The networks are awash with news of multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies investing significant amounts to boost their presence and commercial operations in China. Its all good news but little is said about the experience of companies currently in the market. This story covers the challenges Indian generic pharmaceutical companies face and possibly points to [...]
The networks are awash with news of multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies investing significant amounts to boost their presence and commercial operations in China. Its all good news but little is said about the experience of companies currently in the market. This story covers the challenges Indian generic pharmaceutical companies face and possibly points to a generalized concern.
Joao
*****
Indian pharmaceutical companies may have spread their wings far and wide, but they have been hitting the wall in China. India’s largest pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories was the first to set up a joint venture in China in 1993, but divested its stake in in December last year even though it spent millions of rupees and launched over 40 products. Reason: Strong barriers for market access, longer time to build commercial infrastructure and difficulty in competing with Chinese players on cost. Satish Reddy, managing director and chief operating officer (COO) of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, India’s second largest drug maker, says “the Chinese market historically has been challenging for global generics players as well as mid-sized foreign pharma companies.” So, the Indian pharmaceutical companies, which aggressively tapped various global drug markets in the past two decades, have not been able to crack the Chinese drug market with their finished drugs so far. This is despite the fact that China’s drug market grew over three times in the last seven years and is predicted to become the world’s third largest after the US and Japan within two-three years.
Source: Business Standard
Type 1 diabetes is caused when certain white blood cells, called T cells, go haywire and begin attacking insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. But not all T cells cause harm, said Dr. Pere Santamaria of the University of Calgary in Alberta, whose study appears in the journal Immunity. “Essentially, there is an internal tug-of-war between [...]
Type 1 diabetes is caused when certain white blood cells, called T cells, go haywire and begin attacking insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. But not all T cells cause harm, said Dr. Pere Santamaria of the University of Calgary in Alberta, whose study appears in the journal Immunity. “Essentially, there is an internal tug-of-war between aggressive T cells that want to cause the disease and weaker T cells that want to stop it from occurring,” Santamaria said in a statement. Santamaria’s team wanted to find a way to counteract the harmful autoimmune response without compromising general immunity. They developed a so-called nanovaccine — particles many times smaller than a cell and coated with protein fragments specific to type 1 diabetes. These were bound to molecules that play a critical role in presenting these protein fragments to T cells. When the team gave the vaccine to mice with an early form of type 1 diabetes, they found the vaccine slowed the progression of the disease. And in mice that had full-blown diabetes, the vaccine helped restore normal blood sugar levels.
Source: Reuters
Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s top influenza expert, said the U.N. agency’s six-phase system for declaring a pandemic had sown confusion about the flu bug which was ultimately not as deadly as the widely-feared avian influenza. “The reality is there is a huge amount of uncertainty (in a pandemic). I think we did not convey the [...]
Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s top influenza expert, said the U.N. agency’s six-phase system for declaring a pandemic had sown confusion about the flu bug which was ultimately not as deadly as the widely-feared avian influenza. “The reality is there is a huge amount of uncertainty (in a pandemic). I think we did not convey the uncertainty. That was interpreted by many as a non-transparent process,” Fukuda said. He was addressing a three-day meeting of 29 external flu experts called to review WHO’s handling of the first influenza pandemic in 40 years.
LINKS TO DRUG COMPANIES
Critics have said the WHO created panic about the swine flu virus, which turned out to be moderate in its effect, and caused governments to stockpile vaccines which went unused. Some questioned its links to the pharmaceutical industry after companies like GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis profited from producing H1N1 vaccine. Kenya’s delegation criticized the United Nations agency for failing to ensure that developing countries received a fair share of vaccines developed against the virus. “It is not fair to have new vaccines and medicines and then they are so expensive that most poor people in developing countries can’t access them,” Kenya’s delegate said. “This is not a situation that should be tolerated at all.” To date, 31 poorer countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Kenya and Myanmar have received limited supplies of vaccine donated by drug companies and Western countries, via the WHO. India’s delegation suggested that in public health emergencies, patents on vital drugs should be lifted in line with the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS agreement on intellectual property. H1N1, which emerged in Mexico and the United States almost exactly a year ago, has killed 17,770 people in 213 countries, according to WHO, which declared a pandemic under way in June. The WHO will need another year or two after the pandemic is declared over to determine a final death rate from the virus, which is certain to be much higher. The pandemic is still officially under way.
