News

The major reorganisation of the NHS has been put into practice this week, as family doctors taker the reins of commissioning health services in England.

The NHS drug pricing watchdog NICE has been given an official new title and remit as part of the major reform of the health service.

President Obama has unveiled the BRAIN Initiative, which the White House describes as “a bold new research effort to revolutionise our understanding of the human mind”.

US negotiators at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade talks have said that they will not be making any new proposals relating to intellectual property (IP) protections for pharmaceuticals at the next round of talks, due to take place in Peru in May.

Sanofi has unveiled plans to expand its operations in south-east Asia through the construction of a new manufacturing facility in Vietnam.

Staff at contract research organisations are leaving for new jobs at a far higher rate than their counterparts in other industries, a US survey has found.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ Quartette, which the Israeli company describes as “the next generation of extended-regimen oral contraceptives”.

The King’s Fund has set out 10 priorities for commissioners to transform the healthcare system in England within the new NHS landscape which began on April 1.

bioRASI, a full-service contract research organisation based in Aventura, US and with an international presence in Russia, Serbia, India, Brazil, Peru and Mexico, has acquired Ukrainian counterpart Sponsors Clinical Research Group (SCRG) for an undisclosed sum.

Regulators in the USA have given the green light to Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana, the first in a new class of diabetes drugs.

Merck & Co has signed a collaboration with Ra Pharmaceuticals to develop a new class of compounds called cyclomimetics.

This week new tax breaks designed to boost the attractiveness of the UK as a location for pharmaceutical research and development have gone live, with the phasing in of the Patent Box and an above-the-line R&D tax credit of 10% for larger companies.

In a landmark case, the Supreme Court of India has rejected Novartis’ application to patent an updated version of its cancer drug Glivec (imatinib), ruling that the product fails the tests of invention and patentability requirements of India’s patent law.

US–based contract research organisation ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services (RPS) has formed a joint venture company (JVC) with Japanese counterpart Asklep to deliver “leading-edge” R&D outsourcing solutions to the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries in Japan.

Australian contract research organisation CPR Pharma Services has expanded its bioanalytical offering in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region by launching a ligand-binding assay service for large molecules such as monoclonal antibodies, biosimilars and biologics in early- or late-phase clinical trials.