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 »

Only a day after the results of two Phase III clinical trials involving Novartis’s oral therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) were published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the media has leapt on the positive trial data and hailed the therapy as “hope for MS patients” that can “dramatically reduce relapse”. That’s great news, but hold on… the therapy hasn’t even been approved yet! Read more »

The European Commission has said it will be taking a close look at patent settlements where an originator has paid off a generic competitor in return for delayed market entry of a generic drug. Only yesterday, the EC released a statement saying that it has asked certain pharmaceutical companies to submit copies of their patent settlement agreements completed between originator and generic companies between July 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009. Read more »

Pharma companies have been accused by a member of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly of creating a false pandemic with regards to the H1N1 virus or “swine flu”. Read more »

There has been a lot of talk in the media recently about a tax proposal in the UK that should offer companies more incentive to invest in innovative industries, such as pharma and biotech. The proposal, dubbed the ‘patent box’ was announced in the UK HM Treasury’s Pre-Budget Report 2009. Read more »

The end of 2009 is creeping closer and analysts are already looking towards 2010 and wondering what new challenges are in store for the pharma industry. After the turbulent year of 2009, some may be relieved to know that analyst firm Ovum, part of the Datamonitor Group, believes that dramatic changes are unlikely. Read more »

A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health claims that prescription drug direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) can be harmful to a person’s health. According to the researchers, prescription drug advertisements are “not doing a good job of helping consumers to make better decisions about their health”. Read more »

Last week, Alexis Pellek of Pharmaceutical Technology wrote about a pilot project launched by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations to test a new system designed to battle counterfeit drugs (See the blog post.) The system involved using DataMatrix 2D barcodes, which enable pharmacists to test the legitimacy of each packet.

We spoke with Mark Beauchamp, European Marketing Manager of Citizens Systems Europe, a firm that specializes in barcode technology, to better understand how barcoding can help the pharmaceutical industry to clamp down on counterfeit drugs. Read more »

ISP Pharmaceuticals is embarking on a drug-solubility Initiative to support pharma companies working with poorly soluble drug actives. At a press conference held at CPhI Worldwide in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday, the company explained that a huge amount of drugs in the pharmaceutical developmental pipeline present solubility issues. Read more »