Global Gavi, the world’s largest vaccine-focused public-private partnership has a new leader. Pakistani Senator Dr Sania Nishtar has officially assumed the role of CEO following a period of leadership uncertainty for the organisation and must now lay out Gavi’s strategic plan for 2026 to 2030, as well as convince its partners…

USA Online pharmacies have still not captured a large share of the fragmented US pharma market, but Eli Lilly’s partnership with Amazon after a direct-sale initiative of its own may serve to shake up the establishment and show what a direct-to-consumer model can offer.   Eliminating the Middleman, or Not Amazon…

Saudi Arabia Halal pharmaceuticals, or medicines produced according to Islamic dietary laws, presented a global market worth some USD 100 billion in 2019, yet much of halal pharmaceuticals’ potential remains untapped. In conversation with PharmaBoardroom, Mazen M. Hassanain, co-founder and managing director of SaudiVax, a pioneer in halal vaccines, discusses the development…

USA The COVID-19 pandemic looked like a turning point for vaccines, but while R&D has made tremendous strides with ground-breaking platform technologies and mRNA, vaccines continue to attract fewer investments than areas such as oncology. As panel members at the “Reviewing Vaccine Pipeline Breakthroughs and Barriers” session during BIO’s recent CEO…

Germany The biggest pharma industry and healthcare stories from Germany, including the country’s legalisation of cannabis; the MASH potential of Boehringer Ingelheim’s obesity candidate; Bayer’s further share price drop and expansion into the US; the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist Tubulis’ series B2 financing, and Novartis’ deal with biotech MorphoSys.   Germany’s…

India Regular contributor Brendan Shaw gives his informed take on how best international stakeholders can engage with India’s attempts to transform into a global pharma innovation powerhouse,   Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world, but to change ourselves Mahatma Gandhi The secret to success in India…

Opinion Writing in the March 2024 edition of the DIA Global Forum magazine, experts from Moderna, Cencora PharmaLex, CureVac, and BioNTech review the scientific potential and regulatory challenges, such as the lack of global harmonization, surrounding gene therapy-based medicinal products. Gene therapy medicinal products (GTMPs), which in the European Union (EU)…

Opinion Writing in the March 2024 edition of the DIA Global Forum magazine, Scott P. Commins of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Jasmine Uchi of VeganMed, and Sachin A. Shah of the University of the Pacific address the use of animal-derived ingredients (ADIs) in pharma and outline a…

USA At the American trade association’s latest CEO & Investor Conference, the board chair of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Ted W. Love discussed US policies and speculated about the impact of the upcoming American election on the industry while affirming that biotech continues to thrive in spite of recent challenges.…

UK Last year the UK-based pharma industry warned against the country’s waning competitiveness, condemning the government’s statutory scheme designed to control drug prices. UK-headquartered AstraZeneca joined the battle cry, claiming it would be choosing Ireland over Britain, a decision the company has now more than revised with a GBP 650 million…

Switzerland The biggest pharma news from Switzerland, including the industry’s cautious reaction to a new free trade deal with India; the drop in Roche’s share prices; Novartis’ acquisiton of MorphoSys, and the licence agreement between EraCal Therapeutics and Novo Nordisk.   Swiss industry welcomes agreement with India, pharma more cautious (Le…

China The latest news from Chinese pharma, including progress on the US Senate bill targeting BGI and WuXi AppTec, a report on why drug research is slowing in the country, and why Chinese firms are targeting global deals to navigate the capital crunch.   US Senate bill targeting China’s BGI, WuXi…