From Africa’s crowded AIDS clinics to the malarial jungles of Southeast Asia, the lives of millions of ill people in the developing world are hanging in the balance ahead of a legal ruling that will determine whether India’s drug companies can continue to provide cheap versions of many life-saving medicines.
The case — involving Swiss drug maker Novartis AG’s cancer drug Glivec — pits aid groups that argue India plays a vital role as the pharmacy to the poor against drug companies that insist they need strong patents to make drug development profitable. A ruling by India’s Supreme Court is expected in early 2013. Read the rest of this entry »
THE GLOBAL generic drug industry has witnessed an almost decade-long sales euphoria and volumes and sales growth of prescription generic drugs continued to increase in 2009.
In the 12 months ended September 2009, global prescription sales growth of generic drugs climbed by 7.7%, up from 3.6% in 2008, according to US-based health care information and consulting company IMS Health. This compares with the 5.7% growth seen within the overall global pharmaceutical universe last year, says Doug Long, vice-president, industry relations at IMS Health. Read the rest of this entry »
A quiet coup is taking place in American medicine cabinets. Prescription bottles bearing catchy brand names like Zoloft and Flonase are being pushed aside by tongue-twisting generics like sertraline and fluticasone propionate. While the trend is already pinching the profits of big pharmaceutical companies, it is rare good medical news for American pocketbooks. Read the rest of this entry »
The over-the-counter medicines and supplies to have at the ready for minor emergencies.
People go to medicine cabinets to find relief. Medicines, on the other hand, go to medicine cabinets to die a slow and undignified death. There’s the penicillin from 1997, the eyedrops with the label worn off, the reddish goop that may have once been cough syrup. And amid all these sputtering bottles and vials, you can’t find one measly Band-Aid. Read the rest of this entry »
Integration of Novel Agents Into Treatment Regimens for Patients With Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer
Treatment options in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have expanded recently due to the demonstration of efficacy of targeted agents alone or in combination with existing cytotoxic chemotherapies. Research with these approaches is ongoing, and the 2006 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting featured presentations from studies of epidermal growth factor (EGFR) inhibitors and antiangiogenic agents, as well as on the use of other novel compounds. Read the rest of this entry »
In 2005 more than 11 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed and more than 7 million people died (accounting for approximately 13% of global deaths) from this devastating disease – over 70% of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. In 2020, if current trends continue, new cancer cases will increase to 16 million per year and more than 10 million people will die; between 2005 and 2015, it is projected that 84 million people will die of cancer. The absolute number of cases of cancer in persons younger than 50 years old is not predicted to increase in the next 50 years, but the absolute number of cases in persons aged 65 years and older is expected to double between 2000 and 2030. Read the rest of this entry »
Helped by the government, the generic drugs business in Japan, the world’s second largest pharma market, is set to grow by 9% from the current less than 5% in the next 3-4 years.Indian generic makers see a huge opportunity as the generics market in Japan is poised to witness strong annual growth of around 9% in 2009-2013 on the back of strong government support and largely untapped nature. Leading Indian generic players, including Ranbaxy, Lupin, Zydus Cadila and Dishman, have already entered the Japanese pharma market. Read the rest of this entry »
When a Big Pharma blockbuster drug’s patent expires, generic-drug makers step in. Here are the top-selling generic drugs and the branded drugs they’re displacing.
When Big Pharma invents a new drug, it’s like a cash machine. With patents protecting new discoveries from competition, drug developers like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and AstraZeneca can charge whatever they want for their little miracles. Until, that is, the patent expires. Then it’s goodbye profits, and hello generics! Behind every new drug is a generic copycat — like Teva, Mylan, or K-V — ready to start selling a nearly exact yet much cheaper version virtually the day patent protection ends. Read the rest of this entry »
Global prescription sales growth of generics drugs slowed to 3.6 percent in the twelve months ending September 2008, down from 11.4 percent in 2007, according to a new report by IMS Health (NYSE: RX), the world’s leading provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Global generics products generated $78 billion in audited sales in the twelve months through September, reflecting the changing industry dynamics that also are affecting branded pharmaceutical products. Read the rest of this entry »
Most Commented