The past year has been an unprecedented time for the pharmaceutical industry. On the one hand, the pandemic resulted in substantial delays to clinical trials while also forcing sponsors to rethink clinical trial design to protect participants. But on the other hand, the pandemic underscored the importance of the pharma industry in society. While the […]
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Pharma 50: Here’s how the world’s largest pharma companies are doing
The global pharmaceutical industry held up well during the pandemic, with 10 of the largest businesses only seeing a roughly –3% drop in revenue in 2020. Eight of the 10 even came out ahead. That’s one of the big takeaways from our sister publication Drug Discovery & Development’s inaugural Pharma 50, a compilation of data […]
Lilly partners with four companies on insulin pen tech
Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) today announced deals with four companies whose diabetes management tech will work with Lilly’s latest insulin pen. The Tempo Pen is a modified version of Lilly’s existing prefilled, disposable insulin pen to which the Tempo Smart Button — in late-stage development – attaches. Through these new agreements, the Tempo Smart Button will […]
BioCorp, Roche launch Mallya smart insulin pen in France
BioCorp and Roche Diabetes Care France announced the launch of the Mallya smart insulin pen device in France. Developed by BioCorp, Mallya is an intelligent sensor for insulin injection pens that has CE mark approval in Europe. The platform is compatible with any disposable insulin pen. It enables reliable monitoring for doses selected for injection and it offers […]
The top 5 pharma firms by reputation
Recent research from reputation data specialist RepTrak (Boston) indicates that the pharma industry had the largest year-over-year reputational improvement of any sector, according to its roundup of top 100 corporations. The sector saw significant gains in consumers’ perception of its citizenship and governance. Now ranked eighth overall, the pharma industry came in just ahead of […]
Companies, docs alarmed by proposed 510(k) rollback
Medical associations and device companies have largely come out against a Trump administration proposal to permanently exempt certain medical devices and software from the FDA 510(k) clearance process. HHS used Trump’s waning days in office to propose permanently exempting 83 Class II devices and one unclassified device from the clearance review process. The list includes home ventilators, […]
MedTech 100 roundup: Small dip keeps industry down
The last month brought a bit of a skid for the medtech industry and after a slight rebound last week, the downward trend has returned. A strong start to 2021 came to an end in late February and carried over into March, with MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 index hitting its lowest point on March 8 (102.16). It […]
Roche to acquire GenMark Diagnostics for $1.8B
Roche (SWX: RO, ROG) announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire GenMark Diagnostics (NSDQ:GNMK) for $1.8 billion. Basel, Switzerland-based Roche is set to purchase GenMark at $24.05 per share in an all-cash transaction, totaling approximately $1.8 billion on a fully diluted basis. That represents a premium of approximately 43% to GenMark’s unaffected closing […]
Roche launches SARS-CoV-2 variant test for research use
Roche (SWX: RO, ROG) today announced that it has launched its Cobas SARS-CoV-2 Variant Set 1 test to detect mutations in the COVID-19 virus. The test is designed to differentiate mutations found in variants that originated in the U.K. (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351) and Brazil (P.1). It runs on its high-volume Cobas 6800/8800 systems and is a research […]
FDA reports problems with Roche combo test for COVID-19 and flu
The FDA released an alert warning of false-positive results with Roche’s (SWX: RO, ROG) Cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B nucleic acid diagnostic. Roche’s Cobas COVID-19/flu combo test runs on its Cobas Liat system. According to an FDA release, the false-positives may be related to two issues observed by the company. The company observed that the assay tubes […]
Roche obtains CE Mark for rapid COVID-19 test with easier nose collection
Roche (SWX: RO, ROG) announced today that it received CE Mark approval for its new SARS-CoV-2 nasal rapid antigen test. Basel, Switzerland-based Roche’s nasal test collects the sample from the front area of the nose instead of the nasopharynx, which is the method used with its existing SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test. The new method results in a simplified […]