“The pharmaceutical industry is a ‘market for lemons’; a market in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product and can profit from selling products less effective and less safe than consumers are led to believe”. Read more »

The past two weeks have seen dozens of third-party headlines speculating about sanofi aventis possibly making a move to acquire Genzyme. Officially, there has been no word with both companies remaining extremely cagey about any of the details. However, Reuters, Bloomberg and a few other sources claim to have squeezed out a few dribbles of information from “people familiar with the situation” and anonymous staff members. So let’s take a look at what may (or may not be) the current situation. Read more »

Companies always want the longest patent protection possible for their products — and with good reason considering the immense costs of R&D. However, some companies go a little too far in seeking patent protection to the point that they may even try to mislead the regulators in order to extend the life of patents. Read more »

Written by Dr Brian D. Smith

I’m researching a new book about what our industry will look like once the great forces of globalization, biotechnology and market maturation have reshaped the pharma sector. One of the things that emerges is that the current industry landscape is itself the result of powerful political, economic, technical and social forces that strategic management geeks like me call the remote market environment. 
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In this day and age, many of us believe that men and women have equal rights at work, but this is not always the case, as demonstrated by the result of a gender discrimination class action against Novartis. In a unanimous verdict delivered earlier this week, a New York (USA) jury found the drug giant guilty of discriminating against women in pay, promotional opportunities and pregnancy-related matters. Read more »

A committee of the European Parliament voted yesterday to regulate online pharmacies to prevent falsified medicines from entering the legal supply chain. The committee agreed that the provision should be included in new draft EU legislation regarding falsified medicines and pharmacovigilance. Read more »

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recently undergone a year-long evaluation by Ernst & Young assessing its effectiveness and efficiency, and the results are largely positive for the agency. Read more »

Patent expiries and the imminent threat of competition from generics is the bane of many pharmaceutical companies’ lives and I’m frequently reading and writing about the doom and gloom pharma is facing because of these issues. This is of course a serious issue for the industry, but there are many beneficiaries, including healthcare providers. Read more »

There has been a surge in the number of combination product (i.e. where a drug product is combined with a medical device) launches in recent years and this trend is set to continue as more companies seek to extend the life of existing branded medicines. According to analysts, the combination product market is currently worth 8 billion Euros and will grow by a staggering 40% during the next 3 years. Read more »

Parallel trade in the EU: there are arguments for it and arguments against it, but the latest reports from the UK suggest that the trade is having a significantly negative impact on patients and the supply of medicines. Read more »