GREENWICH, Conn., July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Aptuit LLC has appointed Paul D. Overton, Ph.D., as Executive Vice President, Business Development and Marketing, making him responsible for all of Aptuit’s sales and marketing activities.

Jonathan Goldman, M.D., Aptuit’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “Paul’s expertise in business development, marketing and corporate leadership, as well as his hands-on work as a scientist, give him a unique skill set that will greatly benefit our clients and help in advancing Aptuit’s position as a market leader. Our team of global sales professionals has a strong understanding of market needs, and their approach to customer partnerships and problem solving will be enhanced under Paul’s leadership.”

Paul Overton successfully led the Global Sales, Marketing and Programme Management team at Huntingdon Life Sciences and grew the business significantly year on year despite the challenges in the non-clinical CRO market. He was instrumental in developing late stage discovery and translational sciences partnerships for the company. During his tenure he realigned Marketing into the Sales function and rolled out a market-leading Content Marketing Program utilizing social media. Before his association with Huntingdon, Dr. Overton held key leadership positions at Covance Laboratories, LCG Biosciences, Origin Pharmaceutical Services and Cambridge Life Sciences.

Dr. Overton, who will be based in the United Kingdom, will report directly to Dr. Goldman and will be a member of Aptuit’s Executive Committee. In accepting his new role at Aptuit, Dr. Overton stated, “I believe Aptuit has a truly unique value proposition to the pharmaceutical industry. We have the ability to deliver integrated development solutions from early discovery to patient in a timely, efficient and scientifically robust manner. I am really pleased to be part the Aptuit team and look forward to the exciting growth that is ahead for us.”

Glasgow Site Upgrades Cytotoxic Drug Product Manufacturing
Dr. Goldman also announced that a one million dollar investment in Aptuit’s Glasgow, Scotland facility financed an upgrade in the site’s sterile cytotoxic liquid and lyophilized drug product manufacturing capabilities. This upgrade, which will address the industry’s current need for capacity in cytotoxic GMP clinical supply, will be operational by January 2015. The installation of an Autofiller with Restricted Access Barrier Technology (RABs) will enable larger batch sizes for liquid and lyophilized drug products, increasing capacities from 2,000 units to more than 9,000 units. Additionally, the new equipment will achieve greater sterility assurance and operator protection.

David Stevens, Senior Director and Site Head at Aptuit Glasgow, noted that cytotoxics account for a real opportunity for Aptuit. He said, “It is expected that biopharmas will be increasing their cytotoxic injectable outsourcing over the next few years, driven by the robust demand for oncology and other high potency drugs such as Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and IV fluids requiring a quick onset of action. Our substantial experience with ADCs adds to the distinct advantage that clients have in working with us in this key area.”

Dr. Goldman concluded, “Through the high caliber of our commercial and scientific leadership, Aptuit is in prime position to deliver the drug discovery and development support that pharmaceutical companies of every size and emerging biotechs need.”

For more information, please send an email to info@aptuit.com or contact Maria Garvey, Delfino Marketing at 914-747-1400 or maria@delfino.com.

Aptuit LLC provides the most complete set of integrated early to mid-phase drug development services in the pharmaceutical industry including Drug Design & Discovery, Preclinical Biosciences, API Development and Manufacture, Solid State Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Aptuit INDiGO® (a fixed-cost program that accelerates drug development). Fully integrated drug discovery & development services are available from a single site at The Aptuit Center for Drug Discovery & Development in Verona, Italy. The company maintains five global facilities with approximately 700 employees in Europe and the United States. Aptuit LLC is partnered with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, one of the world’s leading private equity investors.

For more information about Aptuit, visit www.aptuit.com 

PARIS, July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The LA MARTINIQUAISE-BARDINET Group has reached a significant milestone in its development with NEGRITA Rum, the fourth brand in its portfolio to exceed one million 9-litre cases. NEGRITA thus becomes a “Millionaire” brand (sources Drinks International, Impact and Spirits Business 2014).

“We are extremely proud of the success of the NEGRITA brand which has allowed us to confirm our global expertise and our ambition with rum, a category central to our history and associated with a significant presence in the lands of rum (French Caribbean and Reunion Island),” states Sylvia Bernard, the Group’s International Marketing Director. “This result has made us one of the 4 global groups to have millionaire brands in the three major categories of Scotch Whisky, Vodka and Rum, a key asset to our development.”

