Kevin Gopal

Canberra, Australia-The Australian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association has denounced calls from the country's media and some of its doctors to drastically curtail drug promotion. APMA chief executive Alan Evans says any such move would severely affect the healthcare of millions of people in Australia and could even result in premature death.

GSK Faces Bribe Charges, Changing of the Guard

Capetown-In March, ruling on a case initiated by the Treatment Action Campaign, Save Our Babies, and the Children's Rights Centre, Judge Chris Botha ordered the South African government to provide the anti-retroviral nevirapine to all HIV-positive pregnant women.

A new report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) scotches the myth that the most effective forms of malaria treatment are too expensive for East African countries.

GSK in Hot Water

Pfizer's $20 million donation of the long-acting antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin), which is effective against trachoma with a single annual oral dose, has propelled the worldwide effort against the disease into its second phase

t a January meeting in Geneva, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM)-set up last year by an alliance of private donors, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), foundations, national governments, and intergovernmental organizations-elected its directors, announced its funding criteria, and approved its first call for funding proposals.

Ireland-After its share price collapsed in the wake of the Enron scandal and growing concern about shady accounting practices, Elan said it would "vigorously defend" itself against allegations that it violated US federal securities laws.

Geneva-The pharma industry has given a guarded welcome to a World Health Organization report that explicitly links poverty and poor health.

For once, health activists and the pharma industry both welcomed a World Trade Organization declaration on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and public health, but there is little doubt that it opens the way to further compulsory licensing and parallel imports.

Geneva, Switzerland-A Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) report claiming there is virtually no research into diseases that predominantly affect the poor is distorted and politically motivated, says Dr. Harvey Bale, director-general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA). He claims that medicines do exist to treat most of the more dangerous diseases affecting poor people, but in many cases they do not reach patients for reasons that are beyond control of the pharmaceutical industry.

Johannesburg, South Africa-GlaxoSmithKline announced in October that it had licensed Aspen Pharmacare to manufacture three AIDS products: Retrovir-AZT (zidovudine), Epivir-3TC (lamivudine), and Combivir (zidovudine/lamivudine). The products can be distributed only to the public, including the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and charitable bodies accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Tokyo, Japan-European pharma industry leaders have called for the opening of the Japanese market through measures to promote greater innovation there. The demand followed a European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations' visit to Japan led by EFPIA president Jean-Frany}ois Dehecq, chairman and CEO of Sanofi-Synthelabo.

Brussels, Belgium-Pfizer believes the dual pricing system it introduced in Spain complies with Spanish and European Union competition laws, but the European Commission isn't so sure. Competition policy commissioner Mario Monti says the EC will scrutinize Pfizer's pricing policy, which is intended to prevent parallel trade out of low-cost Spain.

London, UK-Insurance companies will be unable to use genetic test results to approve or deny claims for at least the next five years, following a new agreement between the British government and the Association of British Insurers. The move ensures that people can still get insurance coverage whether or not they have had a test.

Basel-A series of product approvals in recent weeks could go some way to compensate for setbacks in Novartis’ pipeline. The approvals came as the Swiss company reported healthy half-year figures and an 11 percent sales increase.

London-European cancer patients are losing out because current processes for reviewing treatments are "dire," says the Cancer Research Campaign.

Mumbai, India—The controversy over pharma companies’ incentives to pharmacists in India highlights just how competitive the Indian pharma industry has become.

Berlin-The German healthcare system is ailing, and politicians are too timid and inefficient to do anything about it, according to the Verband Forschender Arzneimittelhersteller (VFA), Germany’s pharmaceutical industry trade association.

European Union-Both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) industry sectors have welcomed the long-awaited proposals to overhaul EU pharma legislation.

London-GlaxoSmithKline is proposing to cut more than 2,000 jobs from its worldwide workforce of 100,000 as it seeks to generate the promised savings from its merger.

Brussels-Lack of intellectual property protection is not causing the erosion of European pharma, reports the European Generics Association.

London, United Kingdom-The UK OTC trade association supports the Community Pharmacy Action Group (CPAG) in its decision to withdraw a court case regarding the price-fixing of OTC drugs after the judge said there was little evidence that abolition of price maintenance would harm community pharmacists. The withdrawal brings an end to a long-running court battle pitting the pharmaceutical industry against an equally powerful corporate enemy, the supermarkets.

Basel, Switzerland—Roche, which recently slashed its work force by 3,000, maintains that it will remain independent even after the sale of 20 percent of the company to Novartis. Franz Humer, the troubled company’s chairman, says the founding family supports Roche’s strategy.

European Union-The European Commission’s ban on GlaxoSmith–Kline’s dual pricing policy in Spain halts one of Big Pharma’s attempts to prevent parallel imports in Europe.

Epsom, Surrey, United Kingdom—Pharmaceutical companies struggle to be taken seriously when they talk of facing pressures. A quick look at the bottom line often suggests they are overstating their worries. But new evidence shows they are being squeezed by generic competition and falling R&D output.

Hosbjor, Norway-Away from the media glare in South Africa, a three-day workshop sponsored by the World Health and World Trade organizations sought to improve access to life-saving medicines in developing countries. Also backed by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and the Global Health Council, the workshop brought together 80 experts from 23 countries and highlighted the use of differential pricing as a means of improving access.

Washington, DC-An FDA advisory committee voted overwhelmingly to recommend that Claritin (loratadine), Allegra (fexofenadine), and Zyrtec (cetirizine) be changed from prescription to over-the-counter products. Although the vote is not binding, FDA usually follows such panels’ recommendations.

Berlin, Germany-Putting the US market at the heart of its bid to maintain double-digit growth, last month Schering began to relocate its therapeutics headquarters to an existing facility in Montville, New Jersey.

Buckinghamshire, UK-The pharma industry may be countercyclical, but it’s not immune to market trends. Nycomed Amersham recently postponed a partial US stock flotation of its life sciences company, ABBiotech, because of market weakness.