Industry news

• Emerging Asian pharma markets poised to show solid growth in 2015: report

  29 January 2015 EJ Lane / Feirce Pharma

  The emerging pharmaceutical markets of Asia are expected, with a few exceptions, to grow this year and beyond, most providing attractive platforms for investments in the local industries, according to a series of analyses.

• Med tech chalks up solid year of new device approvals in 2014

  29 January 2015 Emily Wasserman / Firece Medical Devices

  Medical device approvals continued at a steady clip in 2014 despite mounting pressure from lawmakers to roll out a more stringent review process. The FDA granted approvals for 33 innovative devices in 2014, up 43% over the number it OK'ed the year before, according to EP Vantage. FierceMedicalDevicescovered device approvals from the first half of the year in an earlier report.

• FDA slaps down another Indian plant, adding to the industry's woes

  28 January 2015 Eric Palmer, FeircePharmaManufactoring

  The FDA has banned imports to the U.S. from another Indian drugmaker, adding to a substantial list of Indian companies whose drugs are now prohibited from being sold in the U.S. The agency has taken the step against a plant owned by generic drugmaker Ipca Laboratories, Reuters reports. 

• Novo will soon open plant in Russia

  28 January 2015 Eric Palmer, FeircePharmaManufactoring

  The Russian ruble maybe in rubble, but the economic challenges will not deter Novo Nordisk ($NVO), which is finishing up a plant in Russia. Five years in the planning and nearly three in construction, execs say it is needed to fulfill the drugmaker's long-term goals there.

• FDA to publish guidance on social media and clinical trial e-consent in 2015

  27 January 2015 Nick Paul Taylor / Fierce Biotech IT

  The FDA has released a list of almost 100 draft drug guidance documents it plans to introduce or update in 2015. The documents cover a range of biotech IT-related topics, including electronic informed consent in clinical trials, links to third-party sites in social media adverts and statistical approaches to showing biosimilarity.

• Nanotechnology Markets in Healthcare & Medicine

  27 January 2015 Drug Development & Delivery

  In the field of nanomedicine research, the US accounts for one-third of all publications and half of patent filings. A comparison between Europe as a whole and the US shows that while Europe is at the forefront of research, the US leads in the number of patent filings. The strong patenting activity of US scientists and companies indicates a more advanced commercialization status.

• $4B VC shop lays out its vision for the future of digital health

  27 January 2015 Nick Paul Taylor / Fierce Biotech IT

  Anyone with a passing interest in tech startups is unlikely to be shocked by Silicon Valley VC Andreessen Horowitz listing digital health as one of its top 16 trends. But as one of the organizations with some power over how these trends play out, the reasoning behind Andreessen Horowitz's list makes for interesting reading.

• Innovent's $100M deal signals how biotech is ready to explode in China

  26 January 2015 EJ Lane / Feirce Biotech

  China biotech Innovent's recent success in raising $100 million in venture capital to help it build a pipeline of biosimilars could be a signal of how the industry may be set to explode in a country about to invest $6.45 billion in startups.

• Booming biotechs bank $2.7B in follow-on cash

  26 January 2015 Damian Garde / Feirce Biotech

  Much of the focus in biotech's recent boom has been on the ease with which companies are making their way onto Wall Street. And, over the past week, a host of drug developers illustrated the benefits of being a publicly traded company, raising roughly $2.7 billion in follow-on offerings to bankroll R&D and potential acquisitions.

• Challenger says 2015 a year to send out your resume, pharma folks

  26 January 2015 Eric Palmer / FiercePharma

  Layoffs have been a common refrain for the pharma industry in recent years as patent losses, consolidations and cost cutting have been front of mind. But with the economy picking up, private equity flowing into the business and a bunch of great drugs coming online, layoffs were down last year and this year should be one in which hiring sucks up some of the displaced folks from years past. At least that is the contention of experts who track these matters closely.