News

Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez has outlined the firm’s determination to be the major force in biosimilars.

WuXiPRA, the joint venture set up earlier this year to provide Phase I-IV clinical-trial services to clients of WuXi PharmaTech and PRA in China, Hong Kong and Macau, has appointed the former head of Theorem Clinical Research, Dr. James Pusey, as the Shanghai-based venture’s president and general manager.

Eleven out of 14 NHS trusts investigated by Sir Bruce Keogh for higher than average death rates have been placed into ‘special measures’ to help secure improvements to patient care.

Novartis has revealed details of what the Swiss major calls “a final agreement” with Daniel Vasella, which will see the departing chairman receive a lucrative consultancy contract.

For the first time, European Union nations have more people aged over 65 than under 15, and a new report from the World Health Organisation says pharmaceutical R&D efforts must be adjusted to account for this shifting demographic.

Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) has teamed up with digital health-management specialist Healthrageous and pharmaceutical services provider United BioSource (UBC) to run a ‘beyond-the-pill’ study on self-management of diabetes.

Cost regulators in England and Wales have backed the use of peginterferon alfa on the National Health Service to treat children with hepatitis C.

Novartis’ financials for the second quarter show that net profit slipped 5% to $2.55 billion, while sales inched up 1% at $14.49 billion.

Johnson & Johnson has kicked off the reporting season by posting an 8.5% increase in sales for the second quarter, helped by a strong showing of its prostate cancer Zytiga.

US regulators have assigned Elan’s early-stage Alzheimer’s candidate fast-track designation, which could give the drug a faster route through the review process. 

Pfizer has outlicensed exclusive worldwide rights to sutezolid, a mid-stage oxazolidinone antibiotic currently in development for tuberculosis, to Sequella.

UK-based company Tomorrows Medicines has secured funding of more than £250,000 from public and private investors to commercialise its interactive web platform for the recruitment and retention of clinical-trial participants.

“Many people call joint working innovative but it’s really common sense. The key is patient benefit, and this is something where both sides can be rewarded,” said the Department of Health’s Naima Khondkar, speaking at PharmaTimes’ Partnerships in Health Networking Day and Awards on 12 July. “Joint working doesn’t need to be expensive. It’s not about money,” she added, “but how we bring together skills for a better health outcome”.

Comprehend Systems, a US-based company that offers clinical-trial sponsors cloud-based tools for data insights, has raised US$8.4 million in a Series A funding to develop further its Comprehend Clinical platform through a partnership with Sequoia Capital.

England is in danger of losing 16,000 GPs by 2021 because of the “black hole” in NHS funding, the Royal College of General Practitioners is warning.