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Semiweekly Roundup: Jan. 3, 2008

• When MNC Drug Patents Expire, Firms Turn To Making Developing-Nation Drugs (India)
• NGOs Fault Most Indian Drug Makers For Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts (India)
• Indian Pharmas Now Dominate Country’s Market In Wake Of Patent Reforms (India)
• Leavitt Plans India Visit To Discuss Safe Pharmaceutical Exports (India)
• Pfizer Japan To Ban 5,000 Workers From Smoking On The Job (Japan)
• Taiwan Researchers Find Cancer-Fighting Ingredients In Local Weeds (Taiwan)
• Australian PBS Adds Asbestos, Smoking-Cessation Drugs To Coverage (Australia)
• Vietnam Research Leads To Cancer Drug In Abundant Local Plant (Vietnam)
• Drug Experts Concerned About Increased Chinese-Drug Exports To U.S., Europe (China)
• Plaintiffs Accept Draft Bill To Settle Hepatitis C Suits (Japan)
• Japanese Inspection Finds More Tainted Blood Products (Japan)
• U.S. FDA Warns Of Chinese Supplements Containing Viagra (China)
• Japan’s Eisai Says It Still Has Patent Protection For Aricept Despite Court Action (Japan)
• Indian Pharmas Look To Herbal Medicines As Huge Potential (India)

Semiweekly Roundup: Dec. 27, 2007

• Japan To Compensate Hepatitis C Victims, Leave Drug Makers Liable (Japan)
• High Cost Of Research Leads MNCs To Shanghai-Based WuXi Pharmatech (China)
• AstraZeneca Loses Bid For India Patent On New Prilosec Formulation (India)
• India Pharma Looks To Research, Drug Discovery To Make Rosy 2008 (India)
• China State Council Approves Plan To Encourage Drug Innovation (China)
• China Taking Greater Steps To Reduce Cost Of Key Drugs (China)
• Chinese Middle Class Shuns Western Drugs In Favor Of Traditional Medicine (China)
• Taiwan Women’s Activists Challenge Marketing Effort For Gardasil (Taiwan)
• Japan Health Panel Finds No Causal Link Between Tamiflu, Abnormal Behavior (Japan)
• Indian Drug Makers Fire Back At Rebelling Sales Reps (India)
• Vaccine Discoveries Drive India’s Biotech Industry (India)
• Vietnam Counts 20 Percent Increase In Foreign Pharmas Operating There (Vietnam)
• Chinese Bird Flu Vaccine For Humans Clears Phase II Trials (China)
• Probe Ordered Into India Patent For Roche’s Valcyte (India)

Semiweekly Roundup: Dec. 20, 2007

• Japan Refuses Compensation For All Hepatitis C Patients Given Bad Blood (Japan)
• India Plans Project To Create Discovery Platform For Cheaper Drugs (India)
• Investor Pullout From India Pharma’s Research Feared A Signal For More (India)
• India’s Welfo To Market Second-Line Anti-Malarial Drug Early In 2008 (India)
• Chinese Scientists Announce First Cloned Rabbit To Remain Alive (China)
• Japan To Create Stem-Cell Research Center At Kyoto University (Japan)
• Kopran Said Negotiating With Maneesh For Purchase Of Indian Drug Maker (India)
• Thailand Issues Deadline For Drug Price Slashes Or Compulsory Licenses (Thailand)
• China Suspends Use Of Aprotinin-Containing Drugs After Adverse Reactions Elsewhere (China)
• Philippines House Approves Drug Bill Allowing Price Caps (Philippines)
• U.S. FDA Approves Celltrion of S. Korea To Make Orencia for Bristol-Myers (S. Korea)
• S. Korea Weighs Lab Return Of Disgraced Cloning Scientist (S. Korea)
• Reported Japan Plan To Cut Drug Subsidies Expected To Hit Astellas, Takeda Hardest (Japan)

Semiweekly Roundup: Dec. 17, 2007

• China’s State FDA Says Merck Recalled Meningitis Vaccine (China)
• Japan, U.S. Research Team IDs Gene Behind Kawasaki Disease (Japan)
• Major Indian Generics Go For Ensured Revenue Rather Than U.S. Patent Courts (India)
• India Pharmas Seen Shifting From Infectious Diseases To Long-Term Chronic Ailments (India)
• CEO Says Strength Of R&D Arm Made Glenmark Buck Spinoff Trend (India)
• China SFDA Calls For Release Of Materials To Ease Hemophilia Treatment Shortage (China)
• Australian Court Orders Biota Dispute With GSK To Mediation (Australia)
• Vietnam Researchers Identify Natural Extracts That Fight Cancer (Vietnam)
• India Customs Says Pfizer Imported Pure Antibiotic Described as Poultry Feed (India)
• Lilly Withdraws India Patent Request For Already-Marketed Forteo (India)
• WHO Investigates Possible Human-To-Human Bird Flu Transmission In Pakistan (Taiwan)
• Analysts See India’s Glenmark Patent Suits Signal Of Bold Generics Move (India)
• Hepatitis C Group Rejects Settlement Offer By Japanese Government, Drug Makers (Japan)
• Indian Pharmaceuticals Become Patent Suit Filers Rather Than Those Being Sued (India)

