Industry insights

Ion Channels for Cancer Therapy

Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Question of the month: March 2020

Our experts answer your burning questions about the world of pharmaceutical testing. This month: do you need impurity reference standards in the same form as that of your API?

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Question of the month: February 2019

Our experts answer your burning questions about the world of pharmaceutical testing. This month: how do we determine assay values for Mikromol impurity reference standards?

Thursday, February 14, 2019

API of the month: Granisetron

A highly selective antagonist of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT₃) receptors, granisetron hydrochloride competitively blocks the action of serotonin to reduce nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Click through to our blog for a full accounting of possible granisetron impurities and to explore our reference standard range.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Question of the month: January 2019

Our experts answer your burning questions about the world of pharmaceutical testing. This month: what process would you follow to develop a liquid chromatography method for organic pharmaceutical impurities?

Monday, January 14, 2019

Question of the month: November 2018

Our experts answer your burning questions about the world of pharmaceutical testing. This month: what level of characterisation is sufficient for impurity reference standards?

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

API of the month: Linezolid

Linezolid is a synthetic antibiotic used to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections. Read more to discover more about linezolid's process and degradation impurities and explore our range of reference standards for the linezolid family. 

Tuesday, November 06, 2018

Question of the month: October 2018

Our experts answer your burning questions about the world of pharmaceutical testing. This month: what are reference standards for impurities, and what are research materials?

Wednesday, October 03, 2018

Mikromol at 25

When two entrepreneurial recent graduates decided in 1993 to begin producing their own pharmaceutical reference materials, Mikromol was born and they started down a path that 25 years later has created a new byword for excellence in pharmaceutical synthesis. Read about the company's journey over the last 25 years.

Monday, October 01, 2018

API of the month: Paroxetine

Paroxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), the most common group of antidepressants on the market today. It was first marketed in 1992 and by 2007 was the fifth most prescribed antidepressant in the US, at over 18 million annual prescriptions.

Thursday, September 06, 2018

Fighting the well-oiled machine of olive oil adulteration

According to the new bulletin of the Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP), adulteration of extra virgin olive oil is still listed among the most common food frauds worldwide. Olive oil’s distinctive sensory profile and its reputation as a healthy source of dietary fats has made it a premium product, and in turn a target for fraudsters...

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Beryllium: Be air-aware

Berylliosis, or CBD, is a chronic allergic-type lung response caused by exposure to Beryllium and its compounds: the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified such materials as Category 1 carcinogens.

Monday, November 19, 2018

Europe's testing toys

Increased regulatory oversight of products sold across Europe looks likely, after inspections highlighted high numbers of unsafe products in circulation, including 58% of electronic devices and 32% of toys.

Thursday, September 06, 2018

Toying with Trouble

How safe is slime? In the wake of a consumer group's discovery of boron levels up to four times the legal EU limit in some brands of slime toys, join us for a retrospective of past toy safety scandals & history's most dangerous playthings.

Friday, July 20, 2018

Step up your testing for Diesel Engine Exhaust Emissions (DEEEs)

The following article shares leading insight into assessing the performance of Diesel Engine Exhaust Emissions testing. Sample 16 of AIR PT is available in round AR024 to be dispatched on January 15th 2018. Join the AIR PT scheme now.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Product classification: Dairy Cheese or Analogue cheese?

Consumers need to have access to safe and high quality food. Agri-food products of high commercial value such as dairy products, olive oil, honey, meat and fish have traditionally been the target of fraud.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Aflatoxin M1 in cheese

Milk and dairy products are commonly consumed by people of all age groups. They are recognised as important foods for human diet and  are considered nutrient dense foods contributing to our protein, fat, vitamin and elements (especially Ca) daily intake.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Nitrate in infant vegetable food

Nitrate is a natural contaminant present mainly in vegetables and drinking water although it is frequently added as a preservative in processed meat products.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Total Polar compounds in frying oil

Oils and fats represent one of the three major classes of food constituents together with carbohydrates and proteins. Deep-fat frying is one of the most popular cooking procedures and leads to the production of both desirable and undesirable compounds.

Monday, December 05, 2016

US hemp production: contamination concerns

We’ve discussed how the 2018 Farm Bill and the USDA require that Cannabis sativa L. must have a THC level no greater than 0.3% to be considered hemp. Assuming that we have a legal hemp crop – do we know if it’s safe?

Thursday, March 19, 2020

US hemp production: THC determination

This week we will discuss the Federal Register 7 CFR Part 990 "Establishment of a Domestic Hemp Production Program" and THC determination. Included in this post are some snippets of useful information taken from that publication.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

US hemp production: The facts about interstate hemp shipment

The news in the United States has recently been filled with stories of hemp shipments being seized by various police forces around the country, on the grounds that it looks like marijuana. In this post we highlight a few useful tidbits in information that haven’t been covered in those news stories.

Thursday, March 05, 2020

Protecting the pollinators – French neonicotinoid ban takes effect

According to Greenpeace, the work of bees and other pollinating insects has an estimated economic value of $265 billion annually and a third of all our food production depends upon their pollination.

Tuesday, March 05, 2019

The future of glyphosate

Scrutiny on glyphosate has intensified on the heels of court rulings and recent studies, with mounting opposition to the herbicide amongst consumer groups and policymakers.

Friday, August 17, 2018

Bees get a buzz from nicotine-like pesticides

There is ongoing concern over Neonicitinoids and the health and effectiveness of bee populations, with the US EPA scheduling reviews of all the pesticides in the class.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Analysis of Oils – Part 2: Phenomenon of Boron Measurement Instability in ICP Testing

As part of our continuing discussion of the VHG research and development team’s study of boron in oil analysis, we’re looking more closely at the problem labs reported, and the team’s initial corroboration of the issue at hand.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Analysis of Oils

In this series of posts we will be taking an in-depth look at a comprehensive study the VHG™ Research and Development team carried out to discover the underlying causes of why some elements (boron, in particular) in organic matrices would start to fail over time – starting with an introduction to the topic and an overview of the importance of boron in petrochemical testing.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Sulfur standards helping to improve the quality of your analysis

Sulfur is probably the most common and most well-known petroleum contaminant. A concentration of 0.5% sulfur will make crude oil “sour” which will then require longer refining process and result in more expensive final products.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017