Global M&A hits all-time high
9Post-antibiotic' era draws nearer
Divisive plans for new-look CDF
UK paying less for cancer drugs than EU
NICE under attack
GPs 'failing as a profession'
Huge demand for diabetes programme
Is merger mania on the wane?
2015 was a record-breaking year for mergers and acquisitions but what does 2016 hold?
University challenge
Who will win in the battle between Oxford and Cambridge to become the UK's top biotech cluster?
Failure to launch
A new report delves into why so many pharma brands struggle to launch and what can be done about it
Compliance complacency?
How companies can transform their compliance function from a burden to a benefit
Matching mutation to medicine
Will linking diagnostic tests for cancer to treatment deliver the promise of personalised medicine
Blood pressure
The race to the top of the anticoagulant market
Review of 2015
A look back at the biggest stories in pharma and healthcare from 2015, with opinions and analysis from industry experts
Best behaviour
Jane Asscher from 23red explains what makes a successful public health campaign
Interview
Aspiring marketer Matt Callaghan discusses the challenges of working in three different countries, his foray into strategic marketing and excitement at winning a prestigious award
Appointments
This month's job moves and new appointments
Patient Files
How stroke patient Fleur Costello's life was saved by a garbled Facebook message
Patient-recorded outcome measures are likely to become a key part of how healthcare is provided, funded and managed. But is industry ready?
Healthcare Writer Lynne Taylor
The British government's determination to place health outcomes at the heart of NHS decision-making presents UK-based drugmakers with a unique and potentially huge advantage over their global competitors.
Working in collaboration with the NHS to identify a product's true value - in other words its value to the patient - has the potential to boost levels of medicines uptake and could also lead to products arriving earlier to market, both in the UK and overseas, a PharmaTimes business meeting was told recently. Leading these potentially game-changing opportunities is the NHS patient-recorded outcome measures programme, which began in 2009.
Innovative drugmakers have included PROMs in their clinical trials for many years, and the data have also long been used in observational studies and population health surveys. "We have decades of experience using these instruments and pharma is way ahead of the game. The fact they are now being measured in healthcare systems changes everything," Professor Nancy Devlin, research director at the Office of Health Economics told the meeting. Indeed, PROMs are likely to become a key part of how all healthcare is provided, funded and managed, The King's Fund healthcare policy think-tank has forecast.
So what exactly are PROMs and why should this matter to pharma? You can find out by reading the full article online here
Screenwriter, university lecturer and mum of three, Fleur Costello suffered a stroke aged just 40 while home alone. Her call for help on Facebook – “help...fainter cannoi get up...uhrlp gurt h4ead” – probably saved her life
Aspiring marketer Matt Callaghan discusses the challenges of working in three different countries, his upcoming foray into strategic marketing and excitement at winning a prestigious award
To improve public health you need to be an active participant, says health campaign expert Jane Asscher
2015 saw the arrival of some truly innovative new medicines with the promise of totally transforming some disease areas.
In November of this year, the IRS outlined more new anti-inversion rules with potentially significant implications.
The original patent for pregabalin (Lyrica) as a treatment for epilepsy expired in 2014, paving the way for generic formulations, however, the firm had secured a second-use patent for pregabalin as a treatment for pain until July 2017.
Drug pricing was put under more scrutiny than ever last year after US company Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the 62-year old drug daraprim and raised the price from $13.50 to $750 in the country, resulting in international backlash.
Embracing the promise of mHealth
The world is drawing closer to a ‘post-antibiotic era’, announced Lancet Infectious Diseases in November, ending a year of intense global debate on how to tackle the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
2015 was the year biosimilars finally delivered on the hype. In February, Napp and Hospira launched Celltrion’s biosimilar infliximab, challenging MSD’s Remicade and potentially saving the NHS millions.
Back in our May issue, we focused on one of the hottest topics in pharma today – patient-centricity. Much has been said over the years about this important issue but in 2015 it really came into its own.
The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) began to crack under increasing pressure last year.
2016 has arrived, but was 2015 a good year for you, your company and your industry?
With a crowded market and a long-established generic to overcome, which of the new anticoagulants will come out on top?
Will linking diagnostic tests for lung cancer to treatment deliver the promise of personalised medicine?
Companies can transform their compliance function from a burden to a benefit, concludes a report from Deloitte’s Centre for Health Solutions
A new report delves into why so many pharma brands struggle to launch and what can be done about it
The old rivalry between Cambridge and Oxford University is now focused on competition for biotech funding
Acquisitions in the pharma sector in 2015 are even higher than the record-breaking 2014, with the year crowned by the announcement that Pfizer and Allergan will merge in a $160 billion deal, pushing total pharma M&A to well over $500 billion
