Medical aesthetics is a unique biopharmaceutical niche that may scare off companies due to the consumer marketing and doctor relationship-building skills needed to compete in this market, but the potential for growth keeps major players engaged and searching for new technology.

Medtronic’s multi-billion-dollar acquisition of Mazor Robotics in 2018 marked a record-breaking milestone for Israel’s life sciences industry as the largest amount ever paid for an Israeli company in the medical sector, beating Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Neuroderm in 2017. In Vivo investigates how aMoon II, a new VC fund, aims to produce the industry’s next big giant.

When Boston Scientific chief medical officer Ian Meredith spoke in mid-2018 of the group's appetite for core M&A, there was a sense that more strategic moves were likely before the year was out. The inference was right, and a busy year for Boston Scientific got much busier when it made a cash offer for UK interventional medicine specialist BTG PLC. The bid values the target company at £4.28 billion, and completion is expected by mid-2019.

The cacophony of noise in the modern world is one factor driving the loss of hearing throughout humankind, a condition that until now has not been thought amenable to pharmacological intervention. But with small-molecule approaches to regenerating cells in the inner ear bearing fruit, biotech and pharmaceutical companies are taking renewed interest in the sector. 

Having a single patient's complete health care information all in one place was a dream that US visionaries began to talk up around a decade ago. The idea was that fast, electronic support for doctors would aid clinical decision making and efficiency. Ten years on, there is still much work to do before the dream is realized, says Philips' Carla Kriwet. But a solution is within reach.

As the pipeline and market for novel cell and gene therapies expands, it is time for drug developers to address other critical aspects in the logistical chain – and for these complex therapies a lot of those issues relate to manufacturing. Looking at specific cases, In Vivo has underlined the main manufacturing challenges facing cell and gene therapy developers, and highlighted methods and approaches being used to generate solutions. 

CRISPR is in the headlines once again, but for all the wrong reasons. While germline gene editing remains taboo in legitimate research, it is a reminder that there is much to be learned in ensuring the safety of the technique in general. AstraZeneca has developed a new method which it believes will help avoid off-target effects, an executive explains to In Vivo.

Cell and gene therapy represent a transformative advance in drug delivery and outcomes, with implications equally as important to human progress as the digital revolution that began three decades ago.In Vivo speaks with a key player in this evolving field, GE Healthcare’s strategy manager for cell and gene therapy and board member of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, Phil Vanek, PhD.

An interactive look at recent executive-level company changes and promotions in the biopharma, medical device and diagnostics industries.

The majority of pharmaceutical companies in the UK work closely with the NHS and In Vivo spoke to one of them – Janssen – to see how successful industry, health care providers and payers have been in breaking out of their silos and collaborating.

The Asia Pacific region presents large potential opportunities for the development of biosimilar versions of big-selling original biologics as these come out of protection in the major markets. However the regulatory, reimbursement and commercial situation varies greatly country-by-country, presenting a complex mix of factors affecting the overall market outlook for these up and coming biosimilar products.

India’s new government-funded health care program expects to expand access to treatment to more than 100 million families. Can it effectively deliver on its promise and also materially expand opportunities for hospitals and pharma?

With a challenging new decade of scientific discovery looming, 2019 is the positioning year for biopharma to make value, transparency, information and culture work seamlessly to achieve innovations that matter to patients, payers and society.

The recent upsurge in cases of high drug prices being pursued by competition authorities in Europe could help to lay down some markers for judging what is an “excessive” price in future. At the same time, Brexit could see the UK and the EU begin to drift apart in terms of how they apply competition law to pricing issues.

Cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 30% of worldwide deaths, and about 25% of the global population experiences mental illness each year. The negative impact of these conditions on society remain substantial. Development of digital tools to provide support to high-risk groups and patients, healthcare providers, and communities in general, is an area of significant opportunity.