USA Ramona Sequeira of Takeda has taken the reins as chair of US industry lobby group PhRMA’s Board of Directors, becoming the first ever woman to hold the role. She succeeds Lilly Chairman and CEO David Ricks at a juncture when the industry is under pressure from proposed US pricing reforms…

China A selection of recent top stories from the Chinese pharma industry, including China’s conditional approval of Pfizer’s COVID treatment pill Paxlovid; a new push to combat monopoly practices and unfair competition in the domestic industry; and US FDA concerns about the applicability of Chinese clinical trial results for the US…

Global Drawing on the findings of EY’s recently published life sciences M&A firepower report, EY Global Life Sciences Deals Leader Subin Baral makes the case for big biopharmas to seek out alliances and partnerships as an alternative to M&A and lists ten considerations that these firms should bear in mind if…

Global Merck Group’s Vice President Global Market Access & Pricing Strategic Planning Marco Rauland casts his eye over blockchain-based smart contracts and their applications for pharma across supply chain enhancement, improving clinical trials, and outcome-based contracting.   Smart contracts are self-executing digital contracts based on blockchain technology that provides decentralized data…

Global Less than two months passed between the WHO’s official pandemic declaration and remdesivir’s emergency use authorisation in the United States in May 2020. Today, the intravenous antiviral, sold by Gilead Sciences under the brand name Veklury, has generated over USD 8 billion in sales.   Remdesivir’s success as a treatment…

Global With Biogen’s recent move to sell off its USD 2.3 billion stake in biosimilars firm Samsung Bioepis against the backdrop of lower-than-expected uptake of its controversial Alzheimer’s Disease drug Aduhelm, PharmaBoardroom takes a look at the contrasting fortunes of two key firms operating in the global biosimilars market today.   Global…

Global Writing in the February edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Candice Del Rio of Curavit Clinical Research examines the applicability of decentralised clinical trials in oncology research, and their positive impact on both decreasing patient dropout rates and increasing patient engagement. Oncology represents the largest research area globally, with 6.5 percent…

MEA In the February edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine Sybil Nana Ama Ossei-Agyeman-Yeboah of the West African Health Organization, Jane H. Mashingia from the East African Community Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Programme, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s David Mukanga examine the state of joint assessment procedures in the East…

USA Pfizer and MSD recently became the latest companies to have COVID-19 treatments authorised by either the US FDA or EMA. Their oral antiviral drugs joined several monoclonal antibodies and others on the list of options available to patients in Europe and the United States. Here is an updated list of…

USA A roundup of the latest news from US life sciences and healthcare, including sweeping healthcare reform in the state of California; how revolutionary billionaire Mark Cuban’s newly launched affordable online pharmacy Cost Plus Drug Co. can be; DHL’s USD 400 million expansion of its pharmaceutical and medical device supply chain…

Global Recent reportage from Global Data Research and Clinical Trials Arena has ranked the world’s leading biopharma companies best positioned to take advantage of future biosimilars disruption. The ranking considers the number of jobs listed by each company mentioning biosimilars, deals conducted, and company filing mentions in the period between January…

Egypt All the latest news stories from Egypt’s healthcare and life sciences industry, including Egypt’s health insurance authority’s plans to add 100 new medical services, how the COVID-19 Omicron variant threatens to overwhelm the country’s healthcare system, and a new tie-up between Siemens Healthineers and Alameda Group.   Egypt’s health insurance…