Tag: Pharma

Is Interoperability Tech Worth the Investment? Experts Say Yes for 3 Reasons

Is Interoperability Tech Worth the Investment? Experts Say Yes for 3 Reasons

MedCity News

Editor’s note: This story is based on discussions at Abarca Forward, a conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, hosted by Abarca, a pharmacy benefit manager. MedCity News’ Editor-in-Chief Arundhati Parmar and Senior Reporter Katie Adams were invited to attend and speak at the conference. All travel and related expenses for the team were covered by Abarca. However, company officials had no input in editorial coverage. 
In order for the U.S. healthcare system to operate smoothly, various stakeholders must cooperate with one another and share data seamlessly. But this notion is far from being achieved — the industry is still seriously plagued by…

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Moderna Flu Vax Prompts Response to More Common Strains, But Misses in Influenza B

Moderna Flu Vax Prompts Response to More Common Strains, But Misses in Influenza B

MedCity News

A Moderna messenger RNA vaccine for influenza now has preliminary data from a pivotal study showing the shot prompted a strong immune response to the more common strains of the virus but fell short against less common strains.
The results reported Thursday are from one of two pivotal studies for the Moderna vaccine, mRNA-1010, which is assessing the shot for safety and immune response. A separate Phase 3 study is evaluating the shot for efficacy. Results from that study could come as early as next month. Moderna’s vaccine encodes hemagglutinin, a protein on the surface of the influenza virus that is also…

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Cell Therapy Biotech Talaris Ends Two Kidney Transplant Trials, Restructures

Cell Therapy Biotech Talaris Ends Two Kidney Transplant Trials, Restructures

MedCity News

Talaris Therapeutics aimed to transform solid organ transplants with a cell therapy that replaces anti-rejection drugs patients need for the rest of their lives. But after clinical trial setbacks, the biotech has decided to end two kidney transplant studies. Although a separate test of its experimental therapy is continuing in a rare autoimmune condition, Talaris has commenced a restructuring plan that it said could culminate in a merger or sale of the company.
The restructuring announced Thursday will lead to the layoff of about one-third of Talaris’s staff. As of the end of the third quarter of 2022, the Louisville, Kentucky-based biotech…

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Retail disruptors face big strategy questions in 2023, says AHA

Retail disruptors face big strategy questions in 2023, says AHA

MobiHealthNews

A new report from the American Hospital Association Center for Health Innovation explores how retail companies and tech giants like Apple and Google will drive transformational change in healthcare delivery in 2023 and beyond.WHY IT MATTERS
With billions of dollars invested this past year, such as CVS Health’s purchase of Signify Health, the AHA report highlights retail healthcare companies having grabbed significant market share in primary care, concierge medicine, virtual care and in-home medical services. 
They’ve also broadened their reach into pharmacy benefits management, behavioral health and other areas, said AHA researchers in the report.
One example is Amazon. While the company is in the process of buying…

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Report: Pharma R&D ROI Falls to Lowest Level in 13 Years

Report: Pharma R&D ROI Falls to Lowest Level in 13 Years

HIT Consultant

What You Should Know:– Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions releases its thirteenth annual report, ‘Seize the Digital Momentum: Measuring the return from pharmaceutical innovation 2022’ that explores the performance of the biopharmaceutical industry (bio Pharma) and its ability to generate returns from investment in innovative new medicines.– Since 2021, much of the world has successfully adjusted to life where COVID-19 is more endemic as vaccines and treatments reduced the risk and severity of illness, however geopolitical turmoil and a global cost-of-living crisis have continued to drive serious instability in the health landscape.Pharmaceutical Innovation – Trends and Insights At a GlanceThis is…

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Digital as the Differentiator for Biopharma and Medtech

Digital as the Differentiator for Biopharma and Medtech

MedCity News

With the Inflation Reduction Act now on the books, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry. That, combined with other headwinds such as increased competition from me-too drugs, and ever-present pricing pressure from payers, means that pharma players now more than ever need a new and powerful tool to differentiate their products. We believe the next decade of transformation is digital.
Learning from the auto industry Almost every industry has had to confront a fundamental existential question: What is our product? Consider the automotive industry, which once was largely about hardware…

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Blood Biotech Grifols Cuts Deep in the U.S. to Find €400M in Savings

Blood Biotech Grifols Cuts Deep in the U.S. to Find €400M in Savings

MedCity News

Grifols, a company that turns blood plasma into therapies for immunological disorders and other conditions, is laying off about 2,000 U.S. workers as part of a corporate restructuring projected to yield up to €400 million in annual cost savings, the biotech announced Wednesday.
The layoffs represent about 8% of the Barcelona-based company’s global workforce, but they will happen mainly in its U.S. plasma operations. That’s notable because as a company that relies on plasma, the U.S. is vital to its business. The starting point for Grifols’s therapies is blood plasma. Key to its drug-making process is fractionation, in which the protein components…

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MD Anderson’s Tech Puts Replay on Fast Path to Clinic With TCR NK Cell Therapies

MD Anderson’s Tech Puts Replay on Fast Path to Clinic With TCR NK Cell Therapies

MedCity News

A slew of biotech companies are pursuing research that could overcome limitations of current cell therapies. Startup creator Replay has a new subsidiary pushing toward the front of the pack with a therapeutic candidate on track to start its first human test this summer—about one year after Replay emerged from stealth. It owes this rapid progress to a cell therapy pioneer’s technology that has already been de-risked by a big pharmaceutical company.
Replay calls itself a genome writing company. With operations split between San Diego and London, the private equity-backed business launched last July with $55 million and a suite of technologies…

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GSK’s Covid-19 Valentine to Vir Biotech: ‘You Can Go Your Own Way’

GSK’s Covid-19 Valentine to Vir Biotech: ‘You Can Go Your Own Way’

MedCity News

Vir Biotechnology’s Covid-19 research may yield more drugs and perhaps a vaccine, but no longer with the financial support of GSK. The collaboration agreement the two companies struck up in the early days of the pandemic has been amended, leaving Vir to either find another partner or continue its coronavirus research on its own.
The alliance did successfully develop the Covid-19 drug sotrovimab. GSK and Vir will continue to share responsibilities for that drug, which is available under the brand name Xevudy in more than 40 countries. The U.S. is no longer one of them. Last April, the FDA withdrew emergency authorization…

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