#pharma articles

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Why we need to prevent antifungal resistance?- Pharma Focus Asia

L Shamithra M Sigera and David W Denning from University of Manchester shared their views with Pharma Focus Asia on “Anti-Fungal Resistance”.

Anti-fungal resistance is increasing, with the global spread of the multi-drug resistant Candida auris since 2008, increasing rates (up to 95 per cent) of azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus and the emergence of a new species of Trichophyton in India which is terbinafine resistant. Accurate and rapid diagnosis of most fungal infections is now possible with nonculture based tests, allowing tailoring of both antibacterial and anti-fungal therapy, but culture and susceptibility testing are required to detect resistance. New anti-fungal agents are being developed, but not fast enough to address this problem without minimising empirical anti-fungal therapy in patients and reduction in azole fungicides in crops.

For more info visit:

https://www.pharmafocusasia.com/research-development/anti-fungal-resistance

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Maurizio Luongo, CEO, A. Menarini Asia-Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd. (Menarini Asia-Pacific) shared his views with Pharma Focus Asia on “Building a Biomedical Diagnostic Research Hub in Asia”.

Why the need to launch a biomarker research arm?

Menarini Biomarkers (A. Menarini Biomarkers Singapore Pte Ltd) was founded with the mission of identifying, developing, and validating new biomarkers on circulating human cells for applications in diagnostics.

There is a current healthcare gap in precision medicine surrounding the fields of early disease prediction and disease control, particularly related to precision rare-cell isolation, analysis, and disease diagnosis. Menarini Biomarkers uses single-cell analysis to provide clinicians with new tools for early detection, tracking disease progression, and the measurement of real-time responses to innovative therapies.

The R&D team specialises in pathogenic single-cell isolation that enables scientists to pinpoint specific disease markers, also known as biomarkers. The identification and selection of pathogenic single cells from blood samples is incredibly useful in disease treatment, as it helps healthcare practitioners narrow therapies down to target cells.

Read More : https://www.pharmafocusasia.com/research-development/building-biomedical-diagnostic-research

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Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect more than one billion people worldwide. Although this group of 20 infectious conditions corresponds to 11 per cent of the global disease burden, no innovative drugs have been developed in this field. The World Health Organization (WHO) has played a central role in raising global awareness on the subject. Recently, WHO launched its roadmap on NTDs for 2021-2030, which highlights the advances made over the past years and sets the strategies to eliminate these diseases by 2030. According to this agenda, pharmaceutical innovation will be central for the achievement of the agreed goals, especially for protozoan and helminthic NTDs. Unfortunately, drug research and development (R&D) for highly prevalent NTDs such as schistosomiasis, human African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, has, for  decades, been characterised for insufficient funding and low-technology approaches. This paradigm has recently changed given the rising of initiatives that involve notfor- profit organisations, universities, and pharma companies. Among these partnerships we can cite the NTD Drug Discovery Booster, the Lead Optimization Latin America (LOLA),the WIPO Re: Search project, and the Welcome Trust for NTD drug discovery programme, the first two being administered by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). These programmes have proven invaluable to catalyse drug R&D for NTDs by integrating medicinal chemistry and parasite biology and allowing multi-parameter optimisation (MPO) of high-quality hits and lead compounds. Despite these efforts, innovative products have not been regularly developed and approved for NTDs. The few products that have recently been approved for  these conditions are known or repurposed drugs, new formulations, or combination chemotherapies.

Read More: https://www.pharmafocusasia.com/research-development/innovation-elimination-neglected

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Operational excellence (OPEX) is the philosophy summarising numerous technical and social practices aiming at improving operations. However, the complexity of the practices and multiplicity of the initiatives hinders to always identify and set the most promising priorities. Being able to take decisions based on data and measured situations can improve the efficacy of the strategic initiatives. The St. Gallen manufacturing and quality control (QC) benchmarking programmes support pharmaceutical companies with a rich base of information needed to inform their decision making processes.

This article discusses two practical examples of how data driven improvements can be initiated and derived from a benchmarking. Firstly, an example from the manufacturing and OPEX benchmarking is presented. Secondly, a project that emerged based on QC lab benchmarking results is illustrated and discussed. Finally, the benefits of data driven decision are highlighted.

Authors: Matteo Bernasconi, Research Associate, University of St.Gallen

Gian-Andri Steiger, Research Associate, University of St.Gallen

Marten Ritz, Post-doctoral Researcher, University of St.Gallen

Thomas Friedli, Director, Institute of Technology Management

For more info visit: https://www.pharmafocusasia.com/manufacturing/learn-from-metrics .

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The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has required the development of new methods for rapidly developing effective vaccines and drugs to treat COVID- 19 patients. There are approximately 12,000 existing drugs, approved natural products, and clinical trials candidates whose safety in man has already been established. Computational repurposing of these drugs, where mathematical methods are used to simulate their interactions with key proteins in the virus, is a rapid way to find new treatments for SARS-CoV-2.

For more info visit: https://www.pharmafocusasia.com/research-development/computational-repurposing-drugs

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Environmental and Sustainability Requirements in Drug Procurement- Pharma Focus Asia

Josep M Guiu, Director, Pharmacy and Medicines, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, University of Barcelona shared his views with Pharma Focus Asia on "ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REQUIREMENTS IN DRUG PROCUREMENT".Drug assessment is now progressively taking sustainability criteria into account alongside traditional cost-effectiveness, for their procurement, pricing, and reimbursement policies for pharmaceuticals. Many pharma companies have effectively incorporated innovative actions in their production, consumption, and supply chain to improve environmental and social sustainability practices, and to address the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In Europe, there is an increasing trend of the inclusion of environmental, social, and governance issues along with quality and pricing in the decision-making process specifically with respect to tenders and procurement.

For more info visit: https://www.pharmafocusasia.com/research-development/environmental-sustainability-requirements-drug-procurement

#Environmental #SustainabilityRequirements #DrugProcurement  #PharmaArticles #PharmaIndustryUpdates

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Daphne Teo, CEO and Founder of NSG BioLabs, shares her insights & understanding of the innovative biotech ecosystem in Singapore & Asia. She elaborates on the opportunities for biotech startups and the kind of support they need to solve some of the biggest medical challenges of the 21st century. 

Read More: https://www.pharmafocusasia.com/expert-talk/innovative-biotech-ecosystem-singapore-asia

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A Digitalised Future for Pharmacovigilance- Pharma Focus Asia

The use of traditional paper-based case record forms (CRFs) are becoming a thing of the past as Contract research organisations (CROs) increasingly embrace digital transformation, enabling more accuracy and reliability of data, security in #pharmacovigilance, collaboration, innovation, and speed of operations.

The Future of Pharmacovigilance:

The shift to a digital-first economy continues to drive the need for digital transformation – essential to avoid being disrupted, and to remain competitive. Pharmaceutical organisations that have yet to take the step toward digital transformation should now plan for and lay the groundwork for digital PV processes. 

Read More: https://pharmafocusasia.com/information-technology/digitalised-future-pharmacovigilance

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