CATEGORIES

Singapore Gives Nod To Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 Vaccine

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has granted an authorization under the Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be used in Singapore for the prevention of COVID-19.

“We plan to launch our prevention and early detection service in India”

London headquartered Medix Global, a provider of innovative, high quality, medical management solutions, is gradually expanding its business in Asia. With its recent entry into India, the company is geared to provide access of its global healthcare services to Indian customers. It has strong credentials for providing customers with fast-tracked and personalized medical solutions, from the right diagnosis to optimized treatment pathways. BioSpectrum Asia spoke to Sigal Atzmon, Founder and CEO, Medix Global, London, UK to find out more about the company’s growth plans in Asia.

“We are planning to launch a new bioprocess controller in Q1 2021”

Bioprocess engineers develop and produce a multitude of products and ingredients available today. Their applications are diverse, and the products can be found in pharmaceutical, chemical, and nutrition industries. With an integrated portfolio comprising software, instruments, consumables, and services, Eppendorf can satisfy the demands of bioprocess development through production. To find out about what major is in store at Eppendorf Bioprocess, BioSpectrum spoke to Richard Mirro, Business Manager, Bioprocess at Eppendorf, Inc., US.

“We are confident that Sputnik V will be providing long-term immunization defence against potential new coronavirus infections”

On December 14, 2020, Moscow’s National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named ‘Gamaleya Center’ and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced the efficacy of over 90 per cent of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Phase III post-registration clinical trials. RDIF joins partners and manufacturers in ramping up the production of Sputnik V. First batch of 300,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine has already been delivered to Argentina by RDIF on December 24, 2020. In an interview with BioSpectrum Asia Kirill Dmitriev, CEO, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia shared more insight on the encouraging efficacy data of the Sputnik V with Biospectrum Asia.

“Australia has reinforced its standing as a world-class destination for early phase clinical development”

Avance Clinical, a leading Australian Contract Research Organization (CRO) for biotech firms, and winner of the prestigious Frost & Sullivan 2020 Asia-Pacific CRO Market Leadership Award, has recently partnered with Europe’s leading CRO, Cromos Pharma. The collaboration will allow biotech firms to quickly start their pre-IND early phase studies in Australia, thereafter, expanding to Central/Eastern Europe to access the large patient populations for their Phase II and III studies. In an email interaction with BioSpectrum, Yvonne Lungershausen, CEO, Avance Clinical, Australia spoke about the Australian CRO market, and the impact of COVID-19 crisis.

Evaluating COVID-19 vaccines on mutant viral strains

While the viral variants and vaccine trials are contesting with each other, Norway based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has launched a first-of-its-kind collaboration to tackle emergence of new COVID-19 viral strains and evaluate their impact on vaccine candidates in development. Tracking viral mutations and diversity is essential to ensure efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine candidates on mutant virulent strains.

Taiwan initiates new measures for management of medical masks

Taiwan has initiated two new measures to reinforce the management of medical masks.

HiMedia gets multiple nods for COVID-19 products

HiGenoMB, the molecular biology division of Indian firm HiMedia Laboratories has received the CE/IVD approval and a nod from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for its COVID-19 range of products.

EuBiologics partners with IVI for COVID-19 vaccine development

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and South Korean company EuBiologics have exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate in the clinical development of the COVID-19 vaccine the company is currently developing.

2021 beckons MAJOR investments IN R&D

The life sciences industry in Asia Pacific (APAC) region entered the year 2020 with companies entering into new agreements for expansion and focusing on applied research to develop new drugs that are affordable. During 2020, the industry, which acted timely, as covered in the January 2020 issue of BioSpectrum Asia, witnessed unprecedented collaborations with the governments due to the unexpected spread of coronavirus since December 2019. COVID-19 is expected to remain a defining issue for the life sciences industry across the globe in 2021, compelling companies to invest heavily in research and development.

Many Firsts In 2020

Although the current pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis for the modern world, it has also pushed the industry to cultivate boxes of innovation and technology, leading to many firsts in world history. The year 2020 saw maximum innovations reaching from lab to market in minimum possible time.

Why Digitalisation Is Long Overdue For The Life Sciences Industry?

During the early stages of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, there was a lot of anticipation over the “return to normal” once a vaccine had been discovered. Analysts had predicted a “V-shaped” economic bounce-back from as early as fall 2019. But the reality has been far more sobering; government scientists and medical experts now express “cautious optimism” that a reliable candidate might only be available to the public in early 2021, with a stronger likelihood of its launch in the later part of the year.

Australia Reveals New Finding On Covid-19 Re-Infection

Researchers at the Monash University in Australia have revealed, for the first time, that people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus have sustained protection against reinfection for at least eight months.

“Push for digital-enabled care ecosystems to solve healthcare problems”

Singapore headquartered QuEST, a leading global product engineering and lifecycle services company, has been working with some of the world’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier1 suppliers in the Medical Devices domain, as their trusted thinking partner of choice, for the past two decades. This includes organizations based out of North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. In the recent past, the Medical Devices engineering team at QuEST had developed an AIPowered Diagnostic Solution to enable healthcare professionals accelerate the screening of COVID-19 patients with pneumonia symptoms. The solution, that uses advanced deep learning models, is deployed on the cloud to identify chest X-rays of patients with COVID-19. Backed by Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, the solution has an accuracy of more than 95 per cent. BioSpecctrum spoke to James Gallo, Head – New Business Development, QuEST Global, USA about the global market trends for medical devices and challenges before the market.

