USA A public health initiative said to have saved over 25 million lives, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has had an enormous impact on the fight against HIV/AIDS through providing HIV treatment, prevention, and education. Since its inception in 2003 PEPFAR has largely enjoyed bipartisan support within…

USA In the latest government-driven initiative to tackle drug prices in the US after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), California plans to cut drug prices by buying opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone directly from its generics manufacturer and distributing it under its own CalRx initiative.   California will continue to be…

Global 2023 was a breakthrough year for cell and gene therapies. The field saw a record number of FDA approvals, as other promising therapies in a broad range of therapeutic areas progressed through the pipeline. 2024 looks to be another important year with up to 17 new therapies poised for regulatory…

Global Having been quietly working away on its mRNA platform for years, Moderna stepped into the limelight during the COVID-19 pandemic and became a commercial-stage outfit almost overnight with its vaccine. After generating sales of USD 18.4 billion in 2022, demand for the company’s Spikevax shot, still its only commercialized product…

USA Johnson & Johnson has been building its medtech arm and creating a differentiated pipeline through strategic M&A, an approach that generated USD 30.4 billion in medical device sales last year, representing growth of 12.4 percent. The company has now acquired Shockwave Medical, bringing its IVL technology on board for USD…

Global ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR), and PharmaBoardroom’s content partner, continues to monitor healthcare trends and conduct horizon scanning around the world. The “ISPOR 2024-2025 Top 10 HEOR Trends” marks the fifth publication of the Society’s biennial report, which is based on input from its members…

USA As healthcare costs are set to be a key issue for voters in the upcoming US presidential election, PhRMA’s Robert Zirkelbach lays out why policymakers must abandon partisan solutions that do not address underlying access and affordability issues. Instead, Zirkelbach urges for greater protection of the USA’s world-leading biopharmaceutical R&D…

USA Online pharmacies have still not captured a large share of the fragmented US pharma market, but Eli Lilly’s partnership with Amazon after a direct-sale initiative of its own may serve to shake up the establishment and show what a direct-to-consumer model can offer.   Eliminating the Middleman, or Not Amazon…

USA The COVID-19 pandemic looked like a turning point for vaccines, but while R&D has made tremendous strides with ground-breaking platform technologies and mRNA, vaccines continue to attract fewer investments than areas such as oncology. As panel members at the “Reviewing Vaccine Pipeline Breakthroughs and Barriers” session during BIO’s recent CEO…

Opinion Writing in the March 2024 edition of the DIA Global Forum magazine, Scott P. Commins of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Jasmine Uchi of VeganMed, and Sachin A. Shah of the University of the Pacific address the use of animal-derived ingredients (ADIs) in pharma and outline a…

USA At the American trade association’s latest CEO & Investor Conference, the board chair of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Ted W. Love discussed US policies and speculated about the impact of the upcoming American election on the industry while affirming that biotech continues to thrive in spite of recent challenges.…

Global Drawing inspiration from Quentin Tarantino’s directorial breakthrough in the early 1990s, Blue Spoon Consulting’s John Singer explores the pharma sector’s urgent need for a strategic overhaul to ensure success and sustain growth amidst looming patent expirations.   Lex is the flagship investment column of the Financial Times. Its commentaries, currently written…