Aurobindo Pharma reaches for $2B in sales; U.K. researchers work on API waste;

> Aurobindo Pharma is aiming to boost revenues to $2 billion by 2013, aided by a brand-new plant in Hyderabad, India, and a licensing deal with Pfizer to sell generics in 70 emerging countries and developed markets. Report

> U.K. researchers have found a way to eliminate waste in pharmaceutical manufacturing by making sure that drug crystals form correctly in chemical reactors. Report

> Medicis Pharmaceutical sued the Indian drugmaker Lupin for patent infringement over the Solodyn acne treatment. Report

> FDA gave the nod to expanded use of Pfizer's Geodon drug as part of a combination maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder in adults. Report

> FDA approved Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical's antipsychotic drug Abilify as a treatment for irritability in children with autism. Report

> Stada had its share rating lowered to "neutral" from "buy" at UBS, which said there is limited potential for additional price increases after a two-month rally. Report

> Europe's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended approval of Merck's new fertility treatment for women, Elonva. Report

Biotech News

> Merck KGaA announced today that China will join Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. as a key hub of the company's R&D efforts. Over the next four years, the company will invest €150 million in its Beijing R&D center, creating 200 new jobs; Merck currently employs only 50 people in Beijing. Report

> With the help of ARCH Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, Lilly Ventures and Venrock, San Diego-based Receptos announced today the closing of a two-tranche $25 million Series A financing. Receptos is developing a method that will help researchers clearly see G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Report

> Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, a 2009 Fierce 15 company, has filed to go public, hoping raise $172 million and trade on Nasdaq. So far, Ironwood has raised $306 million in financing, according to an article in the Mass High Tech. Report

> Abu Dhabi, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, is setting up $150 million biologics manufacturing plant that will produce crystal insulin for diabetes, anti-cancers, vaccines, haemophilia A and growth factors for the Middle East and North Africa. Report

> Ception is reporting mixed results from a Phase IIb/III trial of Cinquil (reslizumab), a drug for a type of inflammation of the esophagus called pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis. Report

Biotech IT News

> As Amazon continues to distance itself from the public-cloud computing provider pack, private clouds remain a not-ready-for-prime-time alternative. So says Chris Dagdigian of high-performance computing consultancy BioTeam. Report

> Clinical informatics meets patient data in a solution that targets the lagging subject enrollment of clinical trials. The software capitalizes on the ability of top-ranking investigators to enroll patients more quickly than most others, and it taps into database of prospective trial subjects. Report

> Rival drug developers may become allies in an MIT project called New Drug Development Paradigms. Among the project aims: New prediction models and more open sharing of information about the biology of diseases. Report

> Taking the open concept a step further is the Bioinformatics Organization, an open source practitioner that uses wiki software to let researchers post their models, questions, experiments and discoveries. Report

> As Google has become a tool for flu-tracking, so the mobile phone will be making medical diagnoses. Thanks to a Gates Foundation grant, STAR Analytical Services is developing software to analyze the sound of a cough. Report

And Finally... Even Fido needs to heed drug warnings: Health Canada is alerting veterinarians and pet owners about possible problems with a drug used to treat diabetes in dogs and cats. Report