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 »
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 online sale of pharmaceutical products is a big headache for regulators. The Internet is the counterfeiter’s dream market stall, and virtually begs to be abused. Some surveys suggest that more than 60% of drugs purchased online are fake. But governments and regulators are fighting back. In July, the EMA welcomed a new directive on falsified medicines that had a strong focus on the sale of illegal medicinal products on the Internet—somewhat obscurely referred to as “sale at a distance to the public”—and the European Commission was charged with creating a cryptographic logo to identify legal sites.
China said it will work to crack down on counterfeit products such as software, music, organic corn, and pharmaceuticals, according to an article from the Associated Press. The government will launch a six-month campaign focused on eradicating sales of illegally copied and fake goods, said Jiang Zengwei, a deputy commerce minister, at a news conference earlier this week. Read more »
Improving drug quality and combating the threat of counterfeit and substandard medications were the goals of recent efforts by regulators and leaders across Africa, where fake drugs are a particularly serious problem. Read more »
The Pack Expo International 2010 show, held by the trade association Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) in Chicago this week, featured the latest in packaging and processing technologies. Pharmaceutical Technology talked to representatives from two exhibitors, Systech International and Marchesini Group, to discover their impressions of the event. Read more »
A new report, Phony Drugs, Real Solutions: Practical Anti-counterfeiting Considerations, by technology product design and development firm Cambridge Consultants, gives an update of the problem of counterfeiting and diversion of pharmaceuticals and offers solutions to manufacturers for protecting their brands and consumers. The report’s authors conducted in-depth interviews with leaders from pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, as well as technology developers and industry bodies. Read more »
Industry executives revealed their biggest worries for global supply-chain management in a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the analyst firm Axendia that focused on major areas of concern in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The report, titled Achieving Global Supply Chain Visibility, Control & Collaboration in Life Sciences: Business Imperative, Regulatory Necessity, surveyed 112 executives from the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology sectors. Read more »
Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, spoke about the growing problem of counterfeit drugs at last Friday’s Counterfeit Drug Interchange Conference in Washington, DC, hosted by the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), a collection of more than 60 non-profit organizations focused on the safety of prescription drugs. Read more »
Sproxil, a provider of brand-protection services, has developed a program designed to track donated food and healthcare goods as well as prevent illegal diversion. The company will present its Commitment to Action, “Preventing the Diversion of Medical and Food Donations,” at the 6th annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), taking place September 20–23 in New York City. Read more »
From PharmTech.com