The Big Red Biotech Blog

India, Brazil DROP Other Shoe Against EU Over Seizures Of Generic Drugs

For those of you who have read this blog regarding the India-EU trade dispute, the Other Shoe has finally dropped.  India and Brazil have filed a complaint with the WTO over the seizure of generic drug shipments from India to Brazil. 

  India, Brazil Launch Trade Dispute Against EU, Netherlands Over Seizures Of Generic Drugs - Kaiser Global Health.

Both countries claim the drugs involved were not covered by any patents in the importing or exporting country.  What's more, they claim the EU is trying to disrupt supply of needed drugs to poor developing countries -- and not for the first time.  They claim it is a concerted effort.

Brazil and India also believe that due to this policy of seizures, exporting countries have avoided transit through the EU leading to higher shipping costs to these poor nations - contrary to their needs.

The WTO will now have 60 days to try to come up with a fair resolution.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 13th 2010.

Does the Calculus of Big Pharma’s Emerging-Market Growth Strategies Add Up?

This is a thought provoking post from yesterday's PharmaTech Talk blog written by Patricia Van Arnum. It questions whether simultaneous Big Pharma investments in emerging markets (mostly with generics) and established product growth strategies will yield the growth results these companies are seeking?

It would appear that many in the Big Pharma world are pursuing this same strategy and in some cases they are pitting growth of their generics in emerging markets (where generics are already entrenched across the competition) with their established products also trying to grow in emerging geographic markets?  Is there anough "free share" in the market to go around especially with reduced margins seen with generics?

PharmTech Talk » Does the Calculus of Big Pharma’s Emerging-Market Growth Strategies Add Up?.

Well, that's what the next 5 years will tell us.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 12th 2010.

Big Pharma Gets Chance to Sandbag after Qtr 1?

As a sales and marketing person, there is nothing more exciting than getting a chance to play in the sand!

 With the advent of Healthcare Reform (specifically changes in Medicaid reimbursment provisions), many Big Pharma groups are taking full advantage of the opportunity to dampen future earnings estimates as reported in Seeking Alpha.  This despite a seeming positive turn in the economic environment and the fact that the sector as a whole beat industry analyst estimates by 3% on sales and a more impressive 10% on EPS.

However, given the clear immediate term impact of changes in Medicaid discount rates from 15.1% to 23.1%, it is a great time for Big Pharma to restate earnings estimates for the balance of this year and next.  This is also an opportunity to set the bar at a target that can be more easily hit!  At least 1/2 dozen major companies have done just that in the past couple of weeks.

Katherine Hobson of the WSJ Health blog has been keeping a nice running total of companies who have downgraded their revenue and earnings estimates for the balance of 2010 and 2011. 

With any luck, these Companies should be able to beat these estimates & look like heroes.  Let the sandbagging begin!

Posted by Bruce Lehr  May 12th 2010.

Biopharmaceutical Boom and Bust

Here's a nice post from Eric Greb at the PharmaTech Talk blog.  It contains links to both a new Ernst & Young report entitled, Biotech industry showing resilience despite challenging conditions, and a link to a new white paper from Deloitte called, Global Economic Downturn LIkely to Change Face of Life Sciences Industries for Years to Come.

PharmTech Talk » Biopharmaceutical Boom and Bust.

The crux of the post is that we're seeing tremendous change in the industry.  We can expect consolidation amongst pharma and biopharma.  Bigger companies will get bigger.  Smaller, less capitalized companies, will fail or be acquired. 

In other words, as an industry matures it gets more competitive  and there is a shake out.  Fewer competitors are left standing when the dust settles.  Business models change to meet the new competitive stakes in the environment.  We can expect there to be a blurring of lines between big pharma, biotech, generics and biosimilars.  Likely, the biggest remaining players will have their hands in all those pies. And, there will be global expansion to the Asia Pacific region where we will realize a truly global pharmaceutical industry -- made up of a smaller number of large players from each region. 

Then we can begin a new cycle of niche players developing (think microbrews) ..............but let's leave that for another day.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 11th 2010.

Booming Indian pharmaceutical market

As predicted by groups like IMS, the Indian Pharmaceutical market is seeing dramatic growth.  In 2009, it grew by 9% to reach sales levels of approximately $11.1 B.  Local social and economic factors will continue to drive this kind of growth at least through the next 5 years.

