'General Buzz'
 E&Y Survey Says Pharma Companies Need to Help Patients Adopt Healthier Behaviour |
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With chronic diseases accounting for three-quarters of all healthcare spending in developed nations, life sciences companies will have to help patients adopt healthier behaviour and manage their diseases better, a report by Ernst & Young has said. Pharma and healthcare companies will be required to fundamentally reinvent their business models to make them more patient-centric and better able to drive behavioural changes in consumers, according to Ernst & Young's latest annual report 'Progressions 2012 - The third place: healthcare everywhere'.
E&Y said with an increasing chronic disease burden and poor health indicators in India, there is a pressing need to influence patient behaviours to improve health outcomes.
Today, India is the world's diabetes capital with 61.3 million diabetics in 2011 and projected to reach 101.2 million by 2030, coronary heart disease prevalence is projected to increase from 36 million patients in 2005 to 62 million by 2015.
The new imperative for life sciences companies to better understand patient behaviour and influence positive changes is being accelerated by two key trends, it said.
Given that India is among the world's fastest-growing " Internet nations", with more than 100 million Internet subscribers and a smartphone market to cross 80 million units per year by 2015, this would be an important enabler to improve accessibility of healthcare to a large population in the country thereby making healthcare ubiquitous.
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| Abbott to Spend $270M to Build Nutrition Manufacturing Facility |
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Abbott Laboratories plans to spend $270 million to build a nutrition manufacturing facility in Ohio, an investment the company said will help it meet fast-growing demand for its adult liquid nutrition products as the U.S. population continues to age.
Groundbreaking on the facility is expected next month, with plans for the plant to be operational by late 2013. Among the products produced there will be its Ensure and Glucerna products, which Abbott said are two of the company's fastest-growing brands for adults.
The facility will be located in Tipp City, Ohio, and expected to employ roughly 240 people. Abbott's nutrition business is based in Columbus, Ohio.
Abbott's nutrition business brought in roughly $6 billion in sales last year, up 9% from the year earlier. The company is in the midst of a planned split into two publicly traded companies, which will separate its medical products and research-based pharmaceuticals operations.
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| Natco Pharma Pins Hopes on Generic Version of Copaxone |
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After emerging as the first Indian company to bag a compulsory licence for Bayer’s Nexawer, Natco Pharma is hoping to win the long drawn legal battle to produce generic of the drug Copaxone drug, whose patent is held by Teva Pharamceuticals, this year.
Natco’s partner Mylan had filed for the abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) has the global marketing tie for this drug. “This year, the market is abuzz about how the judgment could be in our favour. If this happens, it could be more significant for us than the compulsory licence,” said a top company official.
Teva’s blockbuster drug Copaxone is used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis in the injection form. The branded product has global sales of over $3 billion. The drug could boost the company’s revenues significantly based on where Mylan wants to market aggressively.
Meanwhile, Natco, which expects a 15 per cent growth is sales this fiscal, is also facing other Para IV litigations across products that have total estimated sales of over $5.5 billion globally.
Natco along with Cipla is also fighting one of the most contentious patent wars at the Supreme Court where Novartis has challenged parts of the Patent Act of India seeking to strike down the 3rd Section in it.
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