“Our plant 4 will have the world's largest biomanufacturing capacity”

Samsung Biologics, a fully integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), offering state-of-the-art contract development, manufacturing, and laboratory testing services, has officially begun construction of its plant 4 in Incheon, South Korea. This is part of its long-term strategy to maximize its operational efficiency and scale up its development and manufacturing capabilities in response to growing biomanufacturing demands. In addition, the company has expanded its global footprint with opening of new San Francisco CDO R&D Center. BioSpectrum Asia reached out to Courtney Garcia, Senior Global PR Specialist, Samsung Biologics for further updates. Edited excerpts;

Takeda expands COVID-19 vaccine supply in Japan

Japanese firm Takeda Pharmaceutical has announced that it will import and distribute 50 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, starting in the first half of 2021, pending licensure in Japan.

“Digital transformation is becoming strategic imperative for companies to be competitive”

Thermo Fisher Scientific is continuously working to expand global capacity and capabilities across its leading pharma services network to support customers in government, industry and academia as they accelerate development and production of COVID-19 vaccines, therapies and other treatments. Amit Chopra, Managing Director, India and Middle East, Thermo Fisher Scientific, India recently spoke to BioSpectrum Asia about the company’s plans in the post COVID-19 era. Edited excerpts;

“Opyl is seeking to solve PR&WD points of trial failure by applying PA and AI”

A real world data is a boon to improve health and wellness. Optimising data assets through digital activation can advance healthcare technologies. Opyl, an Australian health data analytics company enables biopharma and health organisations to access emerging AIassisted technologies with its professional guidance to improve healthcare design, development and delivery. Leveraging social media, the team is assisting patients, healthcare providers and researchers in mining social media data insights (with informed consent) using AI applications. This has been particularly important during COVID-19, as Opyl noted a 188 per cent increase in pandemic-related clinical and research findings being discussed and shared by medical researchers on social media channels. In an interaction with BioSpectrum Asia, Michelle Gallaher, CEO of Opyl, Australia with expertise on healthcare marketing, data science and knowledge on social media health trends shared more professional guidance based on predictive analytics (PA) for improvised healthcare deliveries. Edited excerpts;

The ESRD crisis in Singapore

In Singapore – where the crude incidence rate of late-stage chronic kidney disease has been rising – there are more people in the country, who must be especially concerned about maintaining social distancing. This is a particular conundrum for ESRD patients, who need to visit dialysis centres for treatment.

Managing Diabetes The Figital Way!

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed several new challenges and an opportunity to transform diabetes care with digital innovation. Looking ahead, technology will play a greater role in diabetes treatment and management once lockdowns ease.

Covid-19 Linked Maladies Startling Researchers

Although millions of people have recovered from the coronavirus worldwide, beating the initial sickness appears to be the first of many battles for those who have survived. The list of gnawing maladies associated with COVID-19, such as heart diseases, liver injuries, brain damage, anosmia etc., is surely of a huge concern for the world.

“Chinese pharmaceutical market is growing rapidly and is now a key market for western companies”

Belgium based Bone Therapeutics recently announced its entry in China through partnership with Link Health and Pregene for ALLOB, its off-the-shelf, Allogeneic Osteoblastic Cell Therapy platform. In an email interaction with BioSpectrum, Stefanos Theoharis, Chief Business Officer (CBO), Bone Therapeutics, United Kingdom tells us more about the company, their strategy for China and the impact of COVID-19 on their firm. Edited excerpts;

The Dragon beckons big pharma

Big pharma continues its fascination with China. The latest big pharma firm to push deeper into the country is the US based Pfizer, with its $200 million acquisition of CStone, a firm focused on cancer therapies. Most big pharma firms such as Amgen, USA and AstraZeneca, UK who have historically focused on mature markets such as the United States, Japan and Europe, are now eyeing China. Let’s explore this shift and what it means for the Chinese pharma industry.

APAC's 5G ambitions in Healthcare

The surge in virtual healthcare has prompted physicians globally to engage in co-sharing their medical space and expertise. And Internet-of-Things (IoT) is driving next-generation smart healthcare. Boosted by advances in robotics, IoT and Artificial Intelligence, healthcare organisations across the globe have started using 5G network that promises to provide essential levels of connectivity to enable a new health ecosystem, which will align with a relatively recent idea known as 4P medicine—that is, it will be predictive, preventative, personalised and participatory, as noted by PwC.

India Develops Viral Sequence Predictor To Counter Covid-19

Researchers at the National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTTR), Kolkata, India have developed a web-based COVID- Predictor to predict the sequence of viruses online on the basis of machine learning and analyzed 566 Indian SARS-CoV-2 genomes to find the genetic variability in terms of point mutation and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP).

China Leads The Coronavirus Vaccine Race

Of the nine leading candidate that are under Phase III trial for the novel coronavirus in the world, five are from China- a most from any country. China has emerged as a leader in the novel coronavirus vaccines, a development that will enhance it as a global power but also raises concerns over safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Let’s look into the pros and cons of its leadership in the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Indian companies are moving from API manufacturing to Formulations”

The COVID-19 pandemic has unlocked several opportunities for the life sciences sector in India. And in response to this, the sector has taken the right plunge. KPMG’s new report on ‘Site selection for life sciences in Asia’ reveals the true potential has India possess. In an interview, Sanjay Singh, Partner – Deal Advisory, Head of Lifesciences, KPMG, India expounds on the key findings of this study and shares insights on key market drivers. Edited excerpts;

‘‘We are planning to deliver products with better efficiency for APAC customers''

Francis Van Parys, Vice President Commercial, Asia Pacific, Cytiva, South Korea

E-PHARMACIES IN INDIA, MUCH MORE THAN COMMERCE

Amazon, Reliance and Flipkart v/s the others… The question is who will win? Will this pitting of wits drive new innovations in healthcare delivery and add value to customers?

“We are committed to fast-tracking innovation and transformative care to patients”

Thomas Willemsen, Senior Vice President, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, APAC, Singapore