Month: August 2017

New FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb delivered his first address to Agency workers on May 15, 2017, and tackling high drug prices featured prominently in the speech.

The healthcare system in the United Kingdom is reeling from a ransomware attack.  The spread of the program across National Health Service (NHS) computers forced doctors to switch to pen and paper and continued to affect care days after it initially hit.

Setting the stage for a likely exodus from the UK for pharmaceutical manufacturers and staff, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in May notified marketing authorization holders (MAHs) that for centrally authorized products, EU law requires them to be established in the EU or European Economic Area, which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Despite what you may have heard about drug pricing and expenses getting out of hand, net spending growth actually fell in the U.S. last year.  After discounts, pharmaceutical spending increased 4.8% in 2016, down from 8.9% growth recorded in 2015.

FDA issued Warning Letters addressed to 14 U.S. – based companies illegally selling more than 65 products that fraudulently claim to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure cancer.

Stanford University scientists have identified a protein that, given before an injury, boosts stem cell response and improves healing.  “Priming” with this protein, called hepatocyte growth factor activator (HGFA), could eventually speed recovery in cases where injury is expected, such as patients undergoing surgery.

A tougher vaccine law in California that prohibits parents from using personal beliefs to exempt their kids boosted coverage rates significantly in the first school year after its implementation.

One of the most active research endeavors in immuno-oncology involves engineering human viruses into weapons that can fight cancer.  Now, a group of scientists at the University of Parma in Italy is looking to another source of potentially potent cancer-killing viruses:  cows.