Tag Archives: pharmaceutical

Are pharmaceutical mega-mergers in the public interest?

The main reason for governments around the world to encourage the pharmaceutical industry is to support Research and Development –  R&D – with a view to the discovery of new drugs of future benefit to mankind. Commercial pharmaceutical companies have played … Continue reading

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Medical advisory body “NICE” should not spend too much time valuing drugs.

The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (“NICE”) is currently holding a public consultation over its proposals for evaluating drugs. Drugs that are approved by NICE automatically become available for doctors to prescribe under the NHS throughout England … Continue reading

Posted in Business, CCGs, Commissioning, Department of Health, Drugs, Elderly, equality, Genetics, GPs, Health and Wellbeing, Health Bill, Health reform, Inequality, Innovation, Jeremy Hunt, NHS, NHS reforms, Patients, Pharma, Policy, Public Health, Research, Technology, Uncategorized, Wellbeing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guest Blogspot: Negotiations with the UK Government over pharmaceutical pricing have achieved a good result for patients, the NHS and the industry.

The UK Government and the pharmaceutical industry shared many objectives throughout the recent drug pricing negotiations. For example, there was always broad agreement that: The total future drug bill needed to be affordable in the context of other spending in … Continue reading

Posted in Andrew Lansley, Business, Cancer, Department of Health, Drugs, Innovation, Jeremy Hunt, NHS, Patients, Pharma, Research, Smoking ban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pharmaceutical companies must be free to determine their own research priorities: Lessons from Alzheimer’s Disease

Guest blog post from Barbara Arzymanow, Independent Healthcare Consultant  Sir David Jack (1924-2011), one of history’s greatest pharmaceutical R&D directors under whom many important drugs were discovered, once told me that neither governments nor companies should overrule senior R&D management. … Continue reading

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Guest Blogspot: Waiting for Decisions on UK Pharmaceutical Pricing

Little has been heard over how confidential talks between the Government and the pharmaceutical industry are progressing towards the goal of having a new, voluntary UK drug pricing system in place in 2014. In the eyes of the pharmaceutical companies … Continue reading

Posted in Andrew Lansley, Business, Children, Commissioning, David Cameron, Department of Health, Drugs, Emerging technologies, equality, Health and Wellbeing, Innovation, Jeremy Hunt, Uncategorized, Wellbeing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Guest Blogspot: Think carefully about value-based drug pricing in the UK and let common sense prevail.

David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt share an important skill. They both have firsts from Oxford in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). I am not the greatest fan of this course because I would like to see more scientists, engineers and … Continue reading

Posted in Business, competition, David Cameron, Department of Health, Drugs, Election, Jeremy Hunt, NHS, Patients, Pharma, Policy, Primary Care | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guest Blogspot: Do private patients in the UK help or harm the NHS?

Private medicine like private education and first-class travel can stir up feelings of resentment between the “haves” and “have-nots”. A short blog like this one has no possibility of uniting stereotypical politicians from the left and right wings of politics. … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Department of Health, Drugs, Elderly, GPs, Health Bill, Health Team, Healthcare, Hospitals, Inequality, mental health, NHS, Nursing, Patient choice, Patients, Pharma, Policy, Private, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guest Blogspot: The Pharmaceutical Industry – Friend or Foe?

Recent months have seen publicity over examples of disgraceful behaviour by pharmaceutical companies. The question arises as to whether the failings have been rare and exceptional or whether they are indicative of generally low moral standards in the industry. Pharmaceutical … Continue reading

Posted in Alcohol, Business, Drugs, Finance, GPs, Information, NHS, Obesity, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guest Blogspot: A wrong decision on UK drug pricing could seriously undermine all the good work that HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have done to encourage the UK pharmaceutical industry.

The recent local elections highlight the political dangers ahead. The current UK coalition government has lost popularity through decisions that do not all relate to austerity measures. Shortly after the General Election Andrew Lansley’s plans to increase the say of … Continue reading

Posted in Andrew Lansley, Business, Department of Health, Drugs, Election, Global Health, Health Bill, NHS, Patient choice, Patients, Pharma, Policy, Research, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guest Blogspot: Pharmaceutical R & D – the value of radical innovation versus incremental progress

What we really want is affordable products that benefit patients, whether or not they are “innovative” in the usual sense of the word. Scientific innovation is not a medical end in itself. The ultimate aim of pharmaceutical R&D is to … Continue reading

Posted in Business, competition, Department of Health, Drugs, Emerging technologies, Finance, Healthcare, Innovation, NHS, Patients, Pharma, Policy, Research, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment