Industry news

Once again, Pharma beats all other industries with $1.5B in magazine ads

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

Pharma spending on magazine ads jumped to more than $1.53 billion in 2015, according to data provided by Nielsen. That's an increase of 19% from $1.29 million in 2014. The prescription drug category also once again led all other ad categories when it comes to magazines--ahead of consumer categories such as fashion and skin care--and widened its lead to boot.

The tradeoffs: Personalized treatment vs. one-size-fits-all standards

PhRMA

What would happen if instead of a personalized treatment plan your doctor used a one-size-fits-all standard of care?

The state of U.S. venture valuations and other notable trends in 10 charts

PitchBook Blog

How have venture valuations shifted in response to the downturn in activity?  Our recently released VC Valuations & Trends Report examines multiple datasets of U.S. venture valuations in order to assess both the historic, recent ramp-up in the industry as well as the effects of the recent shift downward in activity.

New leadership, funding set to boost Taiwan's biopharma industry

Dave Silver / BioWorld

In recent years, Taiwan has been pouring considerable attention, effort and funding into the development of a sustainable biotech industry, seeking a new economic driver to replace the diminishing prominence of its once-dominant electronics manufacturing sector.

China initiative would pour billions into precision medicine

Pearl Liu / BioWorld

As part of an effort to step up as a precision medicine powerhouse, the Chinese government is moving forward on an initiative that would see it provide billions of dollars in funding over the next 15 years.

Drug shortages prompt question: are some medicines too cheap?

Ben Hirschler / Reuters

Philip Aubrey buys medicines for British government-funded hospitals across London, capital of the world's fifth-largest economy, but last year he struggled to secure supplies of a basic AIDS drug.

Smallest genomed-bacterium addresses big questions

Anette Breindl / BioWorld

Among the insights to be had from the "minimal genome" cell that was reported Thursday is just how relative the term minimal is – a fact freely acknowledged by its creators.

Research primes pipeline with drug candidates aimed at CF

Peter Winter / BioWorld

In the U.S., about 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis (CF) – the rare, life-threatening genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and progressively limits the ability to breathe – are diagnosed each year, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. While there are effective therapies that target the symptoms, there are no treatments that will fully restore lung function. However, genomic research is concentrating on a better understanding of the mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene in order to develop the next generation of therapies aimed at ameliorating the underlying genetic causes of CF.

Europe gives green light to first gene therapy for children

Ben Hirschler and Martinne Geller / Reuters

The world's first life-saving gene therapy for children, developed by Italian scientists and GlaxoSmithKline, has been recommended for approval in Europe, boosting the pioneering technology to fix faulty genes.

FDA publishes more biosimilar labeling advice after pharma voices its concerns

Ben Adams / FierceBiotech

The FDA has released further draft guidelines on how biopharma should label their new copycat biologics in what has been described as a "positive for the biosimilars industry," but problems over interchangeability remain.