Outlook “Gloomy” for TB Investment
The approval last year of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) treatment for tuberculosis (bedaquiline) - at the time the first TB drug approval in 40 years - “remains an exception to the generally gloomy outlook” for investment in TB R&D, writes Andrew Ward in this week’s Financial Times.
The approval last year of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) treatment for tuberculosis (bedaquiline) - at the time the first TB drug approval in 40 years - “remains an exception to the generally gloomy outlook” for investment in TB R&D, writes Andrew Ward in this week’s Financial Times.
AstraZeneca’s decision in January to close a laboratory in India that was conducting early-stage research into TB is more typical of Big Pharma’s current approach to TB, says Ward.
TB is “particularly unattractive as a commercial proposition” because of its heavy concentration in poorer countries.
J&J is not expected to profit from bedaquiline, but the company has been “rewarded” by U.S. regulators for developing the TB treatment with a scheme enabling it to put a potentially more lucrative new drug through an accelerated review process.
Although, Ward points out, Japan’s Otsuka has also since won provisional approval in Europe for its delamanid treatment for MDR-TB, few in Big Pharma are following the example of these companies.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/417dee98-a52a-11e3-8988-00144feab7de.html#axzz2wyWoEh2V
Navigating Distrust: Pharma in the Age of Social Media
February 18th 2025Ian Baer, Founder and CEO of Sooth, discusses how the growing distrust in social media will impact industry marketing strategies and the relationships between pharmaceutical companies and the patients they aim to serve. He also explains dark social, how to combat misinformation, closing the trust gap, and more.
FDA Approves Medtronic’s BrainSense Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson Disease
February 24th 2025The BrainSense adaptive deep brain stimulation system personalizes therapy by dynamically adjusting stimulation based on real-time brain activity to improve Parkinson disease symptom control without manual adjustments.