 

Booming Indian pharmaceutical market set for near-term double-digit growth - Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology News - Pharma Letter

Posted using ShareThis by Bruce Lehr May 11th 2010.

Did The FDA Act Too Fast In Suspending Rotarix?

Let's not mince words - YES!!!

Did The FDA Act Too Fast In Suspending Rotarix? // Pharmalot

 

I do believe the "FDA error" was done from a concern for safety and out of conservatism from a regulatory point of view.  However, I also believe they now have corrected their error by allowing both Rotarix and RotaTeq to be administered.  I buy the argument that the risk of NOT getting a vaccine is higher than the possible risk of receiving some PCV virus DNA. It will be prudent to continue the studies on PCV though.

Posted using ShareThis by Bruce Lehr May 10th 2010.

Wanna Play Hardball over Jobs with Big Pharma?

Maybe we're starting to see a mini-trend with Big Pharma.  It would seem that Big Pharma is not afraid to threaten and/or follow through with job cuts in countries that enact policies they feel are unacceptable.  Witness the following examples:

• On April 13th, In the Pipeline reported that both Novartis and Roche senior executives met with UK government ministers behind closed doors to inform them in blunt terms that they were prepared to cut R&D jobs and close sites if proposed pricing and clinical trial regulations were enacted as contemplated. The two Pharma giants have about 5000 employees in the UK. Government officials were said to be scrambling to "play nice".
• Sanofi-Aventis in Canada just cut 70 jobs as part of a reorganization blamed on loss of patent exclusivity. Further, the company took the opportunity to take the Canadian goverment to task for weakening patent protections and "favoring generics" - even while patents are still in effect.  Sanofi says it will curtail R&D investments, capital expenditures and job creation in such an environment.

Thus Big Pharma has some clout to bring to bear when it comes to policy, pricing, and regulatory rules it cannot abide.  It can pick up its bat and ball and move to another field.  It will be interesting to see how often this type of strategy will show itself in the coming months and years - particularly in the slower growing, more regulated Western economies (ballparks).

It will also be interesting to see how various World governments choose to deal with such a tactic beyond grovelling of course - which I don't think is wise or sustainable. It also may not be in the long-term interest of the governed as well. You know all us believers in capitalism and free markets.  How can we weigh the job losses of the few against the price cuts for the many?  Only politicians can say for sure.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 10th 2010.

Greater Regulation of Excipients Only Matter of Time?

As posted in the PharmTech Talk blog, there is a good liklihood that the FDA will continue to raise the bar on the quality requirements associated with the manufacture and supply of excipients.  Recent issues with heparin, melamine and now final products Tylenol, Motrin and Zyrtec all but assure this will occur.

  Speakers at this year's IPEC meetings in Puerto Rico advocated that the time is now for us to really get into the details of our supply chain.  Just seeing a CoA, the label marked USP, an ID test result, and an audit are not enough. It is important to understand everything about it.

Speakers from IPEA and from RX-360 also said it is well past time for companies to begin sharing results of supplier audits -- particularly for excipients. They noted that Congress is now asking tough questions about why excipients are NOTaudited like API suppliers. It can be expected that the public servants (& public) and the FDA will require much more transparency in the supply chain - and the time has arrived for sharing audit information.

Again, this greater emphasis on knowing what is in your raw materials and how these will effect your process & ultimately your product is the essence of our Raw Material Characterization Intitiative. I would strongly support the notion of shared audits in addition to enhanced selection and testing of all key raw materials.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 9th 2010.

EU Back Tracks, India Presses Advantage in FTA Talks

The Free Trade Agreement talks continue between India and the EU. As reported in the Pharmalot blog, the EU has made concilliatory gestures in the talks.  Firstly, the EU says there will be "no limit" on India's capacity to produce drugs for export. 

Secondly, the EU will change an internal custom regulation that led to seizures of India produced drugs that were passing through the EU on their way to Brazil or Africa.  The EU commits to making no further seizures of this type if the new agreement is passed.

The seizures were reportedly made at the behest of EU producers, but India's pharmaceutical industry denies that any of these drugs were covered under any patents in the importing markets or in India. India trade officials aren't happy with the language in the proposed agreement and still plan to press their complaint with the WTO. 

