It’s getting harder for the pharmaceutical industry to ignore neglected diseases. The globalization of national economies and the rise in air travel are increasing the potential for exposure to these diseases, which previously had been limited to the developing world. “Now is the time to have this discussion,” Kishor M. Wasan, chair-elect of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists’s Pharmaceuticals in Global Health Focus Group, told Pharmaceutical Technology earlier this month. Industry now seems to be getting the message. Read more »

For those who are needle-shy, or who have ever had the pleasure of explaining to a hysterical 5-year old that the shot isn’t going to hurt THAT much, and besides, it’s for the good of public health, a needle-free shot sounds like a great idea.  FDA, however, disagreed, and issued a communication to that effect. Read more »

Another very busy day at CPhI Worldwide and co-located events with good meetings in every corner for all exhibitors.

If you missed yesterday’s blog, the winner of the Innovation Awards was Glycotope for its GlycoExpress platform technology, which optimised glycosylation of antibodies and other biotherapeutics. The award was received by a very proud and happy Jens Pohl, managing director on Oct. 25, 2011. Read more »

In attending CPhI this week in Frankfurt, one theme that repeatedly emerged was the increasing importance of CROs, CDMOs, and CMOs to build more strategic, deeper, and collaborative relationships with pharmaceutical companies as a way to meet the evolving needs of the industry and as a a mutual tool in value creation. Read more »

Walking through the halls of CPhI Worldwide, it was hard to recognise it as the space just a few short hours before; the place had been transformed by teams, presumably working through the night, and the addition of a good many people provided enough hustle and bustle even early on to indicate that it would be a good show for all. Read more »

Written by A. Nair, a PharmTech correspondent based in Mumbai

After months of deliberation, the Indian government has decided not to cap foreign direct investment (FDI) in the pharmaceutical sector and to continue with the 100% FDI regime. A decision in this regard was taken by an inter ministerial group presided over by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which sought to allay fears about clearing investments automatically. Read more »

The day started with a 5 o’clock alarm call and me feeling remarkably fresh to begin my journey to Frankfurt for this year’s CPhI Worldwide event. Unfortunately, the idea of a smooth journey was thwarted fairly quickly with the news at Crewe that the 06:33 train to Manchester airport was canceled. Bad start. Read more »

As the unemployment rate hovers around 9.1%, the federal government needs to find ways to create jobs. Congress is debating whether a tax break on repatriated money would prompt companies to hire more workers, as I mentioned last week. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is eyeing another potential means of stimulating job growth: investing in biological research. Read more »

The pharma industry has been scratching its head for some time about how best to exploit social media and efforts in this area have been tentative with uncertainty over regulations. Pharmaceutical spammers, on the other hand, have little reason to hold back. Already, spammers are taking advantage of Twitter to promote cheap pharmaceutical products such as Viagra and Levitra. Indeed, a recent study by the University of Akron in the US explained that Twitter “presents a new forum for spammers to facilitate illegal pharmaceutical scams”. Read more »

The Court of Justice of the EU ruled on Oct. 18, 2011 that “A process which involves removal of a stem cell from a human embryo at the blastocyst stage, entailing the destruction of that embryo, cannot be patented.” The ruling was not unexpected, following as it did a preliminary ruling in March 2011 by the Court that prohibited patents on embryonic stem cells, declaring such patents to be “contrary to ethics and public policy.” Read more »