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/71400579-4-marques-millionnaires-la-martiniquaise-bardinet 

This evening, the President will continue a White House tradition of hosting an Iftar celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room.  This is the sixth Iftar hosted by the President.  The Iftar is the meal that breaks the day of fasting, when Muslim families and communities eat together after sunset. This year, the President will be celebrating Muslim Americans working tirelessly to fight income inequality and creating opportunities for all.

Below is a list of some of the expected attendees at tonight’s White House dinner celebrating Ramadan:

Members of Congress:

• The Honorable Andre Carson, United States Representative, Indiana
• The Honorable Keith Ellison, United States Representative, Minnesota
• The Honorable Dan Kildee, United States Representative, Michigan

Local Elected Officials:

• Mayor Saud Anwar, South Windsor, CT

Diplomatic Corps:

• Mr. Suleiman Abulhul, Charge d’Affaires of Libya
• His Excellency Lukman Al Faily, The Republic of Iraq
• Her Excellency Amina Ali, Ambassador of the African Union Mission
• Her Excellency Hunaina Al Mughairy, Sultanate of Oman
• His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, United Arab Emirates
• His Excellency Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• His Excellency Mohammed Al Sharif, League of Arab States
• His Excellency Shaikh Abdulla Mohamed Alkhalifa, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain
• Mr. Adel Ali Ahmed Alsunaini, Charge d’Affaires of Yemen
• His Excellency Maen Areikat, Chief of the PLO Delegation
• His Excellency Omar Arouna, Republic of Benin
• His Excellency Abdallah Baali, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
• His Excellency Seydou Bouda, Burkina Faso
• His Excellency Mohammed Rachad Bouhlal, Kingdom of Morocco
• Her Excellency Alia Bouran, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• His Excellency Budi Bowoleksono, Republic of Indonesia
• His Excellency Antoine Chedid, Lebanese Republic
• His Excellency Mhamed Chelaifa, Tunisian Republic
• Mr. Mohamed Al Moustapha Cisse, Charge d’Affaires of the Republic of Mali
• His Excellency Ron Dermer, State of Israel
• His Excellency Daouda Diabate, Republic of Cote D’ivoire
• His Excellency Muktar Djumaliev, Republic Of Kyrgz
• His Excellency Mohamed El Haycen, Republic Of Mauritania
• His Excellency Bienvenu Foe-Atangana, Republic Of Cameroon
• The Honorable Sheikh Omar Faye, Republic of Gambia
• His Excellency Gilbert Galanxhi, Republic of Albania
• His Excellency Bakhtiyar Gulyamov, Republic Of Uzbekistan
• His Excellency Eklil Hakimi, Islamic Republic Of Afghanistan
• His Excellency Dato Hamid, Brunei Darussalam
• His Excellency Awang Hussin, Malaysia
• His Excellency Akan Ismaili, Republic of Kosovo
• His Excellency S. Jaishankar, Republic of India
• His Excellency Jalil Jilani, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
• Her Excellency Jean Kamau, Republic of Kenya
• His Excellency Bayney Karran, Cooperative Country of Guyana
• His Excellency Serdar Kilic, Republic of Turkey
• His Excellency Michael Moussa-Adamo, Ambassador of the Gabonese Republic
• His Excellency Stanislas Moussa-Kembe, Central African Republic
• His Excellency Muhammad Muhith, People’s Republic of Bangladesh
• Her Excellency Libereta Mulamula, United Republic of Tanzania
• His Excellency Subhas Mungra, Ambassador of the Republic of Suriname
• His Excellency Hassane Nasser, Republic of Chad
• Her Excellency Jadranka Negodic, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• His Excellency Cheikh Niang, Republic of Senegal
• His Excellency Roble Olhaye, Ambassador of Djibouti
• His Excellency Sharmarke Omar, Federal Republic of Somalia
• His Excellency Farhod Salim, Republic of Tajikistan
• His Excellency Maman Sidikou, Ambassador of the Republic of Niger
• His Excellency Elin Suleymanov, Republic of Azerbaijan
• Her Excellency Amelia Sumbana, Republic of Mozambique
• His Excellency Mohamed Tawfik, Arab Republic of Egypt
• His Excellency Kairat Umarov, Republic of Kazakhstan

HONG KONG, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Hong Kong Airlines is pleased to announce that the company is the winner of “World’s Most Improved Airline” by SKYTRAX this year and is honoured as the “World’s Best Improved Airline.” Meanwhile, Hong Kong Airlines is awarded the highly-esteemed SKYTRAX 4-Star rating for the third consecutive year. On behalf of the company, Mr. Sun Jianfeng, Vice President of Hong Kong Airlines, attended the award presentation ceremony held on July 15 (BST) in London, the UK.

