Industry news

A disruptive billionaire with a yen for innovation herds top researchers into a neoantigen cancer coalition

John Carroll / Endpoints News

One of the hottest fields in cancer research that’s been breeding a slew of startups now has its own collaborative effort underway to help investigators march forward at a faster and more certain pace.

Biotech’s biggest protesters are turning into its supporters

Amanda Lanier / Thomsom Reuters

For decades the biotech industry has been hounded by activists over animal testing. Most notably, a campaign against Huntington Life Sciences in the late 1990s through 2000s included arson, harassment, threats and alleged fire bombings. Less severe, but still troubling for biotech, animal rights activists join with anti-GMOers most years to protest at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) convention.

Immunization Administration and the Future of Pharmacy

Fred Eckel, RPh, MS / PharmaTimes

CDC officials report that more than 25% of influenza vaccines are administered by pharmacists.  It would be safe to say that the immunization role of pharmacists has become an important public health success. The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) has more than 300,000 pharmacists trained as immunizers.  

Pfizer Expands Humanitarian Assistance Program

BioPharm International

In a Nov. 11, 2016 press release Pfizer said that the company will be expanding its humanitarian assistance program allowing for broader access to the Prevenar 13 vaccine in humanitarian emergency settings. In situations where there is a need for humanitarian aid, Prevenar 13, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, will now be offered in a multi-dose vial for $3.10 per dose. During the first year of the expanded program, Pfizer said it will be donating all sales proceeds to humanitarian groups.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Aché Laboratórios Farmacêuticos Collaborate on Nanotechnology R&D Platform

BusinessWire

Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Aché Laboratórios Farmacêuticos today announced a long-term collaboration aimed at improving the bioavailability, efficacy and safety profile of oral therapeutic medicines through nanotechnology. Potential benefits of research in this area include a reduction of adverse effects, increased patient adherence to treatment and more convenient dosing.

Contract research worth £192M a year to U.K. NHS, says KPMG

Angus Liu / FierceBiotech

Carrying out contract clinical research for life science companies injects around £192 million into the U.K. National Health Service every year in income and cost-savings, says a new report.

Pfizer's Herceptin biosimilar succeeds in key breast cancer study

Natalie Grover, Ransdell Pierson / Reuters

Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday its experimental biosimilar of Roche Holding AG's blockbuster breast cancer treatment Herceptin was found comparable with the branded version in a key study.

First new HIV vaccine efficacy study in seven years has begun

U.S. National Institute of Health

The first HIV vaccine efficacy study to launch anywhere in seven years is now testing whether an experimental vaccine regimen safely prevents HIV infection among South African adults. The study, called HVTN 702, involves a new version of the only HIV vaccine candidate ever shown to provide some protection against the virus. HVTN 702 aims to enroll 5,400 men and women, making it the largest and most advanced HIV vaccine clinical trial to take place in South Africa, where more than 1,000 people become infected with HIV every day.

Pharma-to-physician social media and app marketing will soar by 2018: report

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

Pharma companies’ marketing communications to their target audience of healthcare providers are increasingly digital. That's not terribly surprising, considering the uptake in digital channels among physicians for professional use.

Managing Global Healthcare Professional Entertainment Limits

Tiff Moseley / Life Science Leader

In the life sciences industry, a company’s anticorruption policy inevitably governs how employees engage with foreign healthcare professionals (HCPs) – who are considered foreign government officials (FGOs) under most global anticorruption laws. But many companies are finding that a traditional anticorruption policy focused on how not to interact with FGOs can raise more questions than it answers.