Shire’s Vpriv manufacturing plant wins EMA approval . EMA confirms approval of 10 drugs made at Ben Venue Laboratories .

... “The EMA approval of VPRIV in this manufacturing plant, only three years after breaking ground, is a testament to the hard work and dedication of Shire employees, and represents crucial additional capacity for manufacturing our enzyme replacement therapies for Gaucher and Fabry patients,” said Bill Ciambrone, senior VP, technical operations, Shire HGT.








EMA confirms approval of 10 drugs made at Ben Venue Laboratories

The approval follows the EMA’s decision to allow 10 out of 14 centrally authorised medicines manufactured at Ben Venue Laboratories in Ohio to remain available, although the facility must be removed as a manufacturing site from the marketing authorisation.

All manufacturing at the Ben Venue sire has been suspended due to a series of violations in standards, contributing to ongoing drug shortages in the US.

However, the EMA said Angiox, Busilvex, Vidaza, Vistide, Velcade, Ecalta diluent, Soliris, Cayston, Mepact and Torisel can all still be marketed in Europe as alternative suppliers and formulations are available.

A final decision was also made on Vibativ and Luminity, which have no alternative manufacturer or formulation, with the EMA recommending the suspension of the drugs’ marketing authorisations until a suitable alternative manufacturing site is approved.

A review of two other centrally authorised medicines manufactured at this site, Caelyx and Ceplene, is still ongoing and is expected to be concluded in March, 2012.

Scarcity sends the sick scrambling for medication .

Dan Schiavello shouldn’t be alive..

His doctors expected his Stage 4 cancer to kill him long ago. He’s survived because of a chemotherapy drug that has attacked the tumors in his body, shrinking most and even eliminating some.

But now, that drug is no longer being made.

He has been scrambling to find Doxil, the medication that has been his lifeline the last five years. He spends hours every day on the phone and on his computer searching for a dose and has traveled hundreds of miles for an infusion. He has found himself in a world where people are willing to put a price on his survival, like the pharmacist who offered to sell him a dose from a secret stockpile for $14,000 in cash.

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