Articles

Parents of babies and young children suffering from conditions such as asthma and eczema will be relieved to know there is a breakthrough product available that can drastically reduce their child’s misery and symptoms.
Parents of babies and young children suffering from conditions such as asthma and eczema will be relieved to know there is a breakthrough product available that can drastically reduce their child’s misery and symptoms. The PurFlo mattress is a unique concept that dispels the common household dust mite (HDM) often associated with asthma, eczema and similar allergies. The mattress consists of a fully breathable mesh SleepSurface™ fitted over a hollow frame that not only comfortably supports a child better than a conventional mattress, but also allows free air circulation pr…

The NGP union, held in the Netherlands last week saw over 50 visionaries gathered for the Supreme Court verdict against Myriad Genetics given on March 29th. They voted against their patent claims and a storm is brewing in the biotech community. The Court ruled that the patents should have never been granted because genes are a law of nature. With the majority of industry outsiders in agreement, how will the pharmaceutical world react?
The NGP union, held in the Netherlands last week saw over 50 visionaries gathered for the Supreme Court verdict against Myriad Genetics given on March 29th. They voted against their patent claims and a storm is brewing in the biotech community. The Court ruled that the patents should have never been granted because genes are "a law of nature." With the majo…

Since the moment of the NHS’s very inception in 1948, complementary medicine has formed an accepted and often-used element of the country’s national health service. Thousands of Brits swear blind by the efficacy of homeopathic treatments and rates of patient satisfaction are often far higher at the country’s homeopathic hospitals than they are on standard NHS wards. Yet while many patients claim a strong appreciation of the benefits of homeopathy, the science tells another story.
Since the moment of the NHS’s very inception in 1948, complementary medicine has formed an accepted and often-used element of the country’s national health service. Thousands of Brits swear blind by the efficacy of homeopathic treatments and rates of patient satisfaction are often far higher at the country’s homeo…

Until recently, pharmaceutical companies paid little attention to the process of maximising their data through publications. Today, several pharma firm and even consumer companies are beginning to recognise publications planning as an integral part of the marketing matrix. It now forms part of the overall communications strategy, adopted not only to raise awareness of a product and its key messages, but also to provide an evidence base for all other communication activities for the product.
Strategic publication plans are developed in two sections: the publications strategy and the publications plan. The publication plan utilises clinical trial data to recommend publications(including journals/abstracts), timings and maximisation of publication opportunity. WHY DO YOU NEED A PLAN? The k…

We often use them to make decisions about what products we buy and which we keep buying…except for pharma’. Yet more than that, he makes a coherent and convincing argument for how these kinds of services could ultimately end up benefiting the pharma industry itself. Indeed while information from a single person on the internet might be far too subjective to be of use, the sophistication of the crowd is arguably much greater.
For decades GPs stood as the lonely guardians of patient opinion. Computers were still the exclusive preserve of scientists and government officials at the Pentagon and the inventors of Google were still at school. With a distinctly limited arrange of options then, the closest people got to ‘crowd sourcing’ was a ten minute chat with their next door neighbours and your…

With an age of the expiry cliff approaching and a move towards contracted research organizations, is this the end of pharmaceutical companies as we know them? And are job cuts an inevitable reaction to this new business style?
Astra Zeneca recently announced that they will be putting a halt to finding drugs to treat a range of diseases such as ovarian cancer and depression. They plan to re shuffle their research and development departments. It seems big business will be pulling their R&D from across Europe. Astra Zeneca itself has confirmed they will pull sites from across the UK and plans to extend these closures in both Sweden and the US culminating in a loss of 1800 R&D positions Worldwide. Astra Zeneca is being forced to slash costs as it braces for patent expiries on two of i…

I am a lapsed pharma marketer and as such I still like to read the industry press. It is striking that almost every article is about how the industry has to change to meet the needs of the NHS, to add value.
So what does value mean to the NHS? Some data like the lovely stuff I used to get when I was a brand manager, data that was all sorted out and accepted by the finance director. Some data that I could turn into information and develop strategies with which made me look like a fancy pants marketer. Data Data Data Or did I mean information, information, information. The whole of the NHS is dominated by the subject. PBCs generally are starved of good information, PCTs may well have lots of data but struggle to turn it into something of useful. Its all so complicated you see, no one reall…

