Pharmacy

Bristol-Myers Squibb   (BMS) has recently signed a immunity-from-suit agreement with Matrix Laboratories Ltd to expand access to Reyataz® (atazanavir sulfate). This agreement will enable the generic company to manufacture and sell atazanavir as well as stavudine and didanosine in India and sub-Saharan Africa. Atazanavir is an important component of HIV combination therapy and this agreement will facilitate broader availability of the medicine in the developing worlds. This is the fifteenth agreement that BMS has signed for its HIV medicines, and the fourth for atazanavir. A key component of the agreement is the inclusion of pediatric formulations of the medicines to support the treatment needs of children with HIV.  WHO prequalification enables procurement organizations to purchase medicines using funding from United Nations agencies and the global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria?

Waters Corporation has recently announced its entry into a non-exclusive co-marketing and reselling agreement with Premier Biosoft International. This collaboration is to conduct advanced lipidomics research. Waters will offer Premier Biosoft's SimLipid informatics platform for sale with Waters Acquity UPLC and high-resolution, exact mass SYNAPT and XEVO mass spectrometers for lipid analysis. Premier Biosoft released its SimLipid software product earlier in 2011, which generates portable reports and images in different file formats such as xls, csv, html, jpeg and png to facilitate dynamic information sharing. In addition, each structure is mined for its associated class, reaction, pathway and enzyme, so that scientists do not waste time and money on laborious manual annotation. This technology would provide high levels of specificity, liquid analysis along with separation of isobaric/isomeric liquid species. "Waters UPLC, ion mobility, advanced mass spectrometry and informatics technologies have created a lipid analysis platform, which provides greater insight into more...

Pfizer could earn $800 million after European Union (EU) countries extended exclusive rights to sell its most popular drug Lipitor until next year in exchange for tests that will provide a slightly modified version to a few thousand children. The US pharmaceuticals group will launch a chewable grape-flavoured low-dose version of its cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor in the EU in November, when the patents are due to expire, exposing the drug to cut-price generic competition. But under EU regulations designed to encourage research into medicines for children, Pfizer has sought a' supplementary protection certificate' in most EU countries extending its monopoly over supplies am pricing. According to IMS, the top five European markets alone account for 14 per cent of Lipitor's $11 billion in annual sales, indicating a six-month extension is worth $770 million. Few expected the system would provide drug companies with returns on the scale to be earned by Pfizer the additional tests it has carried more...

GlaxoSmithKline's booster vaccine, Boostrix has been approved by the US FDAto be used as a single dose booster vaccine to treat tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough in people over 65 years of age. Boostrix has already been approved by the FDA for adolescents between 10 to 18 years of age and for adults aged between 19 to 64 years. FDA said that this will be the first vaccine to provide protection against all three diseases among the elderly. With this approval, adults 65 and older now have the opportunity to receive a vaccine that prevents pertussis, as well as tetanus and diphtheria, said Karen Midthun, FDA.

The largest public-private partnership in the biopharmaceutical sector, Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) launched its second wave of research projects, which includes cancer, immune-mediated diseases, infectious disorders and electronic health. With 23 projects up and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) on a uniquely large scale. IMI would now be sharing their current as well as future R&D with Europe. Maire   Geoghegan-Quinn,   Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said, "By speeding up drug development across Europe, investments made by the IMI will ultimately save and improve lives, as well as make a major contribution to the Innovation Union and to' growth and jobs."  

Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc recently declared the launch of new magnetic bead-based multiplex immunoassays for TGF-6, rat cytokines, rat diabetes and mouse TH17 cytokines. New assays are built on Luminex's MagPlex platform to take advantage of the magnetic beads workflow that simplifies assay preparation and reduces variability in results. Magnetic bead-based assays are compatible with both vaccuum and magnetic wash stations as well as  other Luminex xMAP platforms such as Bio Rad's Bio-Plex 200 and Bio-Plex 3D systems. The Bio-Plex Pro rat cytokine assays and Bio-Plex Pro rat diabetes assays detect 25 rat cytokines and five rat diabetes biomarkers, respectively. Both pa to help researchers investigate mechanisms and   quantify biomarkers of diseases, such as   diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and of those associated with neurological disorders and  inflammation. The Bio-Plex Pro TGF-6 assays detect the three is forms of the transforming growth factor beta: TGF- 61, TGF- 62 more...

Wyatt Technology Corporation, a world leader in instrumentation for absolute macromolecular characterisation   and   software,   recently announced that its Mobius™ electrophoretic mobility instrument can measure precise protein charges. The innovative optical design of the Mobius boosts the sensitivity of mobility measurements, enabling protein net charge measurements, enabling protein net charge characterization at much lower concentrations than previously possible. Protein molecules carry charges that are influenced by their environment, amino acid sequence, ionic strength and the aqueous solvent pH in which they are dissolved. The net charge carried by protein molecules is of enormous scientific interest since it affects the behaviour of the molecules. As the ionic strength of the solution increases, for example, more counter ions are present in the vicinity of the protein molecules and the mobility generally decreases due to the electrophoretic effect.

...says Dr Ashifi    Gogo, CEO, Sproxil Inc. He is Six Sigma Black Belt certified in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Continuous Process Improvement. A PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and a double-major BA in Mathematics and Physics from Whitman College, he is Dartmouth's first-ever PhD Innovation Fellow. With the expansion of Sproxil in India, he shares his expertise.  chandreyee Bhaumik                            Please share Sproxil's business journey. What gives your company an edge over others? Sproxil's services allow end consumers to verity with a simple free text message that they are not purchasing counterfeit medication. Sproxil's Mobile Product Authentication (MPA) technology capitalizes on technology that already exist and is readily accessible & easily understood by all levels of society- namely cellular phone SMS capabilities and scratch-off lottery-style labels. Our technology enables consumers to buy genuine drugs over spurious ones. Pharma companies pay service fees more...

Recruiting and retaining the right talent has always been a task for the Human Resource (HR) departments of most industrial sectors. For pharma HR, the task at hand may require revisiting some of their existing policies and strategies, thus ensuring nothing but the Best. No sooner does one step into higher secondary school, he/she is bogged by 'What you want to become in life?' questions! At that tender age, for any young student, attractive professions still remain in the lines of medicine, engineering and architecture. Pharma as a profession has not achieved the deserving glamour, and most often it is the secondary choice. However, with the increasing number of pharma colleges, the future of these graduates seems brighter than before. Is the field stable enough to sustain the increasing attraction? Is the pay lucrative enough to tediously work in a lab for long hours? Are the HR departments able to more...

With the existence of a plethora of pharma companies, good marketing of a brand is extremely essential in today's world. Different practitioners view medical representatives (MRs) differently. if MRs can work in co-ordination with doctors, a smart way to boost product sale is on the scene.   Irrespective of the nature of their business, the sales and marketing team of any industry has a three- point agenda: generate business, outdo last year's sales and beat the annual targets. The entire team right from the field sales officer to the manager and the chief of marketing and sales meet periodically and review their quarterly performance. In the pharma industry, the financial year beginning in April each year is also the time when the MR and the area manager go full throttle to boost their sales. For the drug industry, the first quarter is extremely crucial for survival. The first quarter of more...