News

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.

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.

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.

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.

The government has rejected calls for people in England who suffer from long-term conditions (LTCs) to be eligible for free prescriptions.

More accusations have emerged about GlaxoSmithKline’s operations in China, with allegations of millions of dollars being paid to doctors being aired and talk of “sex bribes”.

Although the country is the world’s largest generic medicines exporter, 400-600 million Indian citizens live in severe poverty and lack of free access to drugs is going to have a devastating effect both globally and locally.

Things are not looking good for Pfizer’s Bosulif on the NHS, after cost regulators said they were minded not to approve its use in patients with a certain form of leukaemia.