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Contact the Editor
 PharmaWeek welcomes your feedback. Please contact Alissa Poh for editorial inquiries. |
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Dear Colleague,
Welcome to this week's eNewsletter covering breaking R&D news, business insights, and a feature highlighting Javelin Pharmaceuticals' focus on developing non-opioid drugs for acute pain.
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Skewering Pain at Javelin Pharmaceuticals
By Alissa Poh
There will be some 73 million surgical procedures in the US this year, to say nothing of 110 million admissions to the emergency room. And along the way, nearly half of those patients will also have to deal with insufficient pain management.
“There’s a significant need in the acute moderate-to-severe pain medication segment,” says Martin Driscoll, Javelin Pharmaceuticals’ CEO, of the $30-billion global pain market, which has an annual growth rate of six to seven percent. More
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| BREAKING R&D NEWS |
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Abbott: Progress on Dissolving Stent
BusinessWeek [Oct 14] A successful 30-patient study in New Zealand has caught the attention of investors, showing that the best stent may be one that disappears. More
Study: Embryonic Heart Shows Strong Capacity to Regenerate
Yahoo!/HealthDay News [Oct 13] Healthy cells in an embryonic mouse heart can regenerate and replace diseased ones during development, but they may not be able to completely offset the later onset of cardiac problems. This new study also gives researchers insight into how early onset cardiac disease may occur in humans despite normal heart function early in life. More
FDA Green Light for Cinryze
Medical News Today [Oct 13] Lev Pharmaceuticals’ Cinryze, a C1 inhibitor [human], has been approved by the FDA for routine prophylaxis against angioedema attacks in adolescent and adult patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE), also known as C1 inhibitor deficiency. More
Biogen Discontinues Experimental Arthritis Drug
Associated Press [Oct 9] Biogen Idec has abandoned the development of baminercept, after the drug missed several goals in a phase II study. More
Scientists Develop Safer Method of Producing iPS Cells
Reuters [Oct 9] Japanese researchers at Kyoto University have come up with a safer way of transforming ordinary cells into embryonic-like stem (iPS) cells, using plasmids. They believe the method can work in people as well, and that this is an important step toward regenerative medicine. More
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| BUSINESS INSIGHTS |
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Science Ranks Top Biotech Companies to Work For
Science Magazine [Oct 9] Genentech once again took first place in Science’s annual Top Employers survey of biopharma, with Monsanto right on its heels, and Genzyme coming in third. More
Drug Industry’s Shift to Democrats
New York Times [Oct 13] Pharma companies are viewing the Democrats more favorably this election cycle, having given the party a greater percentage of their money than in previous years – with Pfizer, Amgen, and Johnson & Johnson topping the contributions list. More
AstraZeneca’s Purplepill.com Tops List of Most Visited Pharmaceutical Websites
PR Newswire [Oct 9] comScore Inc.’s study of the top pharmaceutical brand websites in 2008 indicate that AstraZeneca’s website for Nexium generated the most site traffic, with more than 1 million unique visitors, up 55 percent from a year ago. More
Sanofi-Aventis to Market Seasonal Flu Vaccine in China
Yahoo!/Reuters [Oct 13] The French drug company hopes to sell 25 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine annually into China's largely untapped domestic market once its plant in the southern city of Shenzhen goes onstream in 2012. More
Big Pharma Embraces the Contentious Cancer Business
BusinessWeek [Oct 9] Pharmaceutical companies are charging into the cancer arena, convinced that these costly treatments will open a new path to revenue growth. But national health authorities are balking at the drugs' high prices, given that most of them extend life by only a few months. If insurers in the US follow suit, these companies could run into severe pricing constraints. More
UC-Berkeley Biotech Production Center Hopes to Lower Drug Prices
East Bay Business Times [Oct 10] Founders of the nascent UC-Berkeley Center for Biopharmaceutical Operations, slated to open in mid-2009, say that improving biotech drug production could help lower drug prices and improve supplies. More
Pharma Giants Prowl For Biotech Startups
Hartford Business [Oct 13] An increasingly common pattern in the biotech industry: Small startup companies often take on the heavy lifting in research, while pharmaceutical giants tend to delay acquisitions of promising R&D firms until it’s time to conduct costly clinical trials on their products. More
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| LAST WEEK'S TOP STORY |
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Millennium President Deborah Dunsire on the Takeda Takeover
PharmaWeek [Oct 8] A Q&A with Dunsire on Takeda's acquisition of Millennium. More
For More Recent Articles >>
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Bio-IT World's 2009 Best Practices Awards Program
Entry forms are now available for Bio-IT World’s 2009 Best Practices Awards program. This has long been one of our most successful programs. Last year, there were 56 entries and we awarded 15 prizes at a gala dinner held during the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in the spring. This year we are hoping to expand those numbers.
The program is intended to spotlight companies whose use of innovative technologies is making a positive difference in biomedical R&D and drug discovery and development.
Bio-IT World is also making available a free compendium of Best Practice entries from 2008 to help ensure the lessons learned are widely spread. The compendium can be downloaded here. Meanwhile, get started on this year’s entries. There are nine categories, shown below. The deadline is mid-January 2009. Full details of the entry process and the entry form are available by clicking here.
