Myelodysplastic syndrome is not only hard to say, it’s also hard to explain. So Novartis hired Noma Bar, an artist and illustrator well-known for his simple and striking imagery to create a video that explains the rare blood cancer.
The 2-minute video uses bold colors and seamless graphics that morph from image to image. A white blood cell, for instance, turns into a Pacman-like character gobbling infection, while a drop of blood turns into a dial pointer and then an exclamation point.
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Each year, we aim to highlight 20 extraordinary women who are leaving their mark on drug R&D — and this year’s group was no exception.
Our list, while by no means exhaustive, includes scientists, CEOs, researchers and professors who are supercharging the discovery and development of new therapies worldwide. Our team of writers spent time with each honoree (with a few exceptions), learning their stories and sketching profiles, which you’ll find in our special report.
For the second time, we brought the celebration to a live virtual audience, featuring an award presentation followed by a panel on what it takes to break the glass ceiling in biopharma with Kojin Therapeutics CEO Luba Greenwood, AskBio CEO Sheila Mikhail, and Silverback Therapeutics CEO Laura Shawver. Our panelists had a lively discussion on how the industry’s culture has changed, how to handle sexual harassment, the progress we’ve made and the challenges that still hold women back today.
We applaud each of our honorees for scaling the heights of biopharma R&D. You got to meet most of them via brief recordings we played during our live event. Below, you’ll find bonus videos offering a longer glimpse into those interviews. And if you didn’t get a chance to tune in to our main event live, you can replay the entire show.
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Even though many biopharma leaders have come together in recent years to address its gender gap, the consensus is clear: We still have a long way to go.
Companies this year were 2.5 times more likely than last year to have a diversity and inclusion program in place, according to a recent BIO survey, but women are still largely absent from executive roles. Getting women to enter the industry isn’t the problem — studies show that they represent just under half of all biotech employees around the world. But climbing through the ranks can be challenging, as women still report facing stereotypes, and, unfortunately, harassment.
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Members of the public disembark a train at King Cross Station in London, on the day that extra measures are put in place to fight the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Since Nov. 30, it’s been mandatory for people in England to wear face coverings in shops and on public transport. (Ben Cawthra/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images)
Like hundreds of other virologists and epidemiologists, Benjamin tenOever’s Thanksgiving weekend was interrupted with emails about an emergency Omicron meeting.
But when he logged onto a WHO conference call 9 a.m. Monday morning, officials had a surprisingly upbeat spin on the little-understood variant that had already prompted leaders around the world, fearful the strain could evade vaccines, to close their borders to broad swaths of Southern Africa.
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KEY POINTS
Patients prefer oral dosing, but swallowing tablets can be a challenge for many patients. The Zydis® orally disintegrating tablet (ODT) platform addresses challenges associated with oral dosing, expanding benefits for patients and options for healthcare providers. A strong growth trajectory is expected for ODTs given therapeutic innovation and continued technology development.
Many patients prefer conventional tablets for the administration of medications, but some geriatric and pediatric patients and those with altered mental status and physical impairments find swallowing tablets to be difficult. Orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs), which dissolve completely without chewing or sucking, offer a patient-friendly dosage form for the administration of small-molecule drugs, peptides and proteins. With the potential for multiple sites of drug absorption, often faster onset action for the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and potentially greater bioavailability, ODTs are an attractive option for drug developers considering first-to-market formulations or product line extensions of existing drugs with compatible API. In this report, we look at how innovation in the industry-leading Zydis ODT platform is expanding oral formulation options and bringing benefits to patients.
Please signup to continue — it’s fast and free. This article is sponsored by Catalent and produced by Endpoints Studio. Martin Shkreli (AP Images)
The Federal Trade Commission and seven states on Tuesday announced a new order under which the states will recoup $40 million from pharma badboy Martin Shkreli, who’s currently in prison for securities fraud, and who spiked the price of an old, cheap toxoplasmosis drug Daraprim by 4,000% overnight.
The order follows a January 2020 complaint against Shkreli, his associate Kevin Mulleady, who’s banned from working in for pharma for 7 years, their company Vyera Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Phoenixus AG. The complaint alleged that Shkreli and Mulleady not only hiked the price of Daraprim but used restrictive distribution and supply agreements, as well as data secrecy, to illegally block cheaper generic versions of the drug.
President Biden’s nominee to be the next FDA commissioner officially has his Senate confirmation hearing set for next Tuesday. Rob Califf, who’s prepping for his second run as FDA commish, will be peppered with questions by senators ahead of an up or down vote that will likely go Califf’s way.
At least four Democrats, including Bernie Sanders and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, have already said they won’t vote for Califf, as they did during Califf’s first confirmation (89-4 was the final vote on that one). While Califf’s industry ties and views on the pandemic will likely be the focus of the hearing, all eyes will be on the Republicans (given the tight R-D split in the Senate), and whether they’re willing to back a Biden nominee.
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Are you ready to rumble? DTC brands that is. MarketingRx is launching a new monthly feature today called MarketingRx Matchup. We’re pitting two pharma brands’ DTC advertising in the same therapeutic category against each other to find out what consumers and patients really think.
Market research company Leger is handling the polling and analysis each month, and I’ll be writing up the results — along with my own take — inside MRx on the first Tuesday of the month.
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Wendy Lund, Organon chief communications officer
One of Wendy Lund’s earliest jobs was head of marketing at Planned Parenthood. As the youngest person on its management team, she introduced them to emerging new technologies, and in return, she learned the importance of fighting for what you believe in.
Now as chief communications officer at Organon, the women’s health company recently spun off by Merck, Lund is keeping that point top of mind. That’s in part because women’s health hasn’t been a spotlight therapy area for Big Pharma in years. Several companies have spun off, sold or at least considered selling women’s health assets to focus on ‘core’ products.
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Every autumn, leaves fall from the trees and people start holiday shopping – and for the last few years Pfizer debuts a new ‘Know Pneumonia’ awareness TV ad. This year the commercial, launched a week ago, features different people who talk about why they got vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia. Actors portray a young female firefighter with asthma, a mechanic with heart disease and an older woman with her grandchild. A Pfizer spokesperson declined comment on the latest iteration of the long-running campaign.
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https://endpts.com/novartis-drafts-artist-noma-bars-bold-visuals-to-explain-complex-mds-blood-cancer/
