Archive for the 'Pharmacoeconomics' Category
July 28th, 2010 by admin
A Utah doctor is being sent to jail for his connection to an illegal online pharmacy that sold more than eight million weight-loss pills manufactured in Mexico. Dr James A Brinton was sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute phentermine and conspiracy to commit international money laundering, according to the Desert News. The doctor was one of 18 people who were charged with crimes in connection to the Lighthouse Meds website.
Continue reading ‘Utah Doctor Sentenced to Three Years for Illegal Online Pharmacy’
July 16th, 2010 by admin
Over the next five years, the market for biosimilars will swell to $10 billion, but only a handful of players with deep pockets and world-class R&D facilities will be able to play. And that means that most small- and medium-size drug developers will never have a chance of leaping into the new market for follow-on biologics.
Continue reading ‘Only the Biggest Developers can play the Biosimilar Game’
July 14th, 2010 by admin
Chang Lu and his chemical engineering research group at Virginia Tech have discovered how to “greatly enhance” the delivery of DNA payloads into cells. The description of their work will be featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip, the premier journal for researchers in microfluidics. Lu’s ultimate goal is to apply this technique to create genetically modified cells for cancer immunotherapy, stem cell therapy and tissue regeneration.
Continue reading ‘New Spin on DNA Delivery: Enhanced Delivery Method of DNA Payloads into Cells’
July 7th, 2010 by admin
The clock is ticking on Pfizer’s final, 18-month countdown on its $11.5 billion Lipitor franchise, but analysts are growing increasing fretful about the pharma giant’s ability to find new drugs to fill the looming revenue chasm. Pfizer had to admit that it suspended a slate of osteoarthritis trials after its highly touted pain drug tanezumab–billed as the world’s first likely biologic for pain–was linked to potentially perilous safety issues. And that came just two days after the company had to pull the cancer therapy Mylotarg from the market.
Continue reading ‘Pfizer’s Litany of Pipeline Snafus Cause Analysts to Fret’
July 5th, 2010 by admin
While the overall economy may be flagging, Maryland says that its biotech industry is booming. And the governor wants to keep the momentum going with a few new industry incentives. Gov. Martin O’Malley told reporters that the biotech industry added more than a thousand jobs in the last three months; that’s 10 percent of the state’s total tally of new jobs. And he touted a report from Battelle Technology Partnership Practice claiming that the state’s biotech industry has been expanding aggressively for the last several years.
Continue reading ‘MD Governor Touts a Booming Biotech Biz, New Jobs’
July 2nd, 2010 by admin
Craig Venter has never been reluctant to credit himself for a lead role in sequencing the human genome. And he’s certainly not the least bit shy about placing a high value on the overall significance of the work. “I think it’s far more important than walking on the Moon; not much has happened since walking on the Moon,” he tells the BBC on the tenth anniversary of the grand achievement, which took 2,000 scientists more than 10 years and $2.7 billion to accomplish.
Continue reading ‘Importance of Human Genome Sequencing Still Debated – 10 Years Later’
July 1st, 2010 by admin
Drugs such as amphetamine-type stimulants and prescription medications are more and more what people are choosing according to the United Nations Drug Report for 2010. The number using such drugs will eventually exceed those using opiates and cocaine. Drug use in developed countries has remained relatively stable says the document. But in developing countries it is increasing.
Continue reading ‘Synthetic Drug Users at Thirty to Forty Million’
June 22nd, 2010 by admin
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have for the first time differentiated human stem cells to become heart cells with cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle cells are abnormal. The discovery will allow scientists to learn how those heart cells become diseased and from there, they can begin developing drug therapies to stop the disease from occurring or progressing. The study is published in the June 9th issue of Nature.
Continue reading ‘Stem Cells Used to Create Abnormal Heart Cells’
June 17th, 2010 by admin
The scramble to come up with a faster and cheaper way to sequence a genome just got a credible new contender which aims to do the job for the bargain basement rate of $30. The first time scientists sequenced a human genome, the price tag hit $3 billion. That price point has quickly plunged to about $20,000, putting sequencing genomes for the purposes of drug discovery work within the reach of biopharma companies. But this new company, a spinoff from Harvard University dubbed GnuBio, says the trick to bringing sequencing within reach of most people on the planet revolves around deciphering fragments of DNA from droplets streaming through a tiny tube.
Continue reading ‘Genome Sequencing for $30 – A Harvard Spin-off Promise’
June 16th, 2010 by admin
Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment has received more than a dozen regulatory approvals so far this year, and it plans to make approximately 80 significant submissions across its seven franchises between 2010 and 2012. In fact, the MD&D business segment, which generated $23.6 billion in sales in 2009 and became Johnson & Johnson’s largest business segment, holds the No. 1 or 2 market positions in the majority of its markets. These facts were emphasized in a business review, during which Alex Gorsky, worldwide chair of MM&D, said the company is “very pleased, but not satisfied.”
Continue reading ‘J&J Medical Devices & Diagnostics Segment Receives Significant Regulatory Approvals’
