Industry news

Framing Biopharma Success in 2016

Rita C.Peters / BioPharm International

In the past 20 years, biopharma companies enjoyed success as blockbuster drugs dominated the market, made adjustments as the patent cliff approached, and in some cases, abandoned existing R&D programs to seek alternate, more profitable routes. Counterfeit drugs and drug shortages disrupted the delivery of safe, effective therapies to patients. Oversized, inefficient research, development, and manufacturing engines were downsized, or transferred to outsourcing providers. 

FDA nod for synchronized motion table for Intuitive Surgical robotic surgical system

Stacy Lawrence / Fierce Medical Devices

Robotic surgery adherents will soon have a novel option--a table that can move with an Intuitive Surgical ($ISRG) robot during a surgical procedure. The idea is to enable surgeons to use gravity to their advantage by moving the table in tandem with a surgical robot to manipulate the patient's body for better surgical access or to remove some of the physical pressure from a certain bodily location.

FDA bans products from another Chinese plant

Eric Palmer / FeircePharmaManufacturing

A Chinese ingredient maker that says it has produced products for some of Big Pharma's biggest players has had products banned by the FDA. On Wednesday, the FDA added Zhejiang Hisoar Pharmaceutical to its import alert list, Bloomberg reports. According to the notice, all of the company's antibiotics and drugs for human or animal use manufactured at a plant in Taizhou have been banned from being brought into the U.S. Bloomberg says the action follows an inspection last year.

25 January 2016

GenePool from Station X to Help Epic Sciences Analyze Circulating Tumor Cell Data

Station X, Inc., a pioneer in solving big data analytics and platform integration challenges for customers engaging in genomics-based clinical research and medical applications, today announced that Epic Sciences will use its GenePool® platform to facilitate data interpretation and collaboration with biopharmaceutical companies developing companion diagnostics based on the company’s innovative circulating tumor cell (CTC) technology.

UCL sets up £50M VC fund to support academic spinouts

Nick Paul Taylor / Fierce Biotech

University College London (UCL) is getting into the venture capital game. The university, which has spawned a host of biotechs, has rounded up £50 million ($71 million) from the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Imperial Innovations (AIM:IVO) to enable it to financially support spin out companies.

Detect cancer with a simple blood test? It’s not far off, company says

LJ World. com

San Diego-based Illumina said earlier this month that it’s embarking on a huge, years-long attempt to develop a simple blood test that can detect many types of cancer before a person begins to show signs of the disease.

Industry establishes record total deal value of $300B for M&As

Peter Winter / BioWorld

The number of completed mergers and acquisitions in the biopharma industry mushroomed in 2015, generating a total deal value of more than $300 billion, establishing a new record for the industry, according to EY's Firepower Index and Growth Gap Report 2016.

Mood Was Upbeat as China’s Biopharma Leaders Compared Notes Across Pacific at JPM

Shannon Ellis / BioWorld

While many of China’s biopharmaceutical company executives flew across the Pacific for the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, they kicked off their week in San Francisco with the Bayhelix 13th Annual Conference, a confab of China’s best and brightest. The group’s founding members were ambitious China-born scientists and managers working in the U.S. looking for camaraderie. Today, they are leaders in the field, heading up their own well-financed biopharma, med-tech, service and investment companies.

Spanish researchers prototype robotic arm for shoulder rehabilitation

Varun Saxena / FierceMedicalDevices

Researchers at the Centre for Automation and Robotics at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain say they have developed a robotic exoskeleton for rehabilitation from shoulder injuries.

Top mega-rounds fuel record VC pace, with a distinctly ex-U.S. biotech accent

John Carroll / FierceBiotech

Last year private venture investors registered a blistering pace in the global biotech industry, with the average round swelling in size as the top 10 financings grabbed the biggest slice of the pie analysts at EP Vantage have seen in the 9 years they've been gathering stats.