Tagged with BIO

Hong Kong A groundbreaking research scientist noted for his work in non-invasive blood-based diagnoses, Professor Dennis Lo currently holds a number of positions at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Lo, whose work was first commercialised via the company Cirina – later acquired by GRAIL – outlines his current research focus on…

Belgium Belgium’s Flanders region is a hotbed of biotech excellence, with numerous examples of university spin-offs being translated into commercial-stage companies and many of those later acquired by Big Pharma. Wouter Piepers of cluster organisation flanders.bio outlines the fundamentals behind this success story, and what potential future investors in Belgian biotech…

Hong Kong Professor Michael Yang of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) introduces the ‘HK Tech 300‘ programme he oversees, the largest university-based entrepreneurship programme in Asia. Drawing on his own experience as co-founder of Prenetics and Cellomics, biotech companies based on technologies developed in his laboratory at CityU, Professor Yang assesses…

Belgium Celltrion Healthcare Belgium’s Nicolas Van Gelder introduces the concept of ‘biobetters’ and how they differ from standard biosimilars and originator biologics, the reception and uptake of these products so far in the Belgian market, and what he sees as Celltrion’s role as driving savings and positive change in the country’s…

Belgium Accord Healthcare’s Stefano Christoffersen outlines the strategy that has led to Accord becoming one of the fastest-growing generics and biosimilar companies in Europe, why the firm has chosen to focus on the hospital generics niche, and his hopes for continuing to meet unmet patient need in Belgium in the coming…

UAE With a welter of regulatory upgrades in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in recent years, patients in the Middle East’s leading countries now have wider and faster access to cutting-edge biopharmaceutical innovation than ever before. Here, four leading lights in the region’s pharmaceutical industry highlight some of the most important…

USA Big Pharma has been raging against the US’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ever since it was passed last year. Merck (MSD global) has recently taken its indignation a step further and sued the US government, arguing that the new legislation violates the constitution, but shareholders at the ICCR are not…

Switzerland Taken from the recently published Swiss Biotech Report 2023, these figures cover major public and private financing transactions in Swiss biotech in the past year; major financing categories; capital investments in Swiss biotech companies; revenues, R&D expenses, profit/loss and liquidity; as well as well as the total number of biotech…

USA Speaking at the 2023 BIO International Convention Chris Viehbacher who joined Biogen as CEO only a few months ago, criticised the US’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), legislation that will allow Medicare to negotiate prices for the drugs it spends the most on as of 2026. Viehbacher, who was brought in…

USA While the COVID-19 pandemic was a global wake-up call for many, life sciences stakeholders argue that not enough is being done to address the rising threats of further health crises and equate health security with national security, a necessity that requires consistent public funding. In addition, as a recent panel…

UAE Zeina Sfeir Lahoud of Biologix, a Dubai-based firm that represents international pharma companies by bringing innovative drugs to market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, highlights important recent developments for the company – including a groundbreaking “value management agreement” in the UAE – and her hopes for…

USA During a panel discussion at the BIO International Convention, Peter Marks, director of the US FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) discussed the positive regulatory outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the backlogs it created and the challenges of carrying the lessons learned forward.   At…