Industry news

• Powerful method to speed cancer drug discovery unveiled -

  24 November 2014 Science Daily

  Research data published in the journal Cell Reports describe a new method that could hasten the discovery of new cancer therapeutics by identifying protein-protein interactions that could be targeted by medicines, Science Daily reported.

• Beware sketchy biotechs with big plans for Ebola, SEC says

  24 November 2014 Damian Garde, Feirce Biotech

  The SEC has suspended the trading of a few microcap companies touting unverified Ebola treatments and tests, warning investors of penny stock peddlers looking to cash in on the West African outbreak that has killed thousands.

• Smartphone apps to assess mental health based on everyday behavior proliferating

  24 November 2014 Varun Saxena, Feirce Medical Devices

  Diagnostic smartphone apps are proliferating. No, these apps don't somehow turn the phone into a needle for drawing blood; instead they monitor stuff we take for granted, like talking or the movement of our eyes.

• World projected to spend $1T on drugs in 2018

  21 November 2014 Deborah Weinstein, Medical Marketing&Media

  The top-line news from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics is that the world is on track to spend $1.3 trillion on medications by 2018, or 30% more than it did in 2013.

• Russian government to start checks for GMP compliance of domestic drug producers

  20 November 2014 ThePharmaLetter

  The Russian government plans to start massive checks of the domestic producers of drugs, as well as drug importers for their compliance of products with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards, which became mandatory in Russia since the beginning of the current year, according to an official representative of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade.

• Pharma's top 10 M&A deals of 2014's first half

  20 November 2014 Eric Palmer, Feirce Pharma

  Mergers and acquisitions have been non-stop this year, with lots of deals done, and some doozies that were unable to cross the finish line. Here we look at what's happened in the first half of the year; we will round out the entire year's activity in another report early next year.

• Pharma deploys reps with helping hands to target stealth prescribers

  20 November 2014 Emily Wasserman, Fierce PharmaMarketing

  As physicians pack up camp and move to larger healthcare systems, restrictive policies bar reps from calling on doctors and face-to-face conversations dwindle. But companies may want to invite other members of the office to the marketing party--and send specialized reps to offer a few favors.

• HHS and NIH take steps to enhance transparency of clinical trial results

  20 November 2014 USA - National Institutes of Health

  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which proposes regulations to implement reporting requirements for clinical trials that are subject to Title VIII of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA). 

• US government proposes rules to increase transparency of clinical trials

  20 November 2014 FirstWorld Pharma

  The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed new rules on Wednesday that would increase the number of clinical trials that drugmakers, medical device companies and academic researchers are required to report. "We owe it to every participant and the public at large to support the maximal use of this knowledge for the greatest benefit to human health," remarked National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Francis Collins.

• Cost to Develop a Drug More Than Doubles to $2.56 Billion

  19 November 2014 Anna Edney, Bloomberg

  It costs drugmakers $2.56 billion to bring a new medicine to market, on average, more than double the price of 11 years ago, according to a study released today. The higher cost comes from clinical trials that are larger and more complex, as well as more drugs that fail in development, according to the researchers. While the Food and Drug Administration is sometimes blamed for driving up costs because of the time it takes to review new drugs, that wasn’t a factor, according to the study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.