Urgent meetings are being held by the financial leaders of American Healthcare companies in the wake of Obama’s Healthcare Reform being passed 219 – 212 in the House of Representatives.
The introduction of this policy heralds a transformation in the fabric of American society, and the way U.S citizens receive medical care has suddenly been revolutionalised in a direction which healthcare CFO’s cannot afford to ignore. Obama himself states: “[It] answers the prayers of every American who has hoped deeply for something to be done about a healthcare system that works for insurance companies, but not for ordinary people.” As miraculous as this sounds, the campaigns against the bill have been vehement, and during these unstable economic times not everyone is content with Obama’s changes. CFO…

Thousands of Brits waste time and energy searching for new jobs every winter, because they fail to differentiate between seasonal blues and job dissatisfaction.
According to business consultant Lindsay Rutland-Dix, the way to separate the two is to ask a few simple questions at the first signs of office demotivation. “It’s easy to feel run-down and fed-up after such a cold, dark and depressing winter, but you have to be careful not to let this cloud your judgment,” says Rutland-Dix. “Before you do anything drastic, ask yourself whether jumping ship is really what you want. If you’ve simply fallen into a seasonal slump, you need to recognise that you do love what you do – and throw yourself back into it.” Rutland-Dix, who is a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, has devi…

Back in December it was all but a question of time. More or less every pundit was concerned with ‘when’ and not ‘if’ and an increasingly divided nation was finally bracing itself for the very real possibility of comprehensive healthcare reform. The debate had been more or less exhausted and the Republican strategy continued along the lines of obstructionism pure and simple.
Since then a lot has changed. In Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown defeated the less than convincing Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley in a Senate special election, sending shockwaves through Washington and a causing near-paralysis for the process of reform. The 60-vote Democratic super-majority had been lost and with it the guarantee that any bill would once again find favour in the Senate. And while still to thi…

An elite gathering of the leading Pharmaceutical Executives will be meeting to discuss how they plan to rebuild consumer trust ahead of the NGP EU summit hosted by GDS International.
It has been no secret that consumer trust in the pharmaceutical industry has taken a knock recently. The industry has been faced with bad press from the US ‘Avandia’ Scandal to the WHO’s (World Health Organisation) reaction to the Swine Flu Pandemic. Big Pharma understands that responsibility to the consumer lies with them and in an active effort to remedy the flagging consumer trust they have agreed to come together at this year’s illustrious NGP Summit in Portugal ran by GDS International. “An effective compliance program embedded in the ‘right’ compliance culture has become the best practice standard w…

Research and development is the bread and butter of healthcare innovation. For decades the world’s pharmaceutical companies have treasured and protected this simple maxim, pouring billions of dollars into research and development and creating hundreds of groundbreaking new drugs in the process. Yet since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007, big pharma has begun to ask some very difficult questions of its research commitments.
Research and development is the bread and butter of healthcare innovation. For decades the world’s pharmaceutical companies have treasured and protected this simple maxim, pouring billions of dollars into research and development and creating hundreds of groundbreaking new drugs in the process. Yet since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007, b…

Assessing the use of Point Of Care Testing in Clinical Trials - the policies and procedures involved, the benefits Point Of Care can bring to clinical trials and the advantages over the conventional laboratory approach.
Point of Care Testing Point of care (POC) testing is diagnostic testing performed promptly and conveniently in the vicinity of the patient, avoiding the often lengthy procedure of sending samples to be processed in a central laboratory. This gives rise to the alternative names of near-patient and bedside testing. The requirement for POC testing is increasing, with the global POC testing market predicted to rise from $12.8 billion in 2008 to $17.8 billion in 2014 (Life Science Intelligence, 2009) POC testing can be implemented using disposable testing kits, such as dipsticks…

