One year on from the historic approval of the first new Alzheimer’s med in decades, the world’s largest event focused on the disease is set to take place in San Diego, California. 22 July 2022
The Russian Associations of cancer patients have called on the European Coalition of Cancer Patients and the Russian Ministry of Health to conduct additional talks with US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb, to continue the supplies of some of the company’s anticancer drugs to the Russian market, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 18 July 2022
Life science companies look to technology solution to increase efficiencies and reduce errors, whether these are related to data entry or other reasons. 18 July 2022
India's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been instructed by the Kerala High Court to consider compulsory licensing for the breast cancer drug ribociclib, marketed by Swiss pharma giant Novartis under the brand names Kisqali and Kryxana, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 14 July 2022
The pandemic revolutionized data collection and patient engagement in clinical trials. Although the life sciences industry has been historically cautious to adopt emerging technology trends, the sudden shutdown of in-person trial sites in adherence to safety protocols left sponsors and researchers with no choice but to adapt with more agile tools for remote data collection. 12 July 2022
US pharma giant Merck & Co, known as MSD outside of the USA and Canada, has stopped its supplies of vaccines against chickenpox, rubella, measles and mumps to Russia but will continue sales of its drugs that do not have Russian analogues, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 9 July 2022
Around one in 10 medical products in circulation in low- and middle-income countries is substandard or counterfeit, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), reports The Pharma Letter’s Latin American correspondent. 4 July 2022
One UK-based company is looking to transform the way metabolic disorders are treated, leveraging many of the same AI-based techniques used to great effect elsewhere. MultiOmic Health chief executive Robert Thong discusses his firm's progress. 4 July 2022
Oncology is the therapeutic area with the greatest weighting in BB Biotech's portfolio and it could deliver the most significant commercial breakthroughs in the not all-too-distant future, alongside its investments in the field of mRNA technology, according to Dr Daniel Koller, head of PM for Switzerland-based investment company. 1 July 2022
India's drug regulator seems to be taking into account the views of the domestic drug industry, which urged the Central Drugs Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) to consider extending the fast-track approval process adopted during COVID-19 to non-Covid drugs as well. Apart from domestic majors, multinational pharma companies, with their vaccines and drugs, also stand to benefit, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent. 30 June 2022
Russia is reducing procurements of expensive Western original drugs for the treatment of HIV, switching to cheaper medicines, due to the lack of funds and the ever-growing number of patients with HIV in the country, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 28 June 2022
Breakups can be messy, but 18 months after the UK formally left the European Union, the newly-empowered Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is determined to stay strong. 26 June 2022
Drug repurposing involves the use of existing drugs for new indications.1 Repurposed drugs include not only previously approved drugs but also clinically failed and investigational drugs.2 24 June 2022
As the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted multinational pharma corporations to adopt a ‘China Plus One’ strategy, Indian government officials are urging domestic players to take advantage of the opportunity to become a viable alternative to China. 18 June 2022
Pharma can boast a major role in improving the quality of life of patients with diseases such as breast cancer and rheumatoid arthritis in Latin America, writes The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 17 June 2022
Oligonucleotide therapeutics are rapidly emerging as a promising class of drugs capable of addressing a variety of genetic and complex diseases by targeting RNA sequences.1 16 September 2024
The protection of intellectual property (IP) rights of foreign pharmaceutical companies in Russia remains complex situation, according to recent statements by Konstantin Panurovsky, legal director of AstraZeneca’s Russian subsidiary, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 13 September 2024
The Russian Ministry of Health wants to speed registration of drugs that are not localized in the Russian Federation at the time of the application submitted by domestic pharmaceutical companies, explaining such changes by "unpredictable geopolitical situation," reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 12 September 2024
NewCo, a relatively new business model that involves a joint venture (JV) between a biotech and a group of investors to bring the biotech’s promising assets to the global market, is gaining popularity among Chinese biotechs, who traditionally rely on out-licensing deals to capitalize assets, s 11 September 2024
The upcoming European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 should provide a reminder—if it were needed—of the pace of innovation in the development of new medicines for cancer. 10 September 2024
A significant drop has been noticed in the prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), bringing much-needed relief to the pharmaceutical industry and potentially translating to lower drug costs for consumers. 9 September 2024
Amid an explosion in investment and development milestones seen over the past decade, the age of radiopharmaceuticals as both diagnostics and as therapeutics is very much arriving. 5 September 2024
German pharma major Bayer has filed a lawsuit against the Russian drugmaker Promomed to protect the patent rights for Xarelto (rivaroxaban), its treatment for stroke prevention which is the best-selling drug in the Russian market at present, The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent reports. 2 September 2024
In a major crackdown, the Indian government has imposed an immediate ban on 156 fixed-dose combination (FDC) drugs, including commonly used antibiotics, pain relievers,and multivitamins. 27 August 2024
Russia plans to create conditions for a significant increase of domestic production of anti-Rhesus immunoglobulin drugs after a sharp decrease of their imports to the local market this year, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 22 August 2024
Accord Healthcare might not be as well-known as certain preeminent pharma corporations in the UK and Europe, but you would struggle to find any company making a greater contribution to the production and supply of medicines across the continent. 14 August 2024
The shortage of drugs in Russia is deepening, and is currently being observed in almost 70 regions throughout the country and forcing the local state to consider ways to resume stable supplies to local market, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 13 August 2024
US biotech major Biogen is disputing the launch of a Russian generic of Spinraza (nusinersen), a drug, which is used to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 7 August 2024
CytoReason’s $80 million venture round may not have been the biggest in July, but it is one of a growing number of investor bets on AI powered drug discovery this year. 7 August 2024
Domestic drugs and foreign drugs, the production of which is localized in Russia, will be given a priority when included in the list of vital and essential drugs (VED) and expensive drugs, according to a recent resolution signed by the Russian government, The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent reports. 1 August 2024
Major pharmaceutical multinationals are looking to collaborate with Indian drug firms, leveraging their cost-efficient manufacturing capabilities, robust supply chains, and innovative research potential. 31 July 2024
The Russian government will be ready to significantly increase state procurements of drugs against hepatitis C in case of reduction price for them both by global drugmakers and Russian pharmaceutical companies. 31 July 2024