Pharma

Shimadzu to begin exporting reagent kits for COVID-19 detection

SINGAPORE, NNA - Japan's Shimadzu Corp. said Thursday it will begin full-fledged exports of its reagent kits for detecting the novel coronavirus through PCR testing, starting with Southeast Asia. The Kyoto-based major manufacturer of medical equipment and precision instruments said it has obtained provisional authorization from Singapore's Health Sciences Authority to sell the kits. Shimadzu will begin exporting the new product via Shimadzu (Asia Pacific) Pte. Ltd., a regional arm based in Singapore, in early February. Negotiations are under way between the company and other Southeast Asian co...

Journalist's story of falling in love with 'most hated man' goes viral

New York (AFP) - A ex-Bloomberg journalist has revealed how she fell for a jailed former pharmaceutical executive dubbed "the most hated man in America" after covering his arrest, in a love story that gripped social media Monday. Journalist Christie Smythe told Elle magazine in an article published Sunday that she left her husband for Martin Shkreli, who is serving seven years in prison for defrauding investors.  Several US media commented on the tale Monday, with some accusing her of violating journalistic ethics, and others praising her for telling her story. Shkreli, who once led Turing Pha...

Japan's Fujifilm to make coronavirus antigen testing kits in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY, NNA - Japanese precision chemistry firm Fujifilm Corp. will make novel coronavirus antigen testing kits in Vietnam for global markets by expanding its local production facilities. Fujifilm will invest an undisclosed amount in Fujifilm Yuwa Medical Products Vietnam Co., a joint venture producing diagnostic agents, from next year to the fiscal year starting in April 2022 to build a monthly production capacity of 2 million testing kits, an official of the Tokyo-based company said Friday. A date for the start of production there has yet to be decided. With its own technology used...

Smaller contractions for Southeast Asia bolster hope for earlier recovery

By Celine Chen and Darlene BasinganMANILA, NNA - Though still mired in a recession like most of the world, the Philippine economy managed to grow 8 percent in the third quarter after a 14.9 percent contraction in April-June pushed it into a deep trough.On the flipside, Q3 GDP fell 11.5 percent from a year ago, the government reported on Tuesday.The day before, the country's statistics agency reported that the economy had actually slumped by a record 16.9 percent in Q2, worse than its earlier estimate of 16.5 percent which had already sent the country into its first recession in decades.But jud...

Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to criminal charges over opioid sales

Washington (AFP) - US drugmaker Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to three criminal charges over its intense drive to push sales of the prescription opioid OxyContin, which stoked a nationwide addiction crisis, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.Purdue also agreed to $8.3 billion in fines, damages and forfeitures to settle the criminal case against it, the department said.In a separate agreement, the billionaire Sackler family, which built Purdue to a pharmaceutical giant on the back of lucrative sales of OxyContin, agreed to pay $225 million to resolve civil liability charges filed by the ...