Championing PAY PARITY

Despite women's significant strides and contributions in the healthcare field, they are paid less than men. Unfortunately, as is the case in most spheres, persistent pay disparities plague the life sciences sector. How big is the gender pay gap in the pharma industry? Are companies and the industry doing enough to address this issue? Let's find out.

ENGENDERING INCLUSIVITY & DIVERSITY IN LIFE SCIENCES

Globally, women constitute 46 per cent of the workforce in the public sector, whereas in the private sector, they represent 33 per cent. The public sector maintains a higher representation of women as employees compared to the private sector as per data from the World Bank.

US FDA approves first medication to treat severe frostbite

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Eicos Sciences Inc’s Aurlumyn (iloprost) injection to treat severe frostbite in adults to reduce the risk of finger or toe amputation.

Japanese startup RevolKa to create highly functional proteins by using AI-driven platform

RevolKa, a venture-backed biotech startup providing a gamechanging protein engineering technology platform, based in Japan, has signed a contract research agreement with Sekisui Chemical.

Taiwan's Anbogen secures $12.5M for advancing precision oncology drug development

Taiwan-based startup Anbogen Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company specialising in groundbreaking cancer drug development, has announced the successful completion of its Series A funding round.

Samsung Biologics & LegoChem Biosciences team up for ADC development

South Korea-based Samsung Biologics, a global contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), has signed a partnership agreement with LegoChem Biosciences, a Korean biotech company pioneering the research and development of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programmes.

Biocon Biologics partners with Sandoz Australia for cancer biosimilars

Indian firm Biocon Biologics Ltd (BBL), a fully integrated biosimilars company and subsidiary of Biocon, has announced a five-year partnership with Sandoz AG which provides Sandoz the exclusive rights to promote, sell and distribute biosimilar Trastuzumab (market value of AUD$35 million) and biosimilar Bevacizumab (market value of AUD$45 million) in Australia.

Eris Lifesciences expands footprint in sterile injectables with acquisition of 51% stake in Swiss Parenterals

India-based Eris Lifesciences has announced the expansion of its sterile injectables footprint through the acquisition of 51 per cent equity stake in Swiss Parenterals for a consideration of Rs 637.5 crore.

NITI Aayog releases report for senior care reforms in India

NITI Aayog has released a position paper titled 'Senior Care Reforms in India: Reimagining the Senior Care Paradigm'.

Ministry of Health in New Zealand inks MoU with of Waikato to build medical school University

The Ministry of Health, government of New Zealand, and the University of Waikato have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as a first step towards establishing a new medical school.

Australia establishes new task force to guide use of AI in public health system

New South Wales (NSW) Health in Australia has established a new taskforce to inform and guide the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the public health system.

Breakthroughs in Rare Diseases Therapeutics

2024 rings positive for those suffering from some kind of rare disease. On January 16, 2024, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Casgevy, a therapy that uses CRISPR gene-editing to treat the serious blood disorder, transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, marking the second major US regulatory approval for the emerging gene-editing technology. This approval is a testament to the breakthroughs in therapeutics for rare medical conditions.

Japan approves first at-home migraine treatment in the form of Neurolief's neuromodulation device

US-based Neurolief has announced the approval of its neuromodulation device, Relivion, by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW).

New Zealand to make amendments to International Health Regulations

The Ministry of Health is inviting the views of New Zealanders on proposals to update a significant global health agreement.

Indian Immunologicals invests Rs 700 Cr in new vaccine manufacturing plant in India

Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) has started construction of its new greenfield veterinary vaccine facility to manufacture the Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine (FMD-Vac) as well as Foot and Mouth Disease + Haemorrhagic Septicaemia Vaccine (FMD+HS-Vac) in Hyderabad’s Genome valley, India.

Korea's LegoChem Biosciences inks $1.7B pact with J&J for ADC development

South Korea's LegoChem Biosciences (LCB) has entered into a license agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen), a Johnson & Johnson (J&J) company, to develop and commercialise LCB84, a Trop2-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC).

