COVID-19

Reaching deep and being resourceful were the in-demand attributes that medtech industry leaders brought to bear when the COVID-19 pandemic stretched health care providers almost to breaking point.

Royal Philips anticipated a degree of negative sentiment from health system managers about the outlook for innovation and progress in health care delivery when it polled the provider C-suite for its 2021 Future Health Index report. It was surprised by the actual outcome.

Kate Broderick, SVP of research and development at INOVIO and one of In Vivo’s 2021 rising leaders, is hopeful that greater collaboration will be the lasting effect of COVID-19.

The pandemic has brightened pharma’s image, but drug pricing is still high on the political agenda. For US and European politicians, the health crisis has heightened the tension between supporting innovation and controlling rising costs.

A COVID-19 second wave is wreaking havoc in India but pharma appears to be holding things together for now, stretching resources amid a dip in personnel attendance and supply chain strains. Limited vaccine supplies, a spurt in API prices and an inevitable third wave could mean further turbulence ahead.

Roche’s former chief medical officer has new career as board member to three companies, including COVID-19 vaccine pioneer Moderna, and is co-founder of a startup seeking to develop more affordable drugs. She helped pave the way for FDA’s breakthrough therapy designation and diversification of Genentech’s clinical trials.

Health care delivery has been transformed over the past decade, and so has Royal Philips, whose CEO Frans van Houten explains why both were necessary, and the extra impetus for system-wide change following the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is vital to understand the role of the microbiome in immunity and vaccine response, and how the microbiome may impact the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine programs in the real world.

A new analysis reveals the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on pharma R&D in 2020 in two quarters: the total size of the pipeline and in the number of novel products launched in their first markets.

After 45 years as a domestic Japanese biopharmaceutical company, JCR Pharmaceuticals is expanding into global markets. The company is betting that its manufacturing strength – which helped land a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deal with AstraZeneca – and blood-brain barrier crossing J-Brain Cargo technology will lead to success in Western markets.   

Manufacturing and supply chain resilience ensured that BTG Specialty Pharma met its sales target in the COVID-affected 2020. Its president, Anthony Higham, explained how this was possible while the company busily  ̶  and quietly – sought new ownership, and all under the shadow of Brexit.

Manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines at unprecedented speed and scale is 2021’s biggest challenge – and mRNA platforms are emerging as the leaders, living up to their promise as the ideal technology for pandemic preparedness.

An new $2.1bn incentive scheme for formulations follows on from an earlier scheme for APIs in India. Experts weigh in on the likelihood of industry participation and whether this $3bn push will result in $41bn of incremental sales for the industry while strengthening supply chains in a post-COVID world. 

Weaknesses in the global pharmaceutical supply chain, exposed and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, have led major markets to pursue localization policies aimed at bolstering domestic production capacity. But any significant transformation promises to take many years.

Astellas’ chief medical officer, Bernie Zeiher, shares perspectives on how COVID-19 has forced the health care industry to think differently about patients’ diverse needs and how the best of these changes must become the norm in delivering patient-focused innovations.

Merck & Co. executive outlines how the company could sustain a “compliant supply performance” amid the pandemic, while senior officials from Sun Pharma, Cipla, Zydus Cadila and Biocon shared insights on coping with supply chain turbulence and moving away from over-dependence on China for starting materials.