So this issue is far from resolved, but it appears to me that India is pressing where it has an advantage and the EU is trying to break it.

Certainly, I expect patient advocate organizations that would like to see greater accessibility of poor and developing nations to cheap pharmaceuticals to be in India's court.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 9th 2010.

Pharma Industry Must Plot New Path Forward

In a new white paper entitled, The Future of Life Sciences Industries: Aftermath of the global recession, Deloitte and their collaborators at the Economist posit that the recession of 2008-2009 will forever change the biopharm industry.

Interviews conducted with 281 leaders from pharmaceutical, medical device biotechnology, and CROs paint a changed future coming.  Respondents (44%) felt that from 20-40% of existing biotechnology companies would disappear in the next 5 yrs. Senior execs (68%) from biotech were even more certain that the 20-40% figure was likley to occur. More than 65% of these stated the economy had already negatively affected their company.  In 2009, 14% of biotech companies closed but this was far short of the 20-33% that had been predicted by some industry analysts.

Many of these companies have reacted as you might predict.  More than 43% have reduced R&D expenses and staff - and 32% predicted this downward trend to continue in the future. This despite the fact that the same executives said "innovation"  - yes the dreaded "i' word - was their most likely salvation.  I still get the feeling there is some street peddler out there selling "innovation business plans" out on the street corner.

Despite the call for innovation, most of these companies have shifted toward R&D projects/products that offer an expectation of a near term payoff. To further support this line of thinking, a panel of venture capitalists, speaking at BIO last week, urged companies to be as efficient as possible with capital and learn to "fail fast".   In other words, don't waste money on potentially innovative projects in phase II or III that don't show a clear avenue for success.  No one can afford these failures any more. 

Plus, it is not enough to get approved - you need to also show a differential advantage over competition and comparative effectiveness.  This will be needed to get justify the value of these new products to 3rd party payers and to earn reimbursement.  Reimbursement approval may be as or even more important than initial regulatory approval in the future.   

Capital markets are less available to small biotechs.  The VCs urge companies to look at non-traditional funding mechanisms - inlcuding non-dilutive financing and ones that pursue creative collaborations.  More outsourcing is needed as well as risk sharing. Virtual models may become more attractive. More mergers are also expected as Big Pharma continues to cherry-pick the best clinical candidates.

Despite some of the negatives, biotech as an industry did earn a profit last year. In coming years, the industry will become more global.  It is clear the growth opportunities lie in pharmerging markets - like the BRIC countries.  Most MNCs are making significant moves into this space.

The emerging markets are also attractive to the growing generics industry.  Even in the US, 76% of all prescriptions written in 2009 were for generics. This trend will continue with Healthcare Reform and with more than $60 B worth of drugs reaching their patent expiration within the next two years.  Thus, you will see continued investment by significant portions of Big Pharma in generic companies.

The market will continue to evolve and companies will need to adjust their strategies and chart a new path in order to meet these challenging circumstances.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 9th 2010

Giving Back to the Community & Promoting Science Education

I'd like to pass on kudos to several of my colleagues at SAFC Biosciences who have volunteeered to participate in the Shawnee Mission West Signature Progams in Biotechnology. In particular, I need to do a shout out for Lynn Davis - one of our Senior Scientists with an extensive background in cell engineering and mammalian cell culture at bioreactor scale.  

Lynn has been a lead participant in the program since September 2008.  The program is geared toward high school students from grade 10-12 and is designed to expose/begin early preparation for students  to  career options in biotechnology.  Students learn not only about career options, but educational requirements, current trends, and legal responsibilities (is this available for some of our industry CEOs?) through research and guest speakers (like Lynn). 

Students learn hands on research skills and techniques through doing an original research project and by onsite experiences at area biotechnology companies. At SAFC for example, we allow students to "job shadow" over the course of four 2hr sessions in a calendar year.  The students can learn to make media and aseptic technique, how to passage cells, and are afforded the opportunity to tour our large scale continuous milling manufacturing area.

Other students have learned how to do PCR reactions, assemble bioreactors, sample bioreactors, and put that aseptic technique to the the test. Our current students are bringing cells out of thaw, passaging cells and plotting growth curves.  Soon they will be learning to measure IgG levels produced from these cultures on a Fortebio instrument. These students have also toured the QC labs in addition to the milling manfacturing areas.

