Asia-Pacific Writing in the May edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Toshiyoshi Tominaga of the Asia-Pacific Self-Medication Industry (APSMI) looks at the landscape for OTC medicines in the Asia-Pacific region today. Tominaga highlights how, against the backdrop of a drop in formal medical interventions due to COVID-19 infection fears, countries are more than…

Japan Toshio Fujimoto, MD, MBA, the General Manager of Shonan Health Innovation Park examines why Japan – despite being well established as one of the world’s most innovative and technologically advanced countries – has lagged behind in terms of VC funding, especially in the life sciences and how this can be…

Australia In an exclusive new podcast, DIA Global Forum Australia/New Zealand Regional Editor Richard Day (University of New South Wales, Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital) and John Skeritt, Head of Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), discuss regulatory strategies and other initiatives designed to help nurture clinical research and product development in Australia post-pandemic.   With…

MEA Mohamed Nasser, Amgen’s general manager for the vast Middle East & Africa (MEA) region, leverages his considerable experience managing teams across the region to highlight four skills (and one secret ingredient) that pharma country and regional managers in MEA need to succeed.   The Middle East-Africa area (MEA) is one…

USA Writing in the May edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Erica Lyons, Sarrit Kovacs, Matthew Kowalik, and Jessica Lee from the Division of Gastroenterology, Office of New Drugs, CDER at the US FDA look at how patient input is increasingly being utilised in new drug development, its importance in assessing…

Global The issue of COVID-19 vaccine access in developing nations has thrust intellectual property (IP) into global headlines. Against the backdrop of heated arguments both for and against an IP waiver for COVID-related products, the global pharma industry has launched a new initiative on IP, asserting its crucial importance to continued…

UK Stuart Evans, partner at law firm BLM and specialist in commercial disputes and litigation examines the origins and fallout of the EU/AstraZeneca vaccine dispute and why the twin forces of COVID-19 and Brexit seem set to muddy the waters of cross-border pharma trade for some time to come.   Five…

Asia-Pacific Writing in the April edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Dhiraj Behl, Janine Jamieson, and Harikesh Kalonia highlight some of the regulatory challenges for drug-device combination products in APAC, including the lack of an international body dedicated to harmonisation in this field.   In the current innovation era and in the wake…

LatAm Writing in the April edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Maria Cristina Mota Pina of Abbvie on behalf of FIFARMA Regulatory & Biologics Working Group highlights the significance of regulatory reliance between regulators in the LatAm and Caribbean region and proposes how it can be strengthened.   Regulatory reliance is…

Europe The EFPIA’s Nathalie Moll outlines the significance of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to cancer patients in Europe, and its potential to boost the continent’s push to catch up with the US and China on biopharmaceutical innovation.   Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan adds real momentum to the fight against cancer, promising…

Latvia Dr Valters Bolevics, director general of the Association of International Research-based Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers of Latvia (SIFFA), outlines the progress made on market access for innovative pharmaceuticals in Latvia in recent years and the hurdles still to be overcome to catch up with its Baltic neighbours.   Stable pharmaceutical product market…

Canada Writing in the March edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Judith Glennie examines the findings of Health Canada’s consultation with Canadians on what a national strategy for high-cost rare disease drugs could look like.   On January 27, 2021, Health Canada launched a consultation on the development of a National…