2009 Best Practice Categories:
*Basic Research & Biological Research
*Drug Discovery & Development
*Clinical Trials & Research
*Translational Medicine
*Personalized Medicine
*IT & Informatics
*Knowledge Management
*Health-IT
*Manufacturing & Bioprocessing
All of the entries will be reviewed and ranked by a panel of experts assembled by Bio-IT World editors. Winners will be announced at a dinner ceremony held in Boston in April 2009 in conjunction with the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo. If you have questions, write to john_russell@bio-itworld.com
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FEATURED EVENTS
DIA 2nd Annual Clinical Forum: Data Driven Drug Development Decisions October 20-23, 2008 | Ljubljana, Slovenia
Super Computing ~ November 15-21, Austin, TX
Fifth Annual Molecular Imaging Week ~November 17-19, 2008, La Jolla, CA,
The Next Tool for Healthcare Innovation~ Nov 20, 2008 2pm EST A Complimentary Frost & Sullivan eBroadcast
The Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA) presents LabAutomation2009, January 24-28, in Palm Springs, CA.
TEPR+ 2009 - Feb 1-5, 2009 | Palm Springs, CA
Barnett Educational Services
Cambridge Healthtech Events
To have your event featured here, contact Lynn Cloonan for more information.
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FROM THE EDITOR
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Alissa Poh
PharmaWeek’s focus is trained mainly on key news and issues in the world of pharma – business, R&D, partnerships and alliances, and the like. As well, I plan on making full use of the “open canvas” concept for this newsletter, writing a fresh story each week on pharma topics that I find intriguing. Hopefully these will also be of interest to you, the reader. I’d really welcome ideas on other areas and topics you’d like to see covered, so please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at apoh@healthtech.com with your suggestions and feedback.
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| EXCLUSIVE WEBCAST |
Life Science Webcasts from Bio-IT World and Cambridge Healthtech Media Group
Bio-IT World Expo
Video Highlights
Drug Discovery, Development and Commercialization: Evolving Challenges and Opportunities
Joshua Boger, PhD, president and CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., delivers his keynote at the 2008 Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston, April 2008.
View the Webcast Now.
Personalized Genetics: Advancements and Driving Change
Linda Avey, co-founder of 23andMe, delivers her keynote at the 2008 Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston, April 30, 2008.
View the Webcast Now.
The Future of Personal Genomics
A distinguished panel of personal genomics experts discuss the future of personal genomics at the 2008 Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston, April 30, 2008. They include Dietrich Stephan (co-founder, Navigenics); George Church (Harvard Medical School);
Jeff Drazen (editor-in-chief, New England Journal Medicine); Fred Ledley (Bentley College); John Halamka (CIO, Harvard Medical School); and Linda Avey (23andMe). Bio-IT World Editor-in-Chief Kevin Davies moderates the discussion.
View the Webcast Now
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CALL FOR PROPOSALS
2009 Bio-IT World Conference
We invite you to submit a speaking proposal for consideration by our Advisory Committee for the 7th Annual Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, April 27-29, 2009 at the World Trade Center in Boston, MA. Please respond by Oct. 15.
The 2009 program will feature best practice case studies and joint partner presentations relevant to the technologies, research, and regulatory issues of life science, pharmaceutical, clinical and IT professionals. Spanning three days, the meeting includes six parallel conference tracks. Details here. |
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| Insight Pharma Reports |
GPCRs: Dawn of a New Era?
 Explores recent advances concerning GPCR x-ray structures, allosteric interactions, multimerization, functional selectivity; tabulates marketed drugs and compounds in development.
More Information
Custom Market Research Services
Our experienced research team will work with you to fully understand your needs in order to create and conduct a custom market research program that meets your objectives.
Learn More
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| Featured Content |
Managed Innovation, 
Assured Compliance
Developing, executing and managing the transformation, analysis and submission of clinical research data with SAS® Drug Development
sponsored by SAS
Discovery organizations are identifying a lot of promising compounds, but clinical research processes haven't kept pace with timely testing of all those potential therapies. This white paper describes how SAS Drug Development supports true innovation across the clinical trial process.
In this white paper you will learn how to:
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Addressing Life Sciences  Constantly Growing Data Challenges Research Environments sponsored by BlueArc
The continued explosion of raw experimental data, the increased use of video, the growingadoption of new data retention practices, and the move to high throughput computational workflows are all placing new demands on the way life sciences organizations store and manage their data.
Download this white paper to learn about:
• Factors driving the data explosion in the life sciences
• New data management issues that must be addressed
• HPC trends that are placing new demands on storage
• Storage solution attributes that address performance, manageability, and energy efficiency. Download now
“Storage for Science – Methods  for Managing Large and Rapidly Growing Data Stores in Life Science Research Environments” sponsored by Isilon
Large and rapidly growing stores of file-based and other data are a hallmark of life science research and bioinformatics. Determining how best to manage those data stores has become a significant challenge for Researchers and IT Pros alike. This paper is intended to: Provide guidance on the many storage requirements common to Life Science research; Explain the evolution of modern storage architectures; Summarize the major data storage architectures currently in use. Additionally, it will present the Isilon IQ clustered storage product as a strong and flexible solution to those needs. Download now
Microsoft’s BioIT Alliance
Bio-IT World  published a special supplement with support from Microsoft and their Alliance members. The supplement provides insight into the activities of the Alliance and their partners. Click here to access the Supplement PDF.
To have your white paper featured here, contact Lynn Cloonan for more information.
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