Mr. Sun Jianfeng, Vice President (second on the left) and Mr. Stanley Kan, Director of Service Delivery of Hong Kong Airlines (second on the right) received the award of SKYTRAX “World’s Best Improved Airline” in London on behalf of the company

“The SKYTRAX ‘World’s Best Improved Airline’ is a great recognition and encouragement for our company. With a history of eight years, Hong Kong Airlines has been committed to providing passengers with quality service. By adhering to the people-oriented service approach, we have achieved remarkable improvement in various service categories and recorded rapid growth over the years. As a Hong Kong-based airline, we feel very honoured and proud to stand out among airlines worldwide. We owe this success to our highly devoted and professional team, especially the front-line staff who serve passengers with great dedication. We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the passengers and industry partners who have been supporting us all along. Riding on the expanding route network, Hong Kong Airlines will continue to focus on providing excellent customer service to bring our passengers more pleasant travel experiences,” remarked Mr. Zhang Kui, President of Hong Kong Airlines.

SKYTRAX are specialist Research Advisors to the air transport industry. The annual global customer satisfaction survey “World Airline Survey,” launched by SKYTRAX since 1999, is an industry benchmark of high authority. Based on the survey results, the annual “World Airport Awards” are the most prestigious accolades for the industry. The award category of the “World’s Most Improved Airline” is aimed at rewarding the airline’s remarkable progress in its front–line products and service standards over the past year. This year’s survey is based on 18 million customer nominations across over 100 nationalities of air travellers, covering over 200 airline companies worldwide. The survey evaluates customer satisfaction across 41 key performance indicators for airport service and products including check-in and boarding experiences, onboard seat comfort, cabin cleanliness, food, beverages, IFE, staff service and associated travel items. The winning of “World’s Best Improved Airline” as well as the SKYTRAX 4-Star rating three years in a row serves as a clear evidence of Hong Kong Airlines’ establishment of international standards in both its ground and onboard services.

When talking about bringing better service to passengers, it is worth mentioning that Hong Kong Airlines has upgraded its service principle since the beginning of 2013 and launched a “PEOPLE” service approach riding on past hands-on experience and customer’s suggestions. By strengthening the six points of “Passion to deliver, Extra to give, Opinions to offer, Promise to fulfill, Lasting impression to create, Emotional quotient to serve” during daily work, each one of its front-line staff has gained deeper understanding and delivered more people-oriented services, making prominent progress as a whole.

The current network of Hong Kong Airlines covers nearly 30 business and leisure travel destinations in mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong Airlines carried over 4.8 million passengers in 2013, an increase of 35% year-on-year, and a 50% increment year-on-year in Business Class sales. Recently, Hong Kong Airlines has also expanded its flight service to provide new destinations including Tianjin and Kagoshima. Leveraging Hong Kong’s status as an international air hub, the flights to major destinations like Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Bangkok, Hangzhou and Nanjing have increased frequency to three to five flights daily, and the frequency of flights to popular leisure travel destinations like Okinawa and Bali has also been increased to two to three daily, offering travellers a wide range of choices.

Photo – http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20140715/0861404990

HONG KONG, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ –Doogee, one of the most respected cell phone suppliers to the online retailer DX.com, is proud to announce the pre-sale of its long awaited DG310. Doogee fans can pre-order it now. The partnership between DX and …

HONG KONG, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — China’s largest jewelry-making supply provider, PandaHall, already offers items like wholesale beads, buttons, and jewelry findings. Now the store has added an entire category dedicated to loom bands and loom ba…

MATTHEWS, N.C., July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — CEM Corporation, a leading provider of microwave laboratory instrumentation, is pleased to announce that the Liberty Blue™ Automated Microwave Peptide Synthesizer is a winner of a 2014 R&D 100 Award. The award is presented on a yearly basis by the editors of R&D Magazine in recognition of the 100 most “technologically significant new products and processes of the year.”

The Liberty Blue is a new, revolutionary technology that dramatically improves peptide synthesis. The system utilizes a new high-efficiency solid phase peptide synthesis (HE-SPPS) process that allows peptides to be synthesized in higher purity up to 25 times faster than conventional systems and 6 times faster than currently available microwave systems. In addition, it results in a 90% reduction in solvent usage, which is a major cost driver in peptide synthesis. HE-SPPS enables the synthesis of a peptide in less than 1 hour, instead of days, and provides a major enhancement for producing fundamental biological materials needed for drug research and many other fields of study in Life Sciences with a significant reduction in purification and solvent costs.