Source: Reuters
The Taiwanese Minister of Health will consider legislation preventing civil servants from accepting key positions in the private sector. It may have its benefits however retired civil servants may be the only agents of change able to interpret public policy for their new employers leading to better alignment between public and private interests. This is [...]
The Taiwanese Minister of Health will consider legislation preventing civil servants from accepting key positions in the private sector. It may have its benefits however retired civil servants may be the only agents of change able to interpret public policy for their new employers leading to better alignment between public and private interests. This is not always the case and in many countries regulatory capture is a standard feature of the relationship between government agencies and regulated industries. The two depend on each other and in Taiwan a three year waiting period is unlikely to have a meaningful impact.
Best regards, Joao
*****************
The Department of Health (DOH) will not oppose amending the law to prevent its senior staff from taking jobs at pharmaceutical plants or medical institutions within a specified period after retirement, an official said Friday. DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang made the remarks in response to an appeal by the Consumers’ Foundation earlier in the day that a “revolving door” clause be introduced to block senior DOH officials from taking positions at health care-related institutions within three years following their retirement from public services. Speaking at a news conference, Consumers’ Foundation Chairman Hsieh Tien-jen said a lot of DOH officials have taken up important positions at medical institutions or pharmaceutical companies shortly after stepping down from department posts.
Source: Focus Taiwan
This news covers an aspect of what we saw last year when Dutch authorities blocked generic medicine shipments destined for Nigeria and Brazil. The current trade negotiations between the EU and Central America try to strike a balance between access to medicine and enforcing the intellectual property regime. While both are needed, it remains to [...]
This news covers an aspect of what we saw last year when Dutch authorities blocked generic medicine shipments destined for Nigeria and Brazil. The current trade negotiations between the EU and Central America try to strike a balance between access to medicine and enforcing the intellectual property regime. While both are needed, it remains to be seen how this balance with be achieved.
Best regards, Joao
************
A new accord designed to bolster political and economic ties between the European Union and Central America could result in greater seizures of medicines whenever pharmaceutical companies allege that their patents have been infringed, public health advocates have warned. The EU is pushing for robust intellectual property clauses to be inserted in the “association agreement” under negotiation between the 27-country bloc and six Central American nations: Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua.
Source: Intellectual Property Watch
As the Brazilian pharmaceutical market grows so does the need to ensure pharmaceutical supply chain integrity. The news below covers efforts by ANVISA to implement a system to monitor the distribution of pharmaceuticals from the manufacturer to the patient. Its not without logistical challenges but undoubtedly a great move to implement better systems of accountability.
As the Brazilian pharmaceutical market grows so does the need to ensure pharmaceutical supply chain integrity. The news below covers efforts by ANVISA to implement a system to monitor the distribution of pharmaceuticals from the manufacturer to the patient. Its not without logistical challenges but undoubtedly a great move to implement better systems of accountability.
Best regards, Joao
**********
With 191 million inhabitants, Brazil is the biggest pharmaceutical market in South America, valued at around $17bn in 2008, and is the tenth largest drug market in the world. The market has been experiencing buoyant growth despite difficulties affecting the economy as a whole, but this has been accompanied by an increase in medicines counterfeiting. Last year, the national regulatory agency – ANVISA – implemented a series of healthcare reforms to shore up patient safety as well as to encourage domestic production of pharmaceuticals. The Brazilian legislation (Act No. 11.903) was first put forward in January 2009 and set out an aggressive three-year timetable towards a full serialisation and track-and-trace system for prescription medicines, both human and veterinary, via the “capture, storage and electronic transmission” of data.
Source: SecuringPharma
Sign up for our mailing list:
Thanks for visiting!
- Access Asia Pacific Biotech Brazil China Counterfeit developing countries Drug Prices Emerging Markets Ethics Generics Health Insurance HIV/AIDS India Industrial Policy Innovation Intellectual Property Managed health care medicines Nanotechnology News pharmaceutical pharmaceutical policy Pharmacists Pharmacoeconomics Philippines Poverty public policy Quality R&D Regulatory Affairs Reimbursement Risk sharing Russia Singapore South Africa Supply Chain Taiwan Trade Vaccines
Archives
- October 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- November 2011
- September 2011
- April 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- September 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- October 2008
- July 2008
- October 2007
- November 2006
- October 2006
- November 2005
