Articles

Field reporter Rhonda Siddall reports from EULAR
TWO-year data presented at EULAR show that the PEGylated new anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agent certolizumab pegol maintains efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis when used as add-on therapy to methotrexate. Certolizumab pegol showed improvements in RA symptoms as early as the first week of treatment and early inhibition of progression of structural joint damage in the RAPID 1 trial published last year. Now, results from an open-label extension study to RAPID 1 show that treatment improvements were sustained for two years in patients maintained on 400 mg certolizumab every two weeks and methotrexate. A separate analysis also presented at EULAR showed that patients receiving certolizumab whose symptoms were controlled as early as six w…

Quick Look article from Max Golby about Alternative Therapies
Wasted investment, mismanagement of resources. Unquestionably, these two issues have haunted the NHS more than anything else during the past eight years of Westminster government. And yet, for all the warnings, public funds are increasingly approved for what many still consider to be some of the most experimental of treatments. Yet, in a month that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence issued a landmark recommendation that alternative therapies be used for the treatment of back pain, alternative treatments may well be on the verge of something of a breakthrough in the health service. Indeed, in a considerable step away from past lines of procedure, this latest ruling by NICE strongly questions the effectiveness of conv…

Unless it paints the right picture you’re letting the side down!In a depressed job market, an employer is likely to receive 50+ CVs per job advertised from 5 or more Preferred Agencies and many more from agencies who ‘piggy back’ in. So now, more than ever, your CV needs to stand out and be tailored to the role and client and submitted by an agency with valid access.
The more senior you are, the more the “one CV fits all” becomes dangerous when the market is tight because if that CV is submitted and rejected you may be excluded from valid jobs there with other agencies for some months to come as a result.After 15 years examining what works and what doesn’t in terms of securing interviews for thousands of candidates, we know a thing or two about how to present a candidate in the best light…

Datamonitor attended the American Society of Clinical Oncology's 45th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, to assess the key highlights of the conference. A number of promising presentations evaluated the potential of currently marketed agents to successfully combine with conventional chemotherapy in indications with persistent high unmet needs.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting is the year's largest single oncology event, playing host to leading industry figures as they demonstrate clinical data and discuss its implications going forward. This year's event focused on the personalization of cancer care and the proliferation of targeted therapies. Furthermore, the conference demonstrated the synergistic benefits of newer, established agents with conventional chemotherap…

Dr Wolfgang Wein, Executive Vice-President of Merck Serono’s Oncology Business comments on the recent final appraisal determination by NICE paving the way for its leading oncology product Erbitux to benefit UK mCRC patients.
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a Final Appraisal Determination (FAD) this month that should result in Merck Serono’s EGFR-targeting monocolonal antibody Erbitux (cetuximab) becoming the UK’s first biologic treatment to be reimbursed on the NHS for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The final guidance should be published in July and be implemented within three months after that. Caveats apply however. Patients must have had primary tumours resected and have secondary tumours confined to the liver. Tumours…

Despite the pharmaceutical industry's evolving business model in response to growing regulatory constraints, the sector is facing unprecedented challenges caused by the economic downturn and President Obama's planned overhaul of the US healthcare system. To continue on its journey towards 'Pharma 2.0', the industry must balance the more pressing short term issues against longer term trends
Historically, pharmaceutical companies have faced a number of major challenges, both internally and externally, which have shaped the pharmaceutical industry we see today. Ongoing issues such as the declining efficiency of companies' internal R&D processes and increasingly crowded markets have resulted in fierce price competition between both branded and generic players. Heightening regulatory pressur…

Quick Look article written by Max Golby, focusing on topic of swine flu.
Over the past week, concern has gone global over swine flu, with WHO Director Margaret Chan forecasting the “…the first pandemic of the 21st Century”. Global pandemic. By definition, the emergence of a disease, ‘prevalent over a whole country or the world’ and the highest possible stage of the WHO’s influenza alert phases. In reality, whilst the move to phase 6 – or pandemic status – does signal a significant change to the global spread of the virus, the WHO’s latest declaration does not imply that there has been a notable change to the number of deaths or serious cases reported around the world. Nevertheless, on Thursday, June 11th 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) used the term pandemic to describe a flu…