Students in their own research are doing things like extracting DNA from various cereal grains and examining their GMO status.  The program has been very successful.  It has grown from 11 students in its inception to 30 for next year.

We're proud to have someone like Lynn on our staff - as well as other team members including Chad Stewart, Brenda Hogan, Barb Martinez, Sandy McNorton and a number of our Cell Sciences and Development group, Rebecca Ball and Katie Hernandez. 

It's a pleasure having colleagues who make it their business to give back to education and through whose efforts we are able to provide some "real world" experience and perspective to students who are interested in pursuing careers in biotechnology.  It is a great program and it benefits our Staff just as much as the Students who participate - and we're glad we do!

If you want to check out more information - www.smsd.org/students/signature.htm

More Public-Private Models - Sanofi-Aventis & Mass LSC

In April, I wrote that biopharm and pharma companies seemed to be recognizing a need to change their R&D models, and that several new public-private models were being announced.  Sanofi-Aventis informed attendees at BIO 2010 that it has joined the Massacchusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC).  The MLSC has the responsibility to implement the State's 10 year, $1 B Life Sciences Initiative Center's Corporate Consortium Program. 

 

In return for Sanofi's pledge to help fund fledgling life sciences companies in Massachuesetts, the firm will receive early opportunities to license new technologies. Sanofi-Aventis' participation in this Accelerator Loan Program will allow it to expand its R&D partnering activities.  The loan program is targeting $5.5 M in new loans in 2010, up from the $3.4 M it lent last year.

I believe this is a good trend to link public and private resources more explicitly - particularly in models that may very well enable more innovation.  I'd actually like to see public-private models that resulted in "new findings" that could then be non-exclusively (although in limited numbers) licensed to different companies to exploit - possibly with some exclusivity around application areas or geographic markets.  This may help get a few more players in the game and spur competition to reach market more swiftly (as long as there is some data!).  I think both the public and private sector benefit from these models and ultimately I think it is good for the science and the patient.

 Posted by Bruce Lehr May 7th 2010

Novo Nordisk's Victoza® (GLP-1 analog) cardiovascular outcomes trial

Novo Nordisk's Victoza is the latest GLP-1 analog to be approaching the market for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.  See previous posts on GLP-1 rivals Amylin/Lilly, Roche, and GSK.  

In this trial, Victoza will be studied for its cardiovascular safety in treatment of type 2 diabetics, since there is a well established link between cvs disaease and type 2 diabetes.  This trial will attempt to show that use of Victoza will lead to better cvs outcomes in these patients corroborating a prvious study of Victoza (liraglutide).

Novo Nordisk partners with international scientific community for Victoza® cardiovascular outcomes trial.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 7th 2010.  

Genzyme Pushes Back in Board Battle Royale

Here is an update on the Genzyme battle for the board as reported in Cliff Mintz's BioJobBlog.  Genzyme has returned fire by authorizing a significant stock buy back and divesting non-performing business units (assets of sorts) in response to Icahn's overtures.

Genzyme Pushes Back : Bio Job Blog

Posted using ShareThis by Bruce Lehr May 7th 2010

PCV Testing Mini-Primer - GSK & Merck Rotavirus Contamination

Within the past 4-6 weeks, both GSK and Merck have reported finding fragments of the PCV virus in their rotavirus vaccines - Rotarix and Rotateg respectively.  As a result, my colleague Misa Gray wrote a mini-primer on PCV testing in raw materials.  I have extracted a portion that talks about the use of PCR for screening. 

Porcine circovirus (PCV) is a member of the family, Circoviridae.  it is a single-stranded, non-enveloped DNA virus. There are two strains PCV1 and PCV2.  PCV1 is not known to cause any disease in pigs, while PCV2 does cause a disease known as Postweaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS).

Photo courtesy Dr. Stewart McNulty.

The FDA suspended Rotarix usage on March 22,2010 due to finding PCV1 DNA in the vaccine. GSK confirmed the presence of the virus in Rotarix. Trypsin was a suspected possible source of the virus (unconfirmed).  The source of the PCV remains under investigation by GSK and the FDA.

Raw materials, like trypsin, could be assessed for PCV presence by PCR testing assuming one can get a reasonable DNA preparation. Nested PCR (two sets of primers) could be utlized in cases where inhibiting materials might be present in the raw material sample. Multi-plex PCR ca nbe applied to test both for PCV1 and PCV2 simultaneously - this of course requires two independent set of primers.

