Developing and maintaining the right labor pool is an ongoing challenge for any industry, and it is one that the pharmaceutical industry also is facing. Recent attention in the pharmaceutical industry has focused on the restructuring that has occurred and that is still occurring among the large pharmaceutical companies. And while re-allocating resources, including labor resources, is always a crucial task for companies, it is a challenge made even more difficult amidst shifting industry fundamentals and a demand for higher productivity from scientific talent.

The pharmaceutical industry requires employees with a high-end scientific skill set, and PwC’s 2012 Global CEO Survey indicates that pharmaceutical companies are having a hard time finding the right people. A recent report by PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI) takes a look at how changes in R&D models have affected the pharmaceutical workforce.

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At the end of February, sunny southern California will be the site for a week-long conference devoted to the development and production of biopharmaceuticals. Read more »

Biosimilars. They bring cheap prices to patients and healthcare payers, but for biopharmaceutical companies, such products impact the sales of innovative biopharmaceuticals. The pros and cons of biosimilars have been under discussion for some time in the bio/pharma industry, but the debate is now gaining increased momentum as the US moves closer to solid guidance concerning the development of biosimilars. Read more »

Biopharmaceutical companies are touting their huge investment in R&D, which has filled the drug pipeline with more potential first-in-class medicines, including orphan drugs, personalized medicines and new therapies based on novel scientific strategies. A report by the Analysis Group for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) documents more than 5,000 new medicines in the pipeline globally, many for untreated diseases and life-threatening conditions. The promise is that this more robust pipeline will lead to more new critical therapies for patients. Read more »

The recent presidential and vice-presidential debates have highlighted the need for strategies for economic growth in the US, including the roles innovation and trade play in stimulating the US economy. Eli Lilly Chairman, President and CEO John C. Lechleiter recently weighed in on the issue with respect to the pharmaceutical industry in offering his perspective on the importance of including data exclusivity provisions for biologics as found in US law for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional free trade pact in Asia under negotiation.

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Biologic-based drugs are increasingly important in the drug pipelines of pharmaceutical companies. Strong growth is projected for biologic-based drugs, and a crucial issue is whether the outsourcing model for biologic-based drugs will follow a similar path as the model for outsourcing small-molecule development and manufacturing or will new paradigms emerge. That question was addressed at one of the sessions at the CPhI Pre-Connect Conference this week in Madrid. Read more »

A new report has forecast that the global biopharmaceutical market will be worth more than $320 billion by 2020, up from just $138 billion in 2011. According to global business intelligence firm GBI Research, annual revenues for biopharmaceuticals have been rising year on year since 2001. In 2011, biopharmaceuticals accounted for 15.6% of the total pharmaceutical market. Read more »

The Obama Administration released last week the National Bioeconomy Blueprint. The report outlines steps that federal agencies will take to drive the bioeconomy—economic activity powered by research and innovation in the biosciences—and details  ongoing efforts across the federal government to realize this goal. Given the importance of biotechnology to the pharmaceutical industry, does the plan do enough? Read more »

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently developed nanoparticles that can be controllably triggered to synthesize proteins. The hope is that particles could be used to deliver small proteins that kill cancer cells and eventually larger proteins such as antibodies that trigger the immune system to destroy tumors. Read more »

Amid one of the most divisive eras in our nation’s political history, one thing we can all pretty much agree on is the fact that our stalled economic engine needs a jumpstart. Read more »