The Department of Health is determined to improve commissioning, and it will do whatever it takes to make it happen. That is the message that senior departmental officials sent to practice based commissioners last week at a National Association of Primary Care conference in London.
GP entrepreneurs feel like they have been wading through mud in their attempts to get practice based commissioning (PBC) off the ground. They are battling with PCTs who are not taking PBC seriously and despite warm words, fail to deliver the support GP commissioning consortia are entitled to. But the word from the top the Director General of Commissioning stated last week is that PBC is central to the way commissioning will develop, moving forward. And that GPs will have more – not less power in the future.Commis…

The time has arrived for primary care trusts to shed their provider functions, and it is causing considerable angst in the community services sector. It was inevitable that sooner or later, the split would have to happen, but now the race is on to decide what organisation model they want to adopt: foundation trust or social enterprise?
The Department of Health is keen on the social enterprise model. They are so keen that they have offered community services trusts the ‘right to request’ transferable pensions NHS for all their current NHS staff, funded by the Department of Health. And at an average of 35% of salary costs, being able to offer maintenance of their NHS pension rights will be a significant benefit for staff that might otherwise have been lost.The concept behind social enterprise…

Senior Department of Health executives, speaking at a recent NHS Alliance Conference, suggested that the NHS has two years left before it starts to the credit crunch’s bite – maybe less if there is an election in a years’ time. But this should not be cause complacency in the health sector. The message is, invest wisely now so that you are well prepared for the fallow times ahead.
Not a day passes when we hear more bad news about the economy. And the budget signals that if not today, then in the future all public services are going to have to draw in their horns. Senior Department of Health executives, speaking at a recent NHS Alliance Conference, suggested that the NHS has two years left before it starts to the credit crunch’s bite – maybe less if there is an election in a years’ time.…

In this edition of StrategicEdge, CBR Pharma Insights discusses the current trends and opportunities that exist in marketing to consumers as the age of TiVo, DVRs, and cost constraints point the industry towards creative uses of the internet and other e-technologies.
With sales slowing and marketing budgets being cut, pharmaceutical brand managers will be expected to do more with less. This shift may dramatically change how companies reach their communication and marketing goals. Going forward, social media and other methods of online communication are likely to play a much larger role in building brand loyalty and increasing compliance than ever before. In using Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing campaigns, pharmaceutical companies are trying to increase awareness of their products. In do…

Integrated Care Organisations (ICOs) are the new kids on the block, and tipped as the natural successor to practice based commissioning.
On 01 April the Department of Health announced sixteen integrated care pilots (ICPs) www.dh.gov.uk. They are led by a whole range of organisations from practice based commissioning clusters through community and NHS foundation trusts to specialist substance misuse teams and local councils. This is a deliberate ploy as the main goal is to evaluate the organisational models and principles behind ICOs; and quantify the costs and benefits they deliver. They are being championed by David Colin Thorne who rarely backs a duff horse, and if they are successful, policy enablers to encourage ICO development are sure to follow. The NHS loves a new organisational mod…

The recent outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) infection, previously referred to as swine flu, has thrown the spotlight on governments around the world and their ability to manage a pandemic. In the UAE, customers are currently finding it difficult to source antivirals but, with Dubai seen as a hub for international travel, the government has stockpiles ready for distribution should an outbreak occur.
To date, there have been 1,124 cases of the infection in 21 countries. Unlike both SARS and bird flu, sustained human-to-human transmission of the disease has occurred. However, the strain appears to be more in line with seasonal flu, having a significantly lower mortality rate than both SARS and bird flu. Transmission of the virus between human beings occurs when an infected individual coughs and…

