BioBusiness

Our second annual salary survey assesses not only how much people earn, but also how they feel about it.

Strategic alliances and partnering deals were a big biotech news story during 2006-with deal values setting an all time record of over $23 billion for the year. The strategic partnering trend continues during 2007 and in this column we present some frequently asked questions and answers about the merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the life sciences sector.

The Chinese government is making consistent efforts to strengthen IP protection.

India's biopharmaceutical industry, which was relatively modest only a decade ago, is expected to generate almost $2 billion in sales in 2008, making it one of the largest biopharmaceutical segments in Asia.1 According to BioPlan Associates, Inc., and the Society for Industrial Microbiology's newly published joint study, Advances in Biopharmaceutical Technology in India, the Indian biopharmaceutical industry is growing 25 to 30% per year.1

Eighty drugs will lose patent protection between 2007 and 2011.

Many companies acknowledged that Western regulatory standards are tougher than those in China.

More than $1 out of every $9 under professional management in the United States is involved in socially responsible investing.

The biopharmaceutical sector can look forward to a financially flush venture funding environment in 2008

The challenge is not in coming up with a list of activities to discard, but in finding a feasible way to stop doing them.

A true visionary leadership is required to drive the progress of operational excellence programs in biopharmaceutical organizations

CMOs must take a proactive approach to ensure the availability of local talent

The approval of a new seasonal influenza vaccine has further diversified the supply to the US market.

Acambis plc (Cambridge, UK) has appointed Elizabeth Jones chief financial officer (CFO) and an executive director of the board.

Wyeth (Madison, NJ) has elected Bernard Poussot president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective January 1, 2008.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Cambridge, MA), has announced a strategic restructuring and an amended collaboration agreement with Novartis Pharma AG related to Sebivo (also marketed as Tyzeka), an oral treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Thirty years after the first biotechnology company opened, the sector is reaching a new level of maturity and globalization.

Favrille, a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company, is one of a handful of firms on the forefront of personalized medicine. Because personalized treatment is tailored to an individual's biology, it has the potential to be far more effective than current approaches to disease management.

It became a strategic imperative to find a better, more efficient way to manufacture our products. To continue with the status quo was untenable.

In analyzing the industry's current challenges, let's be careful before extrapolating about what they mean.

Meeting service levels is a major challenge for pharmaceutical services providers because the requirements of their client base vary widely.

There were notable approvals in nonparenteral delivery systems and biosimiliars in 2006.

In light of these recent decisions, patent holders must devise new strategies for patent enforcement and licensing.

Closer examination shows there's a strong bond between the biotech market and the unraveling credit markets.

From the earliest days of the biotechnology industry, companies have grappled with the complexities of making innovative biopharmaceuticals on a large scale. Success in manufacturing begins with process science, since biotech production requires perfection in maintaining living organisms in a sterile environment under controlled physiological conditions. But unless companies can solve the challenge of planning for and managing manufacturing capacity, they will not be able to achieve the full potential of promising biotech products.

The center of gravity for the pharmaceutical market is shifting to the Asia-Pacific region from the US and Europe, according to an analysis published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (New York, NY, www.pwc.com).