Semiweekly Roundup: Dec. 13, 2007

• China Imposes Compulsory Drug Recalls On Companies (China)
• China, U.S. Agree On Ensuring Defective Drugs Not Exported to U.S. (China)
• China Revokes Licenses For Shanghai Hualian Leukemia Drugs Found Contaminated (China)
• GSK Of U.K. To Put $100 Million Into R&D Center For Neuroscience Center (China)
• Japan’s Shionogi, AstraZeneca Sue Seven Generics For Violating Crestor Patent (Japan)
• India’s Glenmark Confirms Abbott Sued It Over Tarka Generic (India)
• Takeda Seeks To Buy Development, Marketing Rights For New Drugs (Japan)
• Japanese Sanofi To Quit Marketing Agreements For Nine Drugs (Japan)
• Pfizer’s Selzentry HIV Drug Faces India Opposition As Too Expensive (India)
• India Groups Unite To Challenge Herceptin Breast Cancer Patent (India)
• Sources Say Amgen Plans To Sell Biotech Japanese Unit (Japan)
• Sun Pharmaceutical Agrees To Settle Out Of Court with Novartis over Exelon (India)

Semiweekly Roundup: Dec. 10, 2007

• China, U.S. Pact Addresses U.S. Security Issues (China)
• Lawyers, Patients Consider Rejecting Court Offer In Hepatitis C Infection Cases (Japan)
• Drug Company Sales Reps In India Say Firms Overcharge At Will (India)
• India’s Ranbaxy To Split Drug Discovery, R&D (India)
• West Bengal Seeks To Lure Indian Biotechs To Eastern State (India)
• India Drug Watchdog To Consider Avandia, Add 20 Inspection Centers (India)
• Bangladesh Reports Nearly All Children Vaccinated To End Polio (Bangladesh)
• Taro Purchase By India’s Sun Delayed Anew, Now Early 2008 (India)
• Japan Plans Incentives To Pharmacists To Push Generic Drugs (Japan)
• Health Minister Urges Foreign Pharmaceuticals To Invest In Vietnam (Vietnam)
• Astellas Atrial Fibrillation IV Drug Gets US FDA Reviewer Backing (Japan)
• Chinese Court To Compensate For Death Due To Taking Large Pill (China)
• U.S. FDA Gives Tentative Approval To Ranbaxy Aricept Generic (India)

Semiweekly Roundup: Dec. 6, 2007

• Shanghai News Source Accuses Chinese Agency Of Opaque Drug-Price Settings (China)
• Japan Plans $27,000 Cap On Drug Maker Gifts To Medical Council Members (Japan)
• New Zealand Buys Bird-Flu Drug To Vaccinate 100,000 First-Responders (New Zealand)
• Expert: New Zealanders With AMD Face Blindness Because Lucentis Not Covered (New Zealand)
• Philippines House Pushes Creation Of Drug Price-Regulation Board (Philippines)
• Eisai To Develop, Market BioArctic Alzheimer’s Antibody (Japan)
• Early Flu Season In Japan Boosts Chugai Tamiflu Expectations (Japan)
• Japan Drug Makers Compete For Foothold In Indian Market (Japan)
• South Korea To Invest $1.6 Billion In Biotech-Involved Human Brain Research (South Korea)
• India Aims For New Profit Margin Caps On Drugs (India)
• India Drug Makers Eye Selling OTCs Through Post Offices (India)
• China Drug-Safety Crackdown An Effort To Restore Reputation (China)
• Shanghai Drug Maker To Compensate Leukemia Drug Victims (China)
• Sanofi Opens Asia’s Largest Drug-Development Center In India (India)

Semiweekly Roundup: Dec. 3, 2007

• Lilly To Partner With Indian Drug Makers In Wake Of Patent Protection (India)
• IBM Research Arm To Invest $1 Billion In India Trials, Drug-Safety Testing (India)
• Chugai To Market, Test Tarceva In Japan As Iressa Alternative (Japan)
• China SFDA Streamlines Approval Process For AIDS, Cancer Drug Imports (China)
• China Clears Wuyi Drug Combining Herb Extracts, Pharmaceutical (China)
• European Firms Lack Confidence In China’s Intellectual Property Policy (China)
• CRAMS Outpace Generics Makers 5-1 On India Stock Market (India)
• AstraZeneca To Boost Clinical Trial Investment In Japan By Third (Japan)
• Japanese Researchers Make New Stem Cell Discovery (Japan)
• Malaysian Biotech Licenses Technology For Non-Cancer Therapy (Malaysia)
• Eisai Applies For Japan Approval Of Abbott’s Meridia (Japan)
• Private Equity Looks To Small, Mid-Size Drug Makers Risking Growth (India)
• Jubilant Organosys Of India Seeks CRO-Related Acquisitions In U.S., Europe (India)

Weekly Roundup: November 26, 2007

• Thailand's Low-Cost Generic Drugs Scheme a Boon for Poor (Thailand)
• Astellas to Spend Another Y40bn on Buybacks This Fiscal Year (Japan)
• Small Cap: Bionics to Test Anti-Cancer Drug on Humans (Australia)
• Chugai Pharmaceutical to Run 3 Domestic Plants Instead of 2 (Japan)
• Big Risks From Quick Drug Trials (Australia)
• China Pharma Q3 Revenue Hits $8.3 Million (China)
• Sinovac Provides Update in Pandemic Influenza Vaccines (H5N1) Phase II Clinical Trials (China)
• MIT and India to Create Health Science and Technology Institute (India)
• U.S. Big 3 Look for New Indian Drug Suppliers (India)
• Manipal Group Sets Up Stem Cell Arm in Malaysia (Malaysia)
• Healthcare Sector Woos Investors (China)
• Pharma Firms Seek to List R&D Arms, but Funding Risks Remain (India)