The cosmetics and personal care market is a bright spot for many chemical companies during the recession. Univar Personal, Gelest and Rhodia are among the firms that have indicated continuing demand for cosmetic and personal care products and ingredients. However, customers are switching to more cost-effective brands and products. To continue to attract customers and […]

In a paper published this month, the EPA outlined its strategic plans to implement a new approach to chemical toxicity testing. Current approaches rely almost exclusively on animal testing. The new model for toxicity testing and risk assessment is focused on toxicity pathways. Information on the pathways will be combined with distributional data on population […]

Nearly half of life science companies plan to focus on “breakthrough products and niche markets” in order to mitigate R&D risk, according to a survey by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The survey is based on responses from 360 life science industry executives from healthcare services (23% of respondents), pharmaceutical R&D (22%), […]

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has reduced its forecast for US chemical output in 2009. In December 2008, the ACC predicted a 3.1% decline, excluding pharmaceutical chemicals, which has now been revised downward to an 8.7% decrease. Total US chemical production is expected to decline 5.7% in 2009, after falling 3.5% last year. US production […]

According to a December 2008 survey by Clinical Laboratory News, the US recession is taking a toll on clinical labs. The e-mailed survey received 254 responses with 63%, 20% and 16% of respondents representing hospital labs, academic medical centers and reference labs, respectively. Thirty-three percent of survey respondents indicated that their labs’ budgets had been […]