According to the National Health Council, nearly 40% of the adult population in the US is diagnosed with at least one chronic condition, such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension. The annual cost burden associated with chronic diseases in the US is around USD 3.8 trillion. A major share of expenses incurred by patients living with a chronic disorder is driven by the frequent need to medicate, which may require repeated visits to hospitals / out-patient clinics. This has prompted stakeholders to

Digital therapeutics are clinically validated solutions that are delivered as applications, software and online programs, demonstrating the capability to facilitate positive outcomes when employed in the management of clinical conditions. These therapeutics are designed to engage patients in personalized treatment or disease prevention programs, through mediating behavioral or psychological modifications. The primary benefits of digital therapeutics include reduction of treatment related costs,

Tissue injury and dysfunctioning commonly occurs in humans; however, not in all cases, the tissue regeneration capability of a human body is able to cope up with the damage caused. The conventional approach used to deal with this type of trauma involves transplantation of damaged tissues or organs; this is further associated with several limitations, including non-availability of compatible organ donor, risk of graft rejection (due to the body’s immunological reaction) and post-surgical in

Digital Therapeutics, popularly known as DTx, represent a digital health solution which delivers medical interventions directly to the patients in order to treat, manage and prevent a disease. Such solutions usually employ evidence based and clinically validated software or technologies, in order to capture real-time patient data and provide improved curative response. Considering the ongoing digitization efforts and transformation of the healthcare sector, digital therapeutics have garnered sig

Over the years, various studies have validated the successful use of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in treating patients diagnosed with refractory diseases. TILs are a heterogeneous population of mononuclear lymphocytes that comprise of T-cells, B-cells, NK cells and macrophages isolated from the tumor. These lymphocytes selectively mediate the elimination of tumor cells. Ongoing and planned clinical research initiatives in this direction are driven by encouraging results achieved in past

Blockchain technology, also referred to as distributed ledger technology (DLT), serves an integral part of the pharmaceutical supply chain. It enhances the trackability and traceability of drugs and other pharmaceutical products, thereby reducing the prevalence of counterfeit drugs and medicine. The drug discovery process, which involves the identification of a relevant biological target and a corresponding pharmacological lead, is deemed crucial to the clinical success of a drug candidate. Howe

Monkeypox is a viral disease, which is usually transmitted to humans from animals. The disease is known to have symptoms similar to those observed in smallpox patients, although it is considered to be clinically less severe. Monkeypox has recently emerged as a prominent orthopox virus affecting public health. In May 2022, multiple cases of the disease were reported in several non-endemic countries, thereby making monkeypox a disease of global concern. Consequently, in July 2022, the World Health

Long-acting drug delivery is an innovative drug delivery approach which allows sustained action of a drug for weeks, months or years after single administration and maintains its optimal therapeutic level in the patient’s body. Over the last two decades, the pharmaceutical industry has observed a paradigm shift from conventional drug delivery strategies to the long-acting drug delivery of products to treat several disease indications, such as ophthalmic disorders, oncological disorders, ne

The concept of 3D printing has been one of the biggest revolutions across the globe. Various industry stakeholders and academicians have undertaken several initiatives to further develop / improve this technology for a variety of applications. One such application area is 3D bioprinting that includes the printing of living cells and enables the development of highly complex tissues that mimic the structure and performance ability of desired organ, within the body. Although 3D bioprinting results

In recent years, efficient methods for facilitation of intracellular drug delivery have become a prominent need within the modern biopharmaceutical industry. Targeting the delivery of a pharmacological substance to its intended physiological site of action ensures that adequate concentration of the therapeutics is made available, in order to elicit the desired clinical benefits and limit off-target / systemic toxicity. In fact, a study suggests that over 20% of the proteome, including oncogenic

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a method of producing 3-dimensional objects layer-by-layer, using a computer aided design. Owing to its ability to print complex models using a wide range of materials, 3D printing has applications across various industries, including dental, aerospace, automotive, healthcare, food, fashion, mechanical engineering and other manufacturing industries. In recent years, the adoption of 3D printers has risen at a commendable pace, specifically in

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), presently, around two million medical devices are available across the globe. It is also worth highlighting that, since 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 125 new medical devices. The growing demand for complex medical devices, including implants, surgical equipment, catheters, and other invasive devices, has prompted the medical device developers to innovate and introduce biocompatible, high-performance medical device coat

The annual market for counterfeit drugs is estimated to be USD 200 billion and this value is believed to be expanding rapidly. As per a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), 20% of counterfeit pharmaceuticals include an incorrect amount of the active ingredient, while 30% of the counterfeit drugs contain no active ingredient at all. Such illegal practices are likely to endanger the lives of the patients, as well as tarnish the developer company's reputation. In order to ov

In the past few years, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) has emerged as one of the key therapeutic modalities in the modern healthcare industry. Post the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA therapeutics and mRNA vaccines have garnered significant attention as they have evolved as a revolutionary novel drug class for the treatment of COVID-19, as well as several other diseases, such as oncological disorders, infectious diseases and genetic disorders. Presently, more than 195 mRNA therapeutics /

The research and development behind a new drug is reported to require, on an average, an investment of nearly USD 1 billion. At present, over 90% of the drug candidates fail across different stages of clinical trials, leading to significant financial losses for developers. In recent years, with the introduction of industry 4.0 technologies, such as augmented reality, big data, internet of things (IoT) and virtual reality, the digital twins technology has emerged as a promising approach to mitiga

The advent of biologics marked the beginning of a new era in the pharmaceutical industry. Over time, the growing promise of biopharmaceuticals has captured the interest of various industry and academic stakeholders. Currently, more than 200 biologics are commercially available and over 10,000 candidates are under clinical evaluation. With the increasing demand and diversity of biologics, an increase in the demand for production capacity and aseptic fill / finish operations has been observed. Ase

Driven by numerous developmental breakthroughs and results of studies demonstrating the vast potential of cellular therapies in the treatment of rare disorders, this therapeutic modality has garnered considerable attention of players engaged in the healthcare industry, in the past few years. In this context, it is worth noting that, since 2019, over 1,035 clinical studies focused on such cell therapy candidates have been initiated. Moreover, several commercialized cell therapies have emerged as

Novel cell cytometry devices have recently emerged as crucial analytical and visualization tools that have revolutionized the global cell cytometry industry. These technologically driven tools are used for multiple purposes in the research industry, such as identification and analysis of cells in a biological sample, cell characterization, cell sorting, cell cycle analyses, cell proliferation assays, immunophenotyping and hematological studies. Q1. What are the limitations of conventional cel

Modified T-cell receptor therapy (TCR therapy) is an emerging class of adoptive therapy that employs genetically modified lymphocytes to target specific tumor markers. Their tumor-cell killing efficacy may be primarily attributed to the fact that they are pre-sensitized to cancer specific antigens; this enables such interventions to selectively target and eliminate tumor cells from the body of a host with negligible treatment-related side effects. Ongoing and planned clinical research initiative

Around 90% of the drug candidates in the current development pipeline and close to 40% of marketed pharmacological products, have concerns related to solubility and / or permeability. Therefore, players engaged in the pharmaceutical industry are actively trying to identify ways to improve / augment physiochemical properties and drug-like behavior of pharmacological products. Amidst other alternatives, liposomes (which improve permeability across biological membranes), have garnered the attention