USA As Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2024 draws to a close, PhRMA’s Elizabeth Carpenter lays out the massive progress made in breast cancer treatment outcomes over the past half-century. However, Carpenter warns that further progress in breast cancer R&D is under threat, highlighting three key policy barriers that must be removed…

Germany The latest news from German pharma, including why Merck KGaA is looking to life science M&A; positive outlooks for Bayer and STADA; BioNTech’s move into the AI lab assistant space with Google DeepMind; and the recipe to fix the country’s ailing healthcare system.   Germany’s Merck open to more M&A…

Global Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla’s ‘annus horribilis’ shows no sign of abating. From being feted as the industry darling of the COVID-19 period, Pfizer management is now being accused of USD 20 billion worth of “value destruction” by activist investors. As new analysis shows, Bourla has also suffered the ignominy of…

USA Naming a Chief Artificial Intelligence (AI) officer may not be an industry first, but Lilly’s recent creation of the role with the appointment of Thomas Fuchs confirms the solid commitment pharma has already made to introducing AI in processes that range from drug discovery to marketing.   AI Leaders Eli…

USA Monica Weldon, a seasoned rare disease patient advocate in the US, now serves as the lead strategic analyst for the life science industry base policy at Leidos, a technology solutions firm. Here, she explains the rationale behind the Biden administration’s Executive Order 14081 from 2022, as well as its impact…

Mexico Sworn in this month as Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged “continuity with change,” with respect to her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s policies. While she has promised to drive forward the healthcare reforms López Obrador introduced – namely universal coverage – she has also set out a…

India Contributing to the October 2024 edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Stephanie Rosner of DIA and Martin Hodosi and Rosanna Lim of Kearney highlight the discussions from DIA’s multistakeholder Responsible AI Solution Room, which focused on cross-sector partnerships for responsible AI use and strategies to mitigate AI risk.   Artificial…

Global In the October 2024 edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Global Forum founding Editor-in-Chief and former DIA board member Andrzej Czarnecki of Eli Lilly and Company shares his reflections on DIA’s 60-year anniversary and prospects for the future with his successor, current Editor-in-Chief Alberto Grignolo.   Alberto Grignolo (DIA): Andrzej,…

China A roundup of some of the top stories coming out of China’s pharma industry, including AstraZeneca’s USD 1.92 billion deal with CSPC; Bayer’s new Shanghai incubator; Genentech’s purchase of Regor Pharmaceuticals’ breast cancer portfolio; Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical’s African manufacturing expansion, and CanSino’s USD 17 million polio vaccine grant from the…

USA In a country characterised by its racial and ethnic diversity, but where less than 5 percent of clinical trial data includes racial and ethnic factors, clinical trial diversity has become a key issue for the US FDA. Drug and medical device makers recognise the importance of diversity but find their…

Hong Kong Hong Kong has grand plans to become one of Asia’s leading clinical trial hubs. Important regulatory upgrades and increased integration with mainland China via the Greater Bay Area initiative – including a new dedicated GBA Clinical Trial Institute at the Hong Kong/mainland border – mean that this is not just…

Global The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, key figures in the development of microRNA; miniscule RNA molecules that enable cells to control which proteins they produce.   The Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, which selects the prize’s winner said…