LatAm The latest from the healthcare industry in Latin America, including an alarming OECD report about the decline of well-being in the region due to Covid-19, Bayer’s USD 350 million investment in Costa Rica and Argentina combined, Mexico’s slow drug approval process, and Pfizer’s upcoming PR challenge.   Well-being weakened in…

Africa Three months after the World Bank announced a EUR 600 million loan to South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare, the African continent has received more good news as it seeks to increase vaccine manufacturing know-how.   BioNTech, the company behind Pfizer’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Comirnaty, recently announced…

Italy Speaking recently to PharmaBoardoom, Assobiotec’s Leonardo Vingiani introduced the key dynamics shaping the Italian biotech industry today and the issues it still has to overcome to become truly globally competitive.   Strong Fundamentals The association’s latest reporting shows that there are 751 active biotech firms in Italy, with a turnover…

UAE Amgen MEA’s Mohamed Nasser* examines the current pharma commercialisation model, posits how the entire healthcare ecosystem’s rapid and effective response to COVID-19 could be replicable in other disease areas, and makes his predictions for the industry’s future direction.   Probably more than at any other time in history, the last…

Germany The latest news from German pharma, including Bayer’s USD 2 billion acquisition of San Diego’s Vividion Therapeutics; Boehringer Ingelheim’s new investment in a Vienna production facility; BioNTech’s plans to inaugurate an mRNA manufacturing network in Africa; and the termination of the GSK/Merck KGaA cancer drug partnership.   German drug giant…

Saudi Arabia In a recent royal decree, Saudi Arabia has appointed Fahad Al-Jalajel as its Minister of Health, replacing Dr Tawfiz Al-Rabia who had served since 2016. Here, we give a quick run-through of Al-Jalajel’s career thus far.   The holder of a bachelor’s degree in computer science from King Saud University,…

USA Susan L. Lang outlines how pharma companies can navigate drug formulary exclusions, numbers of which have been rising in recent years, and ensure that newly FDA approved medicines can make it to consumers.   The pipeline for new therapies at the Food and Drug Administration mostly consists of novel brand…

Denmark Data has been collected within Danish healthcare for more than 40 years, extending beyond the national patient registry to include a broad range of data points, from IVF to the birth registry, abortion, the weight and height of children, and much more. Danes tend to have a high level of…

Korea Amid global supply shortages and shipment delays for COVID-19 vaccines, South Korea has launched an ambitious 2.2 trillion won (USD 1.9 billion) investment plan to become one of the world’s five largest COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing hubs by 2025. Here, we provide a rundown of some of the key companies involved…

Turkey In the world’s 18th largest market, recent pricing struggles have pushed some companies to revaluate their investment approach. Multinational organizations are complying with localization policies but are divided between having their own plant or partnering with a local CMO provider – although all of them appear to agree on one…

Brazil The latest news from Brazil, including Pfizer’s plans to vaccinate the entire Brazilian city of Toledo, what the US can learn from Brazil’s successful vaccine campaign, and a new deal to import the vaccine candidate from China’s CanSino Biologics.   Pfizer will vaccinate entire city in Brazil as part of…

Global PharmaBoardroom has spoken to leaders from several important global patient advocacy organisations in 2021 who shared their concerns on crucial global healthcare issues. These range from the greater levels of pharma industry investment needed in childhood cancers; the myriad of patient explanation and expectation management needed around CAR-T therapies; how…