Several commercial labs offer PCV2 screening - presumably due to its potential impact on animal health and the food chain. PCV1 is not normally offered by these same commercial  test labs. Since the PCV1 sequence has been publoished and is available in GenBank, we believe that it would be relatively straightforward to develop a screening assay.

For more on PCV, see the FDA site.

More Trouble for Termeer if Left to Icahn

Genzyme's embattled CEO may be coming to the end of his [formerly] distinguished 25 year career if Icahn gets himself and his board placed via a proxy fight.  Given Genzyme's extreme manufacturing difficulties this year, resulting in plant shutdowns, patient supply issues - possibly leading to patient deaths, FDA fines and generally bad publicity for the company, this would seem inevitable if Icahn wins.

More on the story from the BioJobBlog.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 6th 2010.

Patent Dispute India Heats Up - 90 Challenges by IPA

The India Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) has decided to challenge up to 90 putative patents, many held by MNCs, in India.  This dispute (described previously in this blog) has to do with the Indian Patent Office granting patents that the IPA feel do NOT meet the law's definition of novel - basically claiming that any patents granted are the result of "incremental innovations" without proven clinical advantage.

The total number of patents to be challenged account for nearly 10% of all drug patents filed in India between October 2009 and February 2010. That's a serious challenge. 

Big MNCs with patents on the hit list include Pfizer (6), AstraZeneca (4), Boehringer Ingelheim (4), Ratiopharm (3) - (if Pfizer had beat out Teva for Rationpharm they coulda' had 9 on the list).  Teva actually does have 7 on the list as is - so maybe it's 10 when Ratiopharm deal goes through.

The IPA is pursuing so-called pre-grant opposition to prevent the patent applications from issuing. See full article.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 4th 2010.

Samuel Johnson paraphrased

"Your Big Red Biotech Blog is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."

DSM Cuts New CMO Deal With Aussie Government

DSM entered into a deal with the Australian government in Queensland to create a 70,000 sq ft CMO for mammalian cell culture.  The goverment will provide the funding and DSM will provide the design and technical expertise.

DSM will also make its XD and DSP optimization methods available to CMO clients.  DSM will also offer Crucell's Per.C6 cell line for use in recombinant protein and MAb production.

The facilty will come on line in 2013.  It is part of the Queensland Translational Research Institute (TRI) which is being scoped to provide discovery, production and clinical testing services at one site.

DSM says the new facility forms an important part of its overall CMO strategy.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 3rd 2010.

New Sales Leader Expected In Pharmaceutical Clubhouse in 2016 - Humira

Lipitor will be out.  Which drug will replace it as the new undisputed pharmaceutical blockbuster sales leader in the clubhouse in 2016? 

According to this set of industry analysts (as opposed to a set last month or next month), it will NOT be Avastin, Enbrel or Rituxan - but they will be in the hunt. 

 

No the owner of the GREEN dollar will be Abbott/Esai's Humira.  At an estimated $10.1 B, it will hold a healthy lead over Roche's Avastin at $8.9 B.  However, it is slightly more than $2 B less than Lipitor's current $12.3 B sales. Lipitor is expected to plummet out of the top 10 when generic competition can attack its share.

As a company, Pfizer is expected to hang on to a very narrow lead as the number one pharma seller at $47.1 B representing a very slight lead over Merck's predicted $46.3 B.  Abbott will climb to number 7 position at $26.1 B - a huge portion of which is Humira. For all the rankings, see Pharmalot blog.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 3rd 2010.

April Recipe of the Month

Today we have an oldie but goodie from Chicago's Pump Room - a recipe I've used since 1991!  This was originally the Pump Room's contribution to a hunger-relief benefit called Taste of the Nation. 

Without further adieu, the Pump Room's "Spicy Mediterranean Shrimp Gazpacho" as published in Chicago Tribune, April 21st, 1991.

Six servings

• 6 ounces small (60 count) cooked shrimp
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• 1 medium green bell pepper
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper

as you can see, lots of color is always good.  but I digress.

