Industry news

Pharma needs to get into digital health data game to stay competitive, study says

Eric Palmer / FeircePharma

That Apple ($APPL) watch you are wearing may allow you to text and listen to music, and it can track your activity. But it may also be conducting a postmarket study that will help cut the price of some of your prescription drugs in the future.

Novartis CEO predicts a pharma pricing squeeze from insurer M&A

Tracy Staton / Fierce Pharma

Worried that health insurers' urge to merge will put even more pressure on your prices? You're in good company. Novartis ($NVS) CEO Joe Jimenez agrees. For years, pricing freedom in the U.S. has allowed drugmakers to set prices higher than in other countries and raise them along the way. The tactics help offset budget pressures overseas and can drive sales growth for meds on the decline.

Health specialists call for $2 billion global fund for vaccines

Kate Kelland / Reuters

Global health experts called on Wednesday for the creation of a $2 billion vaccine development fund to feed a pipeline of potential new shots against priority killer diseases like Ebola, MERS and the West Nile virus.

23 July 2015

Miramar® Labs Announces FDA Clearance for the permanent reduction of underarm hair of all colors and subsequent launch of miraSmooth™

Miramar® Labs, an innovative global aesthetic company, announced today its miraDry® System received clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of unwanted underarm hair, and permanent reduction of underarm hair of all colors. This announcement establishes miraDry as the only technology FDA cleared for the treatment of underarm hair of all colors as well as the permanent reduction of underarm sweat.

FDA and EU Regulators Strategize Future Collaboration

BioPharm International

On July 14, 2015, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) detailed plans developed during a June 19, 2015 meeting between FDA, EMA, and the European Commission. The meeting was part of the agencies’ continuing collaboration to advance drug development and evaluation.

Torrid pace of VC investing in H1 sets a new biotech record

John Carroll / FierceBiotech

The venture money machine backing the biotech industry in the U.S. was operating in overdrive during the second quarter, generating a record amount of investing in new drug development as IPOs continue their romp in the third year of a wide-open market.

U.K. puts Cambridge at the heart of £50M precision medicine program

Nick Paul Taylor / Fierce Biotech

The United Kingdom has put Cambridge at the heart of its £50 million ($78 million) push into precision medicines. Cambridge is to host the headquarters of the precision medicine network, from which a team will coordinate regional centers to support the advance of targeted therapies through the clinic and into real-world use. 

Neurological Disorders Drug Development Pipeline has 420 Candidates, Says New Report

Randi Hernandez / BioPharm International

The drug pipeline to treat neurological disorders—which currently clocks in with 420 medicines under review by FDA—will be full of biologics, according to a new report released by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of America and the Epilepsy Foundation. 

NIH joins public-private partnership to fund research on autism biomarkers

U.S. National Institute of Health

Government, non-profit and other private partners will fund a multi-year project to develop and improve clinical research tools for studying autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The project will receive a total of $28 million over the next four years to test and refine clinical measures of social impairment in ASD in order to better evaluate potential behavioral and drug therapies. It is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH), the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), and others.

FDA turns to Google for help spotting adverse events

Nick Paul Taylor / Fierce Biotech IT

The FDA has approached Google ($GOOG) for help identifying adverse drug events in search data. The regulator hooked up with Google to access the insights of Evgeniy Gabrilovich, an engineer at the tech behemoth who has published papers on the subject of mining search queries for adverse event reports.