UK As the UK extracts itself from the European Union, key figures from the country’s life sciences sector are split on the implications of Brexit for their industry. “The UK pharmaceutical industry and the patients who rely on it are under serious threat from Brexit” Erik Nordkamp, Pfizer Erik Nordkamp, the…

Cannabis One area in which the island nation of Malta has been a first mover in embracing disruption has been its controversial entry into the global cannabinoid market. The medical cannabis market within the EU is expected to be worth USD 56 billion by 2020 with leading European nations such as…

India One issue grinding the gears of the Indian pharmaceutical industry over recent years has been quality compliance. With a number of pharma manufacturers the recipients of warning letters from the US FDA, increased regulatory scrutiny has caused some consternation, but also progress in quality standards across the board. “I see…

Regulation Herbal-based medicines or botanics have attracted strong attention around the world as part of a growing consumer enthusiasm for natural products, and in the face of a ‘prescription cascade’ in which severe side effects from combinations of classic medicine are becoming a health risk in themselves. However, regulatory frameworks have,…

Pharma While the automotive and electronics industries, among others, have been relatively fast in adopting robotics, pharma has been lagging behind. However, as the technology available becomes more advanced, flexible and affordable, robotics now stands as a pivotal element to helping pharmaceutical companies reduce costs and increase efficiency, notably in the…

Cannabis While many Canadian medical cannabis outfits cover the entire value chain, from research and development through to manufacturing and distribution, others – such as Canopy Health and Tetra Bio-Pharma – are taking their cues from the biotechnology industry and strictly focusing on clinical trials.   I believe that across the…

Pharma In May 2018, PharmaBoardroom’s readers were asked what they felt were the biggest new sources of disruption to the traditional pharma industry today. Options included 3D Bioprinting, blockchain storage, genomics and artificial intelligence. 3D Bioprinting As Figure 1 (below) shows, 11 percent of our survey respondents felt that 3D bioprinting…

China Guangdong province and neighbouring Hong Kong have long been fundamental to China’s metamorphosis into an economic superpower. Notable as one of the country’s most open and dynamic regions, the Pearl River Delta (PRD), as that area previously used to be known, historically formed the soft underbelly via which the outside…

Valeant Valeant Pharmaceuticals has taken the decision to rename itself in an effort to distance the company from a series of pricing scandals that occurred under previous CEO J. Michael Pearson. Following the loss of nearly 93 percent of its value, the much maligned firm has announced that it will adopt…

China One of the more eye-catching and ambitious initiatives to come out of last March’s National People’s Congress, Premier Li Keqiang’s grand vision for the cultivation of a globally competitive cluster of metropolises and “innovation super-hub” in China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA), is now starting to take shape as the country…

China One of China’s biggest vaccine manufacturers was found to have falsified rabies vaccine records causing nationwide parenting chaos. Executives from China’s second largest pharmaceutical company, ChangSheng biotechnology (Changsheng literally translates to ‘Long Life’) in Northeast China, admitted to having falsified records for over 250,000 substandard vaccines for DPT (diphtheria, pertussis,…

Pharma While drug developers, healthcare practitioners and patients all rejoice at the advent of a golden age of scientific advancement in medicine – symbolized by recent radical breakthroughs in all manners of domains from stem cells and CAR-T generation immunotherapy to gene tech and 3D bio-printing – it is clear that…