Singapore Kenneth Tan has been President for Asia Pacific & Japan at cancer-focused medical device player Varian since February 2019. In a recent conversation with PharmaBoardroom, Tan shared how an early passion for healthcare has blossomed into an impressive global career in pharmaceuticals and MedTech, why a multidisciplinary, collaborative and patient-centric…

Asia-Pacific Writing in the May edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Toshiyoshi Tominaga of the Asia-Pacific Self-Medication Industry (APSMI) looks at the landscape for OTC medicines in the Asia-Pacific region today. Tominaga highlights how, against the backdrop of a drop in formal medical interventions due to COVID-19 infection fears, countries are more than…

Japan Toshio Fujimoto, MD, MBA, the General Manager of Shonan Health Innovation Park examines why Japan – despite being well established as one of the world’s most innovative and technologically advanced countries – has lagged behind in terms of VC funding, especially in the life sciences and how this can be…

Australia In an exclusive new podcast, DIA Global Forum Australia/New Zealand Regional Editor Richard Day (University of New South Wales, Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital) and John Skeritt, Head of Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), discuss regulatory strategies and other initiatives designed to help nurture clinical research and product development in Australia post-pandemic.   With…

MEA Mohamed Nasser, Amgen’s general manager for the vast Middle East & Africa (MEA) region, leverages his considerable experience managing teams across the region to highlight four skills (and one secret ingredient) that pharma country and regional managers in MEA need to succeed.   The Middle East-Africa area (MEA) is one…

USA Writing in the May edition of DIA’s Global Forum magazine, Erica Lyons, Sarrit Kovacs, Matthew Kowalik, and Jessica Lee from the Division of Gastroenterology, Office of New Drugs, CDER at the US FDA look at how patient input is increasingly being utilised in new drug development, its importance in assessing…

Russia Although Russian authorities received heavy criticism for approving the Sputnik V vaccine prior to the completion of Phase III clinical trials, the jab is increasingly being seen as a viable tool in the global fight against COVID-19. Sputnik V is now approved in a number of countries, but questions are…

Global The issue of COVID-19 vaccine access in developing nations has thrust intellectual property (IP) into global headlines. Against the backdrop of heated arguments both for and against an IP waiver for COVID-related products, the global pharma industry has launched a new initiative on IP, asserting its crucial importance to continued…

USA The day the Biden administration announced its support for the waiver of IP rights for COVID-19 vaccines, Moderna’s stock fell six percent; the day after that, another two percent. However, the Massachusetts-based company’s CEO Stephane Bancel remains unconcerned and believes that their successful vaccine is just the beginning of the mRNA era…

Japan The latest from Japanese pharma, including Takeda’s big profit jump, British Linepharma’s quest to get the first ever induced abortion pill for practical use, Shionogi’s promise to become the first Japanese company to get a COVID-19 vaccine approved, and the Japanese industry’s opposition to the Biden administration’s support for a…

Switzerland In the last month alone, CDMO giant Lonza has announced three major upgrades to its manufacturing footprint in Visp, Western Switzerland: a huge expansion of its biologics capacity, new production lines for the manufacture of antibody-drug conjugates, and a ramping up of its workforce dedicated to the production of ingredients…

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific, as home to 50 percent of the world’s new cancer cases each year and with deaths caused by cancer expected to increase by 36 percent by 2030, has a pressing need for more patient-centric, data-driven, value-based, and precise solutions in oncology. Additionally, Asian cancer patients’ healthcare needs can differ…