There has been no shortage of conversation lately about current problems facing the Pharmaceutical industry...
There has been no shortage of conversation lately about current problems facing the Pharmaceutical industry. Communication is vital to work through the current economic crisis and unite in this unreliable climate. Time management is a constant battle for executives who are now turning to online networking sites to liaise effectively and efficiently with their peers. Communities such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are a fantastic resource to all, socially - But what are the true business benefits? MeettheBoss has found the need to create a business platform purely for these executives. “Social networking sites are great to catch-up with old friends, share photographs, music and l…

The inspiration for this article came to me when watching an interview with Mr N R Narayanmurthy, Chief Mentor at Infosys. I was particularly taken by his control and poise; clearly, someone with years of training and experience in being interviewed can be completely at ease in such a stressful situation, but it made me think about how we can all improve our own techniques and create that vital positive first impression.
“… interviewing skills have been rapidly and continuingly changing…” Being interviewed can be a nightmare at times and having been in the industry for 11 years, I recall how interviewing skills have been rapidly and continuingly changing over that period. Having been both a candidate and an interviewer on many occasions, as I am sure many of us are, I would like this articl…

As part of the UK government's drive to save over GBP2 billion in the NHS during 2010-11, GBP550m will be cut from the prices of branded drugs as a result of the revised Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. With the volume of branded drugs having remained flat over the last four years, total sales of the UK branded pharmaceutical industry are forecast to decline from 2009 onwards.
Due to the global economic downturn, branded pharmaceutical sales are suffering in countries such as the US, which lack a nationalized healthcare system. The rising number of unemployed, and therefore uninsured patients, are switching to cheaper generic alternatives, the result of which will be a knock on effect on branded prescription drug sales, which are now forecast to decline by 1-2% in 2009 (IMS Health).…

The latest outbreak of influenza virus H1N1 “swine flu” is now widely tipped to cause a global pandemic of unknown severity. Previously, the influenza vaccine community discussed the theoretical limitations of current technologies and capacity. Now they are faced with the reality of these limitations. VacZine Analytics believes H1N1 must change the science of influenza vaccines.
LONDON, UK 30th April 2009 ExpertREACT. The latest outbreak of influenza virus H1N1 “swine flu” is now widely tipped to cause a global pandemic of unknown severity. Previously, the influenza vaccine community discussed the theoretical limitations of current technologies and capacity. Now they are faced with the reality of these limitations. VacZine Analytics (R) believes H1N1 must change the science of influenz…

Where the pharmaceutical industry is often said to be immune to economic depression, the current economic crisis cannot be considered a direct historical equal to the recessions of the past.
Thus, where the current crisis finds its roots primarily in the banking industry, almost no-one and no industry is completely sheltered. Innovation in healthcare is therefore paying at least a small cost for what is now the most serious economic crisis since October 1929 and the depression of the 1930s that followedYet whilst some of the grandest headlines of all tell of fallen bankers and experienced professionals back in the market for new work, there is another demographic which is being increasingly affected by the uncertainty of the current climate– new graduates.For where healthcare remains a div…

Public opinion has for long been regarded as essential to the success of a thriving business. In fact, whilst the benefits of popular perception can often appear somewhat intangible on the balance sheet, what is essentially the respect of the customer is the bastion of almost every profession
Healthcare is no exception. For where it may sometimes prove challenging to pin down the precise ways in which public opinion can make a direct impact on a company’s revenues, a positive brand identity can, amongst other things, greatly assist in attracting some of the brightest new minds in the industry. Indeed, a positive image is particularly profitable when it comes to something like recruitment and the establishment of something in the way of a social contract with the general public can also enco…

Despite the current economic downturn, pharmaceutical research & development spending continues to play a vital role in the pharmaceutical industry. The industry, as a whole, needs to find new, more innovative ways to compensate for the recent and upcoming patent loses of many blockbusters products...
Despite the current economic downturn, pharmaceutical research and development spending continues to play a vital role in the pharmaceutical industry. The industry, as a whole, needs to find new, more innovative ways to compensate for the recent and upcoming patent loses of many blockbuster products, i.e. Lipitor and Zocor. Recent trends indicate that we are currently in the middle of a consolidation of pipeline efforts within the industry through numerous acquisitions, both intra-pharmace…