The National Academy of Medicine indicates that as many as 100 million people in the US suffer from some form of pain, which has been shown to be associated with a socioeconomic burden of around USD 600 billion per year, in treatment costs and lost productivity. Further, it has been estimated that nearly 1 million people in America suffer from Parkinson’s disease, with approximately 60,000 new patients being diagnosed every year.Over the past few decades, the prevalence of such chronic dis

Chronic pain refers to the psychophysiological response to an underlying clinical condition, which is observed to persist for a duration greater than six months and is generally unresponsive to multiple treatment regimens. It is estimated that more than 1.5 billion individuals across the world suffer from this type of pain. Some of the most common physiological conditions that are characterized by a chronic sensation of pain include migraine, lower back pain, pain associated with cancer, arthrit

Amidst the current initiatives to develop more targeted anti-cancer therapies, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has emerged as a potent and viable therapeutic intervention to eradicate tumor cells, with minimal side effects. It is based on the principle of harnessing the innate potential of the immune system to target and destroy diseased cells. There are certain key characteristics that render CAR-T cells suitable for use as effective therapeutic tools; these include target spec

Cell-based therapies have gained significant attention in the overall biopharmaceutical industry. The personalized nature of these treatment options render them highly specific and, according to a number of clinical studies, safe and efficacious. Such therapies are considered to possess the potential to address various unmet medical needs associated with the treatment of several types of physiological disorders and clinical conditions. A number of pharmaceutical companies and investors have alre

The early stages of research related to drug discovery, including the identification of a relevant biological target and a viable lead compound, play a crucial role in the overall success of a drug candidate in preclinical and clinical studies. It is also worth noting that the process of drug discovery is extremely demanding, both in terms of capital requirements and time. Moreover, there is always a high risk of failure associated with R&D programs and, considering the increasing regulatory

Biologics constitute a majority of the top selling drugs of today and also represent one of the fastest growing segments of the overall pharmaceutical industry. In fact, the share of biologics in the overall pharmaceutical market has increased from 16% in 2006 to over 25% in 2017.Having reported over 70% increase in revenues over the past 5-6 years, the market for biologically derived products is currently estimated to be worth more than USD 200 billion.Despite their clinical and commercial succ

Over the years, the self-injection devices market has grown into a promising segment of the pharmaceutical industry. The domain is presently characterized by the presence of advanced technology platforms and innovative devices, offering a variety of user-friendly drug delivery solutions. One of the major driving forces behind the growth in this field is the rising incidence of chronic clinical conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Although various pharmacolog

Cancer therapeutics continues to be one of the most active segments, in terms of drug development efforts, within the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, in the past five years, USFDA has approved more than 70 drugs for the treatment of different types of cancer. However, there is still a pressing need to develop more specific and potent therapeutics to combat this complex, life threatening clinical condition. According to the National Institutes of Health, the economic burden of cancer care in th

Genetically modified therapies have emerged as a promising treatment option for various diseases (primarily ones that currently have no cure), including cancers, inherited disorders and certain viral infections. These therapies have demonstrated the potential to treat chronic indications, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis, as well. Gene therapies, and other therapies that require genetic modification, involve the introduction of therapeutic DNA

The origins of spray drying can be traced back to 1872, when the first patent related to the technique was registered in the US. The first commercial use of this form of drying was reported in the 1920s when powdered milk was introduced into the market. Spray drying, which is already established in the food and chemical sector, is also considered to be a rapid, cost-effective, and scalable process for the production of dry powder formulations of pharmacological material. Owing to characteristics

  Cancer is known to be one of the leading causes of death worldwide, accounting for 0.6 million deaths in 2017 in the US alone. The World Health Organization states that the number of new cancer cases globally is expected to rise by 70% in the coming 20 years. Although cancer therapeutics continue to be one of the most active areas in terms of drug development, there is still a significant unmet need in this domain. Conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, surgery and radia

The concept of gene transfer into mammalian cells can be traced back to the 1920s. However, the first gene therapy, Gendicine® , was only approved in 2003 in China; since then, the domain has evolved significantly. The year 2017 was particularly eventful; despite the withdrawal of Glybera from the European market in early 2017, the latter half of the year witnessed the approval of two gene therapies, namely Invossa™ and Luxturna™. In fact, Luxturna™ became the first gene th

According to the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, around 4 million individuals die each year due to chronic respiratory diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the global prevalence of two of the most common chronic respiratory diseases, namely asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), to be around 335 million and 400 million patients respectively. Specifically, COPD is currently known to be the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. According to the

The digital revolution has transformed the way businesses operate across the globe. However, digitally stored information is prone to hacking and manipulation by cyber criminals. The concern is validated by the fact that more than 5.1 million records are compromised due to data breaches every day. In 2016, close to 1,800 incidents of data breaches were reported across all the industries; in total, almost 1.4 billion data records were lost or stolen. The year 2017 also witnessed several cyberatta

According to the World Health Organization, close to 250 million individuals, including 36 million blind people, presently suffer from some form of vision impairment. Further, a recent study published in September 2017 estimates that the number of blind people is likely to increase to 38.5 million, by 2020, and to 115 million, by 2050. Current projections also indicate that, in the US alone, the total economic burden related to vision loss is expected to reach approximately USD 715 billion by 20

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are known to be rare, immortal cells within a tumor that can both self-renew and differentiate into several cell types that form the tumor mass. Over time, the development of CSCs has been shown to be associated with several signaling pathways, which regulate the survival and proliferation of these cells. Presently, a number of initiatives are underway to explore specific targets that can be used to selectively eliminate cancer stem cells and, thereby, confer therapeutic

3D printing has garnered significant attention within the healthcare industry. The concept of 3D bioprinting was conceived in the late 1990s; since then, various industry stakeholders and academicians have undertaken several initiatives in order to further develop / improve this technology for a variety of applications. Organovo was the first company to enter the 3D bioprinting space by printing functional blood vessels in 2010. The company now offers 3D printed kidney and liver tissue models. T

Monoclonal antibodies have been in use for more than two decades. The first product candidate was launched in 1986; since then, they have been used for the treatment of a myriad of diseases, including cancer, inflammatory diseases and infectious diseases. However, despite their clinical and commercial successes, these therapies are known to have certain drawbacks that have had an impact on their overall efficacy, thereby, limiting their therapeutic potential. These drawbacks are related to their

Since the first approval of MYLOTARG™ in 2000 and its subsequent withdrawal in the year 2010, the ADC market has evolved considerably. In the last seven years, the market has witnessed an increasing interest from drug developers and healthcare investors alike. Post the commercialization of ADCETRIS® in 2011 and KADCYLA® in 2013, there was a temporary, but evident, decline in the popularity of ADCs. This was attributed to the fact that no new ADC candidates were approved after 2013

Cross contamination and cell line misidentification are some of the major concerns associated with the use of cell lines. According to published literature, cell lines used for scientific experiments are either misidentified or contaminated in approximately 15-25% cases. The use of such cell lines yields unreliable and irreproducible results, and leads to significant delays in research time lines and financial losses. The detrimental impact of using incorrect / misidentified cell lines poses a s