While the United States continues to lead the world in producing new medical technology, emerging markets led by China, India, and Brazil are closing the innovation gap, according to a new report from PwC. The changes are driven by a confluence of factors including regulatory uncertainty and cost pressures in the United States and the growth of academic medical centers, greater investment in research programs and the return of foreign-educated scientists and doctors to their emerging markets homelands. We spoke to Chris Wasden, managing director of strategy and innovation for PwC, about the report, why new medical technology will likely become available in other markets before the United States, and why U.S. companies may have a difficult time embracing the type of disruptive innovation that the markets both here and abroad will demand. Read More Here.

DuPont to Acquire Danisco for $6.3 Billion
Combination would create industrial biotech powerhouse.
DuPont has agreed to acquire Danisco, a global enzyme and specialty food ingredients company, for $5.8 billion in cash and assumption of $500 million of Danisco net debt. DuPont beat several rival suitors to seal a deal that will expand its presence in industrial biotechnology and biofuels, boosting the chemical company's move toward developing biotech-based approaches to address global challenges in food production and reduced fossil fuel consumption. Read More Here

FDA Rejects MannKind's Inhaled Insulin
Agency wants additional trials before approving company's Afrezza.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told MannKind that it would not approve its inhaled insulin treatment, Afrezza, without the company conducting additional clinical trials. Read More Here

Pfizer Taps Theraclone on Cancer, Infectious Disease R&D
Potential for $632 million in milestones, plus royalties
Pfizer will pay Theraclone Sciences as much as $632 million in milestones during the course of a multi-year partnership in which the pair hope to find promising monoclonal antibodies to battle infectious disease and cancer. Read More Here

Sanford-Burnham Pushes New Role in J&J Collaboration
Institute will work with drug giant to develop new drugs for Alzheimer's and psychiatric disorders.
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute said it has entered into a collaboration with a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to discover compounds for Alzheimer's disease and major psychiatric disorders. Read More Here

GSK Sets Aside $3.4 Billion Over Avandia Liabilities
The weekly round-up of failed trials, missed targets, and other business mishaps.
GlaxoSmithKline said it was setting aside $3.4 billion to pay for a federal investigation in the United States and product liability cases over its marketing of the diabetes drug Avandia. The set aside is expected to wipe out fourth quarter profits for the drug giant. In July 2010, the company took a $2.36 billion provision for product liability cases relating to the product that had been settled or received at that time. The company said the ultimate liability for legal claims may vary from the amounts provided and is dependent upon the outcome of litigation proceedings, investigations and possible settlement negotiations. Read More Here

Biodefense Investments Shift to Detection
Pentagon shifts focus from treatment of bad bugs to identifying them.
The Pentagon's main biodefense program is shifting its focus to the rapid detection of germ warfare bugs after spending more than a $1 billion to develop treatments for bioterrorism attacks with modest results, according to report in the Boston Globe. Read More Here

States Failing to Curb Smoking-Related Illness
FDA and new healthcare reform act praised for tough stance on tobacco.
All but five states have flunked on a national report card evaluating their progress on protecting citizens from illnesses caused by tobacco. The report, from the American Lung Association blasted states for their failure to adequately fund programs to prevent people from starting to smoke or get them to quit. Read More Here

Dying to Go to Switzerland
Some in the country want changes to liberal assisted suicide law that they fear is making the country a haven for those seeking to die.
Countries such as India, Thailand, and Costa Rica have made efforts to position themselves as a destination for medical tourists in search of low cost alternatives to a variety of procedures, but Switzerland has found an unusual niche for itself—the place foreigners go to die. Now there's an effort under way to change that by making the country's assisted suicide laws more restrictive. Read More Here

Commentary: Praising a BRAT
Framework could provide greater predictability to the drug review process.
As negotiations for the fifth incarnation of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act get serious, there seems to be a widening gap between what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants (more resources) and what industry wants (more predictability). Read More Here

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