USA As healthcare costs are set to be a key issue for voters in the upcoming US presidential election, PhRMA’s Robert Zirkelbach lays out why policymakers must abandon partisan solutions that do not address underlying access and affordability issues. Instead, Zirkelbach urges for greater protection of the USA’s world-leading biopharmaceutical R&D…

USA Online pharmacies have still not captured a large share of the fragmented US pharma market, but Eli Lilly’s partnership with Amazon after a direct-sale initiative of its own may serve to shake up the establishment and show what a direct-to-consumer model can offer.   Eliminating the Middleman, or Not Amazon…

USA The COVID-19 pandemic looked like a turning point for vaccines, but while R&D has made tremendous strides with ground-breaking platform technologies and mRNA, vaccines continue to attract fewer investments than areas such as oncology. As panel members at the “Reviewing Vaccine Pipeline Breakthroughs and Barriers” session during BIO’s recent CEO…

Opinion Writing in the March 2024 edition of the DIA Global Forum magazine, Scott P. Commins of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Jasmine Uchi of VeganMed, and Sachin A. Shah of the University of the Pacific address the use of animal-derived ingredients (ADIs) in pharma and outline a…

USA At the American trade association’s latest CEO & Investor Conference, the board chair of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Ted W. Love discussed US policies and speculated about the impact of the upcoming American election on the industry while affirming that biotech continues to thrive in spite of recent challenges.…

Global Drawing inspiration from Quentin Tarantino’s directorial breakthrough in the early 1990s, Blue Spoon Consulting’s John Singer explores the pharma sector’s urgent need for a strategic overhaul to ensure success and sustain growth amidst looming patent expirations.   Lex is the flagship investment column of the Financial Times. Its commentaries, currently written…

USA The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has had a board reshake, naming Gilead Sciences Chairman and CEO Daniel O’Day as its new chair. The reorganisation comes after the industry group’s failed efforts to block the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the departure of several high-profile members.   Gilead…

USA In late 2023, The Wall Street Journal published the article Generic Drugs Should Be Cheap, but Insurers Are Charging Thousands of Dollars for Them. This article examined interactions between patient health insurance prescription benefits, pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and their collective impact on the prices that patients pay for their prescription…

USA US Congress has highlighted Chinese biotechnology firms, including giants WuXi and BGI, as posing a risk to the country’s national security. PharmaBoardroom takes a look at why the US is now targeting these companies and the potential impact of a proposed US Biosecure Act on US-China biotech ties.   Protecting…

USA The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) approved no less than 55 new drugs in 2023, a number surpassing that of 2022 by almost 50 percent. While 28 rare disease treatments and five novel gene therapies got the green light, the agency also…

USA Cardiff Advisory’s David H. Crean outlines the positive atmosphere and sentiment observed at JPM 2024, the annual healthcare financing conference held near San Francisco’s Union Square. Dr. Crean picks up some of the key trends to emerge from the conference around sustainability, deal flow, venture funding, and AI, and provides…

USA Drawing on her experience as rare disease patient advocacy group SYNGAP1 Foundation’s founder and former president, Monica Weldon argues for the need to standardize genomic testing practices, warns against the possible ethical implications of individualized medicine, and makes a cause for a more holistic approach within rare disease communities.  …