Zuellig Pharma & Substipharm Biologics expand access to Japanese Encephalitis vaccine across Asia

Singapore-based Zuellig Pharma has announced its commercialisation partnership with French pharmaceutical company Substipharm Biologics, to expand access of the IMOJEV Japanese encephalitis vaccine across nine markets in Asia, including Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is transmitted with mosquitoes and causes inflammation in the brain and is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable encephalitis in Asia.

Lunit AI solutions to power Samsung's X-ray devices for advanced chest screening

South Korea-based company Lunit, a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, has announced a three-year supply contract with Samsung Electronics (Samsung Healthcare).

Novartis acquires Chinese startup SanReno Therapeutics to enhance kidney diseases treatment

China-based startup SanReno Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company specialising in the discovery, development, and commercialisation of innovative therapies for kidney diseases, has announced its acquisition by Novartis, a global medicines company.

WHO grants Emergency Use Listing to Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax

Biological E (BE), an India-based vaccines and pharmaceutical company, has announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) has granted an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to their Corbevax vaccine, which is India's first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine that is based on protein sub-unit platform.

Novo Nordisk Foundation signs $25M partnership with CARB-X to fight drug-resistant infections

Denmark-headquartered Novo Nordisk Foundation is committing up to $25 million to support the early-stage development of innovative tools to prevent, diagnose and treat the most dangerous drug-resistant bacterial infections.

Qure.ai's Al-driven chest X-ray solution gets FDA clearance for enhanced lung nodule detection

Qure.ai, a health tech company that uses deep learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to make healthcare more accessible, has announced its 13th FDA clearance for its AI-enabled solutions.

Indian researchers link ageing of cells with ovarian cancer spread

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru have found that ovarian cancer cells can spread more easily in tissues that are senescent or aged because these tissues secrete a unique extracellular matrix that attracts the spreading cancer.

Australia develops tool to identify dust lung disease risk

A new dust testing methodology developed by Australia-based University of Queensland researchers offers workers better protection from diseases such as black lung and silicosis.

Korea designs wrist rotation module to enhance usability and efficiency in prosthetic limbs

Robotic assistive devices play a crucial role in supporting the daily activities of individuals with congenital disabilities or those who have experienced unfortunate accidents.

Dr Kuldeep Singh Sachdeva to assume key leadership role at Molbio Diagnostics

India-based Molbio Diagnostics has announced the appointment of Dr Kuldeep Singh Sachdeva to its leadership team.

Asieris Pharma picks Sophia Cao to lead women's health business unit

Asieris Pharmaceuticals has announced its set-up of the Women's Health Business Unit for commercialisation.

IIT Madras & Deakin University, Australia to launch academy for cutting edge healthcare research

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and Deakin University, Australia, have announced the launch of 'IIT Madras Deakin University Research Academy.'

Singapore Institute of Technology offers new programmes in Health Sciences and Engineering

The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) is launching new programmes in Health Sciences and Engineering in Academic Year 2024.

Can Knowledge Graphs Revolutionise Pharma R&D?

In life sciences, the adoption of new standards such as Study Data Tabulation Model (SDTM) and Analysis Data Model (ADAM) is proving critical for efficient and effective data management and sharing. SDTM provides a new way of organising human clinical and nonclinical study data tabulations, which is required for data submission to regulatory bodies like the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) Japan, while ADAM defines dataset and metadata standards for clinical trial statistical analyses, ensuring efficient generation, replication, and review of data. The Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) 360 is another important initiative that aims to implement standards as linked metadata to support metadata-driven automation across the entire clinical research data lifecycle, making it easier for researchers to analyse and share their findings. The digital transformation of pharma industry regulatory processes, hence, has started to make data a key tool. However, with the increasing volume and complexity of data generated in drug discovery and clinical research, life sciences R&D practitioners need better ways of organising, structuring and exploiting their data, at scale.