Pharmaceutical Executive-02-01-2007

Gardasil embodies the kind of links between science, commercialization, and humanity that typify great pharma breakthroughs. It turned a medical success story into a campaign of empowerment. Merck used visionary science to produce a vaccine with the potential to eradicate the third-most-common cause of cancer worldwide, and taught girls how to talk about sensitive issues.

Comparative drug tests make pharma see red. But market pressure to prove a drug's real-world value is likely to force even the most stubborn firm into the ring. Why be bull-headed? Adaptive trials can cut cost, time, and risk in half.

A lot of the viruses that are being worked on today are genetically engineered to target the cell and crank out a drug that will kill it. But in our case, we don’t need a drug-the reovirus does it all by itself.

Pharma can receive twice as much revenue from detailing than from DTC. For every dollar spent detailing, firms should expect about $10 in revenues. The return from DTC advertising is more in the range of $5 to $6.

The UK's 'unsystematic' healthcare structure is getting a makeover. It includes a new single body to oversee drug development, and potential incentives for pharma-if it plays nice.

Myth vs. Reality: The American healthcare system needs a makeover. That requires policies based on accurate information about how our country’s system compares to others’. To start, we must separate fact from fiction.

Democrats want more transparency from pharma, and Republicans also are making noise about pricing. But government drug reimbursement is hard to get right and often creates perverse patient care incentives.

Doctors want to know what's hot in the market, not read a new brochure on a nine-year product that doctors have already been using.

One mystery of human nature is why so many patients can't seem to take their pills properly. What's not in question is the size or seriousness of the problem. Half of all folks in the developed world who have a chronic disease don't follow their medication's dosing, scheduling, or other requirements. On top of the estimated 500 million prescriptions a year that go unfilled, another 500 million are not taken correctly. A mountain of studies have confirmed noncompliance's negative effects on everything from drug effectiveness and patient mortality to healthcare costs and pharma revenues. The World Health Organization has stamped nonadherence "a worldwide problem of striking magnitude."

It's a funny law of nature: 20 percent of the clouds produce 80 percent of the rain. And 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. OK, leader, what do you plan to do about it?

A new bill says HHS has to negotiate Medicare drug prices with pharma companies. It won't work-but that's not the biggest thing wrong with it.