Fertility Unit. “IVF changed millions of people’s lives and continues to give hope to so many couples. IVF has also opened doors in new areas: preimplantation genetic diagnosis and stem cells, to name but two.” The pursuit of IVF “was not easy for Edwards,” McVeigh adds. “At the start of his research, he was not supported by the ‘establishment’ in the U.K.” For example, the U.K.’s Medical Research Council discontinued funding of his research. Some ethicists, certain religious groups, and parts of the media lobbied against his research. “I had to issue eight libel actions in the High Court of London on a single day,” wrote Edwards in a 2001 article in Nature Medicine (7, 1091). “I won them all, but the work and worry restricted research for several years.”—SARAH EVERTS
antibodies at the company’s new Wisconsin facility. Similarly, Piramal Healthcare has increased capacity for making antibody-drug conjugates in Grangemouth, Scotland. The site there will support the commercial production of an undisclosed U.S. biotech firm’s new cancer treatment, expected to launch in 2011. Seeing what he called “clear signs of recovery,” Gerhard F. Klement, director of Piramal’s Pharma Solutions business, was among the more upbeat executives at the show. For its high-potency business, Ash Stevens has completed a new materials-handling facility in Riverview, Mich., and the company has further reactor capacity expansions planned for the next few years. Likewise, Helsinn plans to expand manufacturing in Biasca, Switzerland, with an investment in new technology for cytotoxic drug production, according to Business Development Director Waldo Mossi. Potent compounds, as well as generics, are growth areas for Cambrex, CEO Steven M. Klosk reported. Although the industry overall is “not yet booming,” Klosk said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that things are changing for the better. Nevertheless, with fewer projects and intensified competition, he believes there is room for consolidation in the custom chemical industry.—ANN THAYER
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Edwards
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NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE
BOU R N HAL L CL IN IC
NEWS OF THE WEEK
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OCTOBER 11, 2010
The promise of new business lured CPhI attendees to Paris.
