When only a handful of manufacturers supply a given drug, production problems at any of those companies can lead to a shortage. Earlier this year, problems at Ben Venue’s Bedford, Ohio, site contributed to shortages of the cancer drug Doxil. The shortages are likely to continue now that Ben Venue has suspended manufacturing at the plant. 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 »

Worried about our persistently high rate of unemployment (and his bid for re-election), President Obama is urging Congress to pass portions of his jobs bill. In addition to aiding the economy, creating jobs could help reduce the number of people who are forgoing medications, which would be a boon for the pharmaceutical industry. Perhaps with this in mind, the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) has thrown its weight behind a bill it says would create American jobs.

Read more »

President Barack Obama’s state visit to India this week underscores the delicate balance in US–Indian economic relations: that is both the opportunity and competition that arises when advancing economic, trade, and business relations between the two countries. This paradoxical relationship is apparent in the pharmaceutical industry, where India is an important cog in pharmaceutical companies’ strategies for growth in emerging markets, but also a competitive force for suppliers, contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs), and contract research organizations (CROs) serving the pharmaceutical industry. Is this simply a natural byproduct of a global economy or is there a better resolution? Read more »

Colorado is the country’s only state with an adult obesity rate below 20%. (Its rate is 19.1%.) More than two-thirds of states (38) have adult obesity rates above 25%, and rates increased in 28 states in the past year. These statistics were released this week in F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010, a report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This sobering news comes just in time for America’s 234th birthday, when millions of us will head to cookouts and celebrate with family, friends, and food. Read more »

The dust has partly settled since President Obama signed the “Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010.” By now, analysts have had a chance to examine the act’s details and get a sense of what practical effects the legislation will have. So what will healthcare reform mean for pharmaceutical manufacturers? Read more »

After much ado, the US House of Representatives passed a healthcare-reform bill this weekend. Drugmakers and commentators are understandably eager to parse the bill to find out what it would mean for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. So what’s the verdict? Read more »

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has won the latest battle over follow-on biologics. Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved Rep. Anna Eshoo’s (D-CA) amendment to the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200). The Eshoo amendment, a regulatory pathway for the approval of biosimilars, would grant about 12 years of market exclusivity to each new biological medicine. Read more »

Congress has taken up the Obama administration’s goal of making healthcare more affordable by introducing various strategies for reducing the cost of prescription drugs. But the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) have resisted several of Congress’s initiatives, and cost control has been elusive so far. Read more »

President Obama’s plan for lowering the cost of healthcare relies partly on ensuring that affordable generic drugs are available to patients. This strategy is not likely to be palatable to innovator companies, who have tried various ways of delaying generic drugs’ introduction to the market. Read more »