• 2 or 3 medium, ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 cup tomato juice
• 1 small red onion
• 1 medium cucumber
• 1/2 small jalapeno pepper, or to taste
• 12 black olives, Kalamatas are best
• 1 tbl spn lime juice
• 1 tbl spn lemon juice
• 1/2 tspn granulated sugar
• 1/4 tspn cracked black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbl spn extra-virgin olive oil

Here we go, time to put it all together.  Then we can eat.

• Peel shrimp and place in large glass bowl
• Stem and seed all 3 color peppers.  Cut into fine dice.
• Halve, seed and dice tomatoes.
• Add peppers, tomatoes and tomato juice to shrimp in the bowl.
• Peel the onion and cucumber. Dice the onion.
• Cut cucumber in half lengthwise, remove seeds and dice flesh.
• Add onion and cucumber to the bowl

Almost there, we're making progress after all the slicing and dicing (no fingers please!)

• Seed jalapeno and dice.
• Pit the olives and finely dice.
• Add olives and jalapeno to the bowl.
• In cup, combine lemon & lime juices. Stir in sugar to dissolve.
• Add black pepper, salt and olive oil to cup. Stir it all up again. Pour contents in bowl.
• Stir thoroughly in bowl to combine all ingredients. Cover bowl & refrigerate for 6 hrs.
• Serve in chilled bowls or soup plates. 
• Optional: Serve with crusty bread and red wine of your choice.

Enjoy!

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 2nd 2010.

Trade Talks EU-India Raise Concerns

The Economic Times reports that lobbying efforts are intensifying from India with respect to a new amendment  to EU's legislation for "falsified medicines".

India's pharma industry is upset with the legislation which calls for the EU to carry out pre-market inspections of manufacturing facilities. India sees this as a further attempt to block imports to the EU. This is particularly true as the EU does not have enough resources to perform all the pre-market inspections necessary and effectively would eliminate many Indian companies' ability to export to EU.  India also does not have the resources to perform the inspections by proxy were the EU to agree to that as an alternative.

This would seem to cut out a cheap source of drugs to the EU. Indian companies currently export about 25% of their output to the EU. The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) says this is another transparent attempt by the West to render India uncompetitive.

India already has 119 US FDA inspected plants, the highest number outside of the US.  India says that it has been selling to the EU for years and that should continue while these issues are resolved.

If that weren't cheery enough, Kaiser Daily Global Health looks at EU-India free trade (FTA) negotiations.  Fears are arising that the trade deal is taking a shape that will hinder India's historic position as generic leader in the world (20% of world volume) and in particular as supplier to developing Nations.  India has been the most important supplier of drugs to treat AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria - with low costs generics.

The fear is that the trade agreement will reduce the poor's access to drugs. Purportedly the FTA contains provisions to extend data exclusivity, patent term extensions, and enforcement of IP rights that will reverse advances that have been made on access to medicines. Patient Advocacy groups are calling for greater transparency to the negotiations and draft agreement.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 2nd 2010.

Follow On Biologics Conference

The Patent Docs blog is promoting a conference on Follow on Biologics in NYC from June 21-22. The conference will present sessions covering topics such as:

 

• impact of the 12 yr exclusivity period
• methods for demonstrating or disproving similarity
• determine safety data and technical support needed
• maximize biologic patent life
• alternative methods for approval
• overview history of US biosimilar legislation
• current FDA position on biosimilars
• lessons learned from biosimilars in international markets

This is obviously a hot area with passage of the Healthcare Reform bill.  It will likely only get hotter as biosimilars take on even greater importance with the Big Pharma pipelines drying up and their moving into the biosimilar space.  Biosimilars will of course have great impact on the growth of the World pharmaceutical market, especially in pharmerging markets.  As such, I thought it was worth passing on the information regarding this conference.

Posted by Bruce Lehr May 1st 2010.

Shout Out for Friend - Health Network Communication Conferences

As a favor to a new found web colleague, I'd like to pass along information for two upcoming conferences sponsored by Health Network Communicatons.

Exploratory Clinical Development World Europe 2010 has established itself as the largest and most influential European event for top pharmaceutical and biotechnology representatives working within exploratory development and early phase clinical trials.  For more information or to register.

The 4th annual World Drug Safety Congress Europe conference brings together top pharmaceutical, biotechnology and regulatory representatives in a forum that addresses the key issues of the industry.  For more information or to register. 

Posted by Bruce Lehr April 19th 2010. Re-posted May 1st.