Industry news

Sales reps need to bone up on tech skills as drug launches move digital

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

Digitization in pharma means marketing integration doesn't end with websites and online campaigns. And the industry is looking at you, sales reps. Getting reps to master digital tools is a big opportunity, according to Nancy Phelan, head of the customer engagement center, worldwide customer operations for Bristol-Myers Squibb. In a recent keynote speech, Phelan talked up those tools and their positive effects on pharma brands, Medical Marketing & Media said in coverage of its leadership exchange conference.

MIT: Ultrasound gives GI drugs a quicker delivery with less discomfort

Michael Gibney / FierceDrudDelivery

Researchers from MIT--including drug delivery maven Robert Langer--and Massachusetts General Hospital have found a quick way to deliver drugs to the gastrointestinal tract using ultrasound, someday improving treatment of disorders there such as inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

India needs to help solve global problem of antibiotic overuse

Matthew Driskill / FiercePharmaAsia

India needs to step up to the plate and help industries across the globe stop overuse of antibiotics, which leads to many diseases becoming multidrug-resistant, according to the head of a British commission looking into the problem.

As biotech selling spreads, more weakness seen for U.S. health stocks

Caroline Valetkevitch and Caroline Humer / Reuters

Selling has spread from biotechs - shaken on Sept. 21 when Hillary Clinton first tweeted concerns about drug prices - to other areas of the healthcare sector. Investors have been dumping shares of everything from hospitals to traditional pharmaceutical companies and insurers in recent weeks.

NIH: Use of digital tools, social media bridging research-health gap

Nuala Moran / BioWorld

People managing chronic conditions and rare diseases are the "alpha geeks" who epitomize how digital communications channels and social media can be best used to promote the NIH's goal of translating discovery research into health.

Asia's dengue epidemic highlights race for treatment, vaccine options

Matthew Driskill / FiercePharmaAsia

A sharp rise in dengue fever is earning it the notorious title as the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease with new outbreaks engulfing the Asian continent, crippling hospital services and forcing facilities to turn away patients, according to a Reuters report.

Immunotherapy creates fresh challenges and tactical imperatives

Michael Fitzhugh / BioWorld

With widespread excitement about immuno-oncology combinations driving deals, the pressure to find synergies has never been greater. The opportunities are creating new challenges for companies big and small, executives at the 2015 BIO Investor Forum said.

Marketing advice for pharma: Get on the digital train or get run over

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

At a recent Ogilvy CommonHealth marketing summit, Google's  national industry director of healthcare, Ryan Olohan, compared the digital disruption in the pharma industry to a large, slow-moving train. He pointed to other industries where brands like Kodak, Blockbuster and Blackberry either stood by watching or moved too late and were, in essence, run over by the digital locomotive that plowed through their sectors. Will the same thing happen in pharma?

Even in a down market, the drumbeat for dollars continues to sound out

Marie Powers / BioWorld

BIO Investor will provide a platform for more than 180 company presentations by discovery companies – defined by BIO as those that have raised less than $25 million in seed or series A rounds – established private companies that have raised more than $25 million in series B and later rounds, and emerging public companies. As observed in this week’s BioWorld Insight analysis of the roiling capital markets, this group of companies will feel the pinch first if the bottom drops out for biopharma.

Google's med tech allure draws top scientists and academics

Emily Wasserman / FierceMedicalDevices

Google is good at getting what it wants, as evidenced by its recent deals with device and biotech companies through its fast-growing Life Science group. And the tech titan's allure has also attracted some of the industry's top scientists, who left their positions in the research and academic fields to further Google's med tech ambitions.