Industry news

Price pressure on drug sales in China accelerates in 2016

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

China's push to get drug costs under control is hitting big pharma in the country this year, at least anecdotally, with insurance plans curbing reimbursement and urging provincial authorities to get more aggressive on prices in public tenders.

Ignoring the science for a bigger box of crayons

Mari Serebrov / BioWorld Perscpectives

Once upon a time in the days before enlightenment, we tried to use science to develop our drugs. Believe it or not, researchers actually had to come up with a hypothesis of how a drug might work, what disease it might tackle and who it might work for – before testing it in a crayon box of humans.

The corporate reputation of the pharmaceutical industry in 2015

PatientView

This report is based on the findings of a PatientView November 2015-January 2016 survey exploring the views of 1,075 patient groups from 72 countries, and focusing on differing medical specialties. The report provides feedback on the corporate reputation of the pharma industry during 2015, as well as the performance of 48 pharma companies for six key indicators that influence corporate reputation. Results are compared with those of the previous four years.

Biopharma Outsourcing Market Expands

Susan Haigney / BioPharm International

A survey of drug manufacturers reveals that cost considerations, as well as mergers and acquisitions, will continue to drive the use of outsourced services (1). Distribution activities was the top function biopharmaceutical companies will outsource, followed by packaging and labeling, and drug product manufacturing.

In a welcome, surprising reversal, pharma's reputation among patients takes an upturn

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharma

This is not a misprint: Pharma's reputation with patients is on the way up. That's according to PatientView, which has run the same reputation study surveying patient groups for the past four years, and labeled the 2015 reputation findings as the best year yet for pharma companies.

Experts: Drug trial disaster followed several missteps; new rules needed

John Carroll / FierceBiotech

French health authorities gathered a committee of experts together to explore that question, and their first stab at an answer leaves the mystery largely unsolved. The committee, though, zeroed in on unexpected off-target effects of the drug as a likely culprit for the serious brain damage inflicted on trial subjects. And there were enough visible mistakes in the study--a poor preclinical evaluation of pharmacology, the use of maximum doses that were far higher than what was needed to achieve the desired effect, and erratic dose escalation in the human study--that the authors are calling for new trial rules that should be adopted globally.

As India Restructures Pharma Sector to Rev Up Drug Discovery, Private Equity Remains Scarce

T.V. Padma / Life Sciences Connect

Despite reservations private equity players might have about a sector with longer gestation periods and stringent regulations, India’s biopharmaceutical industry appears to be in an upbeat mood with new investments on the way and at least one state government announcing a land bonanza to set up biotech parks.

Despite promise, hurdles to personalized med’s potential remain

Michael Fitzhugh / BioWorld

Despite growing appreciation for many benefits of personalized medicine, earning it new attention in health care institutions and Washington, progress in the field continues to be decidedly mixed, according to speakers at the Molecular Medicine Tri-Con meeting this week.

Inside Silicon Wadi: Why VC in Israel is a booming business

Kevin Dowd / PitchBook

Israel is a country of just 8.5 million people, roughly the same population as New Jersey. But the sliver of a nation on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea punches well above its weight in the world of venture capital, earning the nation's tech-centric coastal area around the nickname “Silicon Wadi” (Wadi means “valley” in Arabic and Hebrew).

Moody's: Global pharma industry outlook change to stable reflects lower growth expectations

FiercePharma

 Lower pricing flexibility, the stronger US  dollar and slower adoption of some new products will dampen earnings  growth in the global pharmaceutical industry, said Moody's Investors  Service. As a result, the rating agency has changed its outlook on the  sector to stable from positive.