Industry news

• Big pharma emerging mkts tactics shift as growth slows

  18 January 2013 Deena Beasley/ Thomson Reuters

  Major pharmaceutical companies aiming to jumpstart growth by investing in emerging markets are reassessing strategies after less-than-stellar results in 2012.  New tactics are expected to include more joint ventures where risks are shared with local partners.

   

• How to invest in Russian startups: An investor’s guide

  15 January 2013 Adrien Henni, East-West Digital News, VentureBeat.com

  As a new generation of startup entrepreneurs is emerging in Russia, the local startup scene tends to look more like its American, European and Asian counterparts. The stereotype of innovative Russian boffins disconnected from market realities, working in Soviet-style research centers, has been replaced by globally connected and modern-minded entrepreneurs and engineers.

• Financings of the Fortnight Climbs Half Way To The Stars

  14 January 2013 The IN ViVO Blog

  "...Yeah yeah. We know. The life science venture shakeout isn’t over yet. It’ll get smaller before it gets bigger. Happy new year, everybody. That was the drumbeat we heard as we made the rounds at J.P. Morgan this week."

• San Diego Life Sciences Roundup: Trius, CoDa, Zacharon, & More

  09 January 2013 Bruce V. Bigelow, Xconomy

  The annual International CES in Las Vegas again featured a Digital Health Summit, which included a number of San Diego-based startups. Rick Valencia of Qualcomm Life posted an interesting blog here, and an end-of-year report from Rock Health showed that investments in digital health startups increased more than 44 percent in 2012, to $1.4 billion from $968 million in 2011.

• Russia sets out limits to purchasing imported meds

  04 January 2013 Tracy Staton, PharmaTimes Online

  Russia's government is set to limit state purchasing of pharmaceuticals from overseas, following the country's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), according to local reports.

• Venture Capital, Russian Style

  20 December 2012 Katya Soldak, Forbes

  Russia’s scientific community may have experienced a “brain drain” over the past twenty years but the fundamentals of the famous soviet science are still in place, and Putin’s government is revitalizing science-based industry. Betting on nanotechnology, companies can potentially generate substantial returns. Enter Rusnano, a venture capital fund with plans to become a player in the global capital market.

• Tough Prescription: Drug Industry Faces Modernization

  18 December 2012 Irina Filatova, The Moscow Times

  Only a fraction of medicines bought in Russia are made here, and Russian drug companies are few. Dragging the pharmaceutical industry into the 21st century will require investment from foreign companies - and from the government, experts say.

• Abundant Opportunities within the Russian OTC Market, Invest with Caution when Making the Switch, Suggests Kline

  05 December 2012 PRNewswire

  Russia's rapidly growing over-the-counter market, posting a 12% increase to reach RUB 480 billion (USD 16.4 billion) at the manufacturers' level in 2011, holds much potential for pharmaceutical companies. Although a slight decrease in growth was observed against the previous year, according to new analysis Emerging Markets Rx-to-OTC Switch: Forecasts and Opportunities by global consulting and research firm Kline & Company, the Russian market remains highly robust compared to the U.S. market's 2.4% growth and comparable with the neighboring emerging market of China posting 15.0%.

• Russian pharmaceutical market developing

  30 November 2012 Jim Butschli, Healthcare Packaging

  Investments from its government and the international community continue; meanwhile, unhealthy lifestyles contribute to greater need for medications.

• Russia has the right prescription for pharma companies

  27 November 2012 Ruud Dobber, Financial Times / Beyondbrics

  The country still has enormous potential and is one of the few growing markets in what is a predominantly barren global economy. There is good cause for foreign businesses in Russia to be optimistic, not least in pharmaceuticals.