Diabetes mellitus – more commonly known as just diabetes – is a chronic metabolic condition that occurs as a result of either the pancreas’ failure to produce normal insulin levels, or as a result of the body’s inability to make use of the insulin that it does produce.
Diabetes mellitus – more commonly known as just diabetes – is a chronic metabolic condition that occurs as a result of either the pancreas’ failure to produce normal insulin levels, or as a result of the body’s inability to make use of the insulin that it does produce. The most common form of diabetes – type 2 diabetes – accounts for between 90% - 95% of all diabetes cases globally and occurs when normal insulin levels prove inadequate in provoking the necessary insulin response in the body’s fat cells. This disorder is kno…

A recent research study, which was undertaken as part of medical research charity, Kidney Research UK’s ABLE programme, investigated the impact of national guidelines for the management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), on referral patterns between South Asian and white European patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
A recent research study, which was undertaken as part of medical research charity, Kidney Research UK’s ABLE programme, investigated the impact of national guidelines for the management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), on referral patterns between South Asian and white European patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). With support from The Big Lottery Fund, the ‘Patient Pathway’ study commenced in 2006 and examined referral patterns to hospital-based diabetes and…

At 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010, the small Caribbean island nation of Haiti was dealt another cruel blow: a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck at the heart of the nation - just over 15 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince. With the already traumatic history of this poor yet historic nation in mind, the events of January 12 represented yet another devastating hit to the already fragile foundations of this young nation.
At 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010, the small Caribbean island nation of Haiti was dealt another cruel blow: a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck at the heart of the nation - just over 15 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince. With the already traumatic history of this poor yet historic nation in mind, the events of January…

Hardly a week goes by without Alzheimer’s being in the news – scientists discovering more about what causes it, developing a greater idea of how we can prevent or treat it, or another step being taken towards a cure.
Hardly a week goes by without Alzheimer’s being in the news – scientists discovering more about what causes it, developing a greater idea of how we can prevent or treat it, or another step being taken towards a cure. It does seem to be an exciting time for Alzheimer’s and this becomes more apparent when you look back twenty or thirty years to what life was like for Alzheimer’s sufferers then. We have come a long way from the days when little was known about Alzheimer’s, when the attitude was taken that ‘granny’s gone a bit mad’, and knowledge of how to help and make life eas…

Washington is famous for its lobbyists. Make no mistake, of all the industries currently making themselves heard on Capitol Hill, the healthcare lobby is one of the largest and the loudest. Indeed, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the pharmaceutical industry had almost 1700 registered lobbyists in Washington as of late 2009. Unsurprisingly, then, the pharmaceutical industry has a considerable degree of pull on The Hill.
Washington is famous for its lobbyists. Make no mistake, of all the industries currently making themselves heard on Capitol Hill, the healthcare lobby is one of the largest and the loudest. Indeed, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the pharmaceutical industry had almost 1700 registered lobbyists in Washington as of late 2009. Unsurprisingly,…

This is the second of two articles written by Caroline Lock and Spencer Marsh at Only Medics Recruitment Ltd. In the last edition they looked at Recruitment 2010 and in this article they discuss Career Planning 2010.
Career Planning 2010 At the individual level, a fresh approach is needed for career planning as organisations gear up in 2010 and place yet more emphasis on finding the right ‘fit’ of individual for each role. Many physicians have been heard to say they have secured every job they have applied for. This may be true in a primary or secondary care setting but in the pharma sector it’s more competitive, Organisations, especially after the economic gloom of the past year, now take a tougher line with hiring decisions to ensure they offer to the right candidate. So what is a…

For over 75 years now, numerous Democratic Congressmen – and indeed several Presidents – have tried to pass something remotely resembling meaningful healthcare reform. For 75 years, they have failed. Back in 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton’s failed ‘HillaryCare’ died with a whimper in the Senate and Mrs. Clinton was denied her chance at a second attempt by Mr. Obama in the Democratic primaries.
For over 75 years now, numerous Democratic Congressmen – and indeed several Presidents – have tried to pass something remotely resembling meaningful healthcare reform. For 75 years, they have failed. Back in 1993, Bill and Hillary Clinton’s failed ‘HillaryCare’ died with a whimper in the Senate and Mrs. Clinton was denied her chance at a second attempt by Mr. Obama in the Democratic primaries. In Nov…