Industry news

Behind the Scenes with Buffers

Cynthia Challener, PhD / BioPharm International

The therapeutic efficacy of protein-based drugs depends in large part on their structure. Unfortunately, many proteins are highly sensitive to pH and other environmental factors and therefore are unstable unless maintained under certain conditions. To maintain a viable environment, different buffer solutions are required for nearly all downstream biopharmaceutical processing steps, including filtration, capture, and chromatography operations. 

The Fierce survey: Is this a biotech bubble or a sustainable bull market?

John Carroll / FierceBiotech

When Juno Therapeutics first approached investors with plans for an IPO, the year-old biotech was thinking of selling shares at $16 to $18 a share. The biotech wound up going public at $38 and this morning the share price is $51.

Indonesia gains momentum as drug firms eye second year of phased national insurance

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

Indonesia could be the new darling of healthcare industry investors, many of whom are already taking advantage of opportunities afforded by a new national health plan initiated at the beginning of last year.

7 CEOs Say It's About The "Bios": Biotechs, Biopharmaceuticals and Biosimilars

Louis Garguilo / Outsourced Pharma

It’s the booming “Bios” – biotechs, biopharmaceuticals and biosimilars – spurring capital expenditures and technology advancements, supply-and-demand questions and business decisions that grab the attention of our CEOs they are seeing in 2015. 

Need to know which drugs are in short supply? FDA has an app for that

Eric Palmer and Eric Sagonowsky / Fierce Pharma

The FDA has found it difficult to keep the total number of drug shortages from growing, but the agency figures it can at least help healthcare providers more easily track them. To do that it has released a mobile app that will allow anyone to use a smartphone to look up current shortages and discontinuations as well as shortages that have been resolved.

Major policy shift on costs and safety views as China moves to lift price controls on drugs

EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

China Premier Li Keqiang said the government will lift price controls on pharmaceuticals, which would mark a dramatic change of tack in efforts to both widen access to medicines from the cities into the countryside while keeping spending in check.

New Report Highlights a Decade of Innovation in Rare Diseases

Stephanie Fischer / PhRMA

While any given rare disease affects fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S., rare diseases cumulatively affect 1 in 10 Americans and an estimated 350 million people worldwide.

All the Generations

GenomeWeb

Recent trends in funding may lead young scientists to shy away from research careers, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins warns.

Biopharma's new normal: Constant makeovers leave R&D jobs at permanent risk

John Carroll / FierceBiotech

Every year when I'm assessing the top trends in the industry, R&D restructuring can be relied on to make the top 5. Four years ago, Pfizer ($PFE) sent shockwaves through the industry when it announced plans to close its R&D complex in Sandwich--later it decided to keep some operations--while scaling back dramatically in Connecticut. Roche ($RHHBY) followed with its plan to close Nutley, NJ, and companies like Sanofi ($SNY) and GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) set out to find some new approach to R&D that could justify their multibillion-dollar annual investments. Merck ($MRK) was one of the last to finally give in to the trend.

Broadly positive reactions roll in for FDA's drug shortages app

Nick Paul Taylor / Fierce BiotechIT

The FDA made its first move into the world of smartphone apps this week with a tool to allow users of iOS and Android devices to view information on drug shortages. And the reception to the app was broadly positive, with users praising the tool itself and the FDA for pushing into the mobile sector.