“Liberty Blue is the culmination of years of research on the peptide synthesis process and, due to the critical need for peptides in the pharmaceutical industry and life science research, it is one of the most important products we have ever designed,” said Michael J. Collins, president and CEO of CEM Corporation. “It is a singular distinction to be chosen for this award and we would like to thank the judges and the editors of R&D Magazine for their consideration.

“Liberty Blue is game changing technology that has already created a tremendous response in the market. In less than a year, this new technology has been adopted by a substantial number of key academic and industrial laboratories involved in the peptide field in North America, Europe, and Asia. Overall feedback has been extremely positive.

“Obviously, we are very pleased with this initial response and are excited about the future potential for this technology as the market continues to expand. We will continue to focus on this important field and will be announcing several new innovations later this year,” Collins concluded.

The Liberty Blue technology, known as High-Efficiency Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis (HE-SPPS), was recently featured in Organic Letters¹ and C&E News².

JINGDEZHEN, China, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, China National Light Industry Federation, and the Government of Jian…

SHANGHAI, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — A Mandarin teacher in Shanghai has found a unique way to use WeChat (or Weixin) to advance her students’ communication skills. The program at Miracle Mandarin Shanghai is the first of its kind worldwide to use Ch…

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Based on its recent analysis of the mobile workforce management (MWM) market, Frost & Sullivan has recognized Xora, A ClickSoftware Company with the 2014 North America Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Leadership. Xora is a MWM partner to a wide range of industries that depend on mobile field employees. Xora’s flagship MWM product, StreetSmart™ enables a best-in-class customer support program with real-time data through its solutions-based platform.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognizes the company’s inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and, ultimately, customer base expansion.

“Xora employs an affordable, cloud-based delivery model and forges strong partnerships with wireless carriers to expand its solution’s use and value in the current marketplace,” said Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst Jeanine Sterling. “Recognizing Xora’s standard of excellence, ClickSoftware, a field service management leader, recently acquired the company, expanding its base of mobile cloud-based solutions.”

Xora targets SMBs with a best-in-class strategy that combines intuitive products, top-tier channels, affordability, and a quick time-to-value process for each customer. The company excels in the customer onboarding and training process, an especially challenging area in the SMB segment. In its bid to shorten the time-to-realized-value as much as possible, Xora segments its customers into three tiers and adjusts its onboarding approach accordingly.

However, onboarding is just the start when it comes to adding value.  Following implementation, Xora regularly sends out “Smart Start” emails containing recommendations and product information to customers. “Xora Insiders”‘ webcasts on various topics of interest are also made available to current Xora customers. In addition, the company provides documents addressing and educating customers on a variety of topics, including best practices, goals and ROI tracking, available tools, current use cases and expansion ideas. Finally, Xora regularly surveys its newest customers to uncover impacts and needs.

“Among its mobile-centric peers, Xora has demonstrated an ability to be both a visionary and evangelist regarding the business potential of MWM solutions,” noted Sterling. “This type of forward thinking can directly enhance the value that customers gain from their MWM solutions.”

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Xora

Xora is the #1 market leader in mobile workforce management. Our flagship product is a suite of configurable mobile apps and a web-based management application that helps mobile businesses and their field employees work smarter and faster. More than 16,000 organizations rely on Xora every day to save money and grow their businesses. Visit Xora on the web at http://www.xora.com.  

About ClickSoftware

ClickSoftware is a leading provider of automated mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions for the enterprise, both for mobile and in-house resources. As pioneers of the “Service chain optimization” concept, our solutions provide organizations with end-to-end visibility and control of the entire service management chain by optimizing forecasting, planning, shift and task scheduling, mobility and real-time management of resource and customer communication.

Available via the cloud or on-premise, our products incorporate best business practices and advanced decision-making algorithms to manage service operations more efficiently, in a scalable, integrated manner. Our solutions have become the backbone for many leading organizations worldwide by addressing the fundamental question of job fulfillment: Who does What, for Whom, With what, Where and When.

ClickSoftware is the premier choice for delivering superb business performance to service sector organizations of all sizes. The company is headquartered in the United States and Israel, with offices across Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.clicksoftware.com. Follow us on Twitter.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today’s market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact: 

Mireya Espinoza
P:+1.210.247.3870
F:+1.210.348.1003
E: mireya.espinoza@frost.com