Industry news

India developing federal medical device surveillance system

Varun Saxena / FierceMedicalDevices

The Indian government is developing a system of medical device surveillance and adverse event reporting, dubbed the Materio-vigilance Programme of India.

Gilead's Sovaldi faces renewed advocacy CL pressure, this time for China and Russia

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

China and Russia have become new targets for compulsory-licensing campaigns as an activist group widens its global challenge to Gilead's ($GILD) expensive Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) hepatitis C drug.

Australia launches clinical trials website to sharpen patient access for PhIII

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

Australia launched an online register of clinical trials so that patients can search for potential treatment opportunities as recruitment falls short for many Phase III efforts in the country, the Australian newspaper reported.

NIH announces winning teams of Neuro Startup Challenge to commercialize its inventions

Varun Saxena / FierceMedicalDevices

The National Institutes of Health announced the 16 winning teams of the Neuro Startup Challenge. They were chosen to commercialize its unlicensed technologies to improve brain health

Japan eyes higher target for generics despite missing earlier aims

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

Although it has not even reached its goal of generics comprising 60% of drugs prescribed in Japan, the government is about to raise it to 80% or 90%, according to reports.

Moral imperatives and slippery slopes: Seeking bioethical consensus

Jennifer Boggs / BioWorld

Just because we can, should we? One of humanity's age-old questions took center stage at the two-day BEINGS 2015 meeting, during which delegates began laying the groundwork for what is hoped to become a consensus document setting ethical principles, policies and guidelines in the area of cellular biotechnology, which includes stem cell science and the rapidly advancing gene-editing technologies.

China plans for the long march in biomedical, device reforms

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

China, the country of 5-year plans, has inaugurated a longer one: 10 years for increased manufacturing, including biomedicine and high-end medical devices. The State Council calls it "Made in China 2025."

Awareness isn't enough: Pharma needs to focus on action campaigns

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

May is the most crowded disease awareness month of the year, but a recent paper published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests it's mostly for naught. While "awareness days" do spread the word about a particular condition, the events seem to have little effect on public health.

China scraps 15% drug markup at 100 hospitals, to move nationwide by 2017

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

China's State Council plans to scrap a 15% markup on drug sales in major hospital nationwide, kicking into gear a pilot that aims to transform pharmaceutical cost and quality problems over a two-year horizon as part of a major health system overhaul.

FierceDrugDelivery's 10 biggest partnerships in drug delivery

Varun Saxena / Fierce Drug Delivery

"Cover all the bases" is the theme of FierceDrugDelivery's annual list of the top drug delivery partnerships. Finding 10 significant alliances that represent the full range of drug delivery advances was a challenge, and there are certainly other deals out there that are both novel and of high importance.