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, includin

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

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

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

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

In  recent years, therapies utilizing extracellular vesicles have garnered significant attention among the industry stakeholders for the treatment of diverse target indication, primarily owing to the various benefits offered by them, including target specificity, enhanced tissue regeneration, and reduced inflammation and chronic pain. Over time, various research studies have demonstrated the potential of exosomes (membrane bound extracellular vesicles) in disease diagnosis, drug delivery an

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

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 conv

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

The discovery and identification of novel drug candidates is a time-intensive process, which is fraught with several challenges. One of the main concerns associated with the drug development process is the high attrition rate, which is often linked to the trial-and-error method adopted for lead identification. In this context, only a small percentage of pharmacological leads are eventually translated into potential candidates for clinical studies. Further, of these candidates, nearly 90% are una

Attempts to synthetically recreate the biological circuits in human body is a relatively new area of research within synthetic biology. Ever since the 2010s, the use of molecular “toggle” switches to mimic electronic circuits has been prevalent to understand, alter, and recreate molecular circuits within the human body. The evolution of chemistry and synthetic biology has reached an interesting point as these complex processes, including genetic regulation, expression, and replicatio

Pathology is a subfield of medical science that primarily focuses on the nature, genesis and cause of a disease. Further, pathology forms an essential component of diagnostic pathways established for multiple disease indications, especially cancer detection. In fact, 70-80% of the total healthcare decisions involved in either diagnosis or treatment of ailments require a pathological assessment. Further, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), by 2040, 27 million new

Bioavailability is known to form an integral part of the drug pharmacokinetics. As a result, over the last couple of years, the concept of bioavailability has garnered significant attention in the pharmaceutical industry. Further, a study conducted on terminated drug development projects revealed that majority of the candidates fail in early phases. The study further highlighted that the aforementioned drug failures can primarily be attributed to the problems associated with pharmacokinetic prof

Neurological disorders are considered the second leading cause of death and the primary cause of long-term disability, worldwide. Across the globe, over 6.5 million neurological disorder related deaths are reported annually. Further, according to a report published by the United Nations (UN), close to 1 billion people, globally, suffer from various types of neurological disorders. The growing number of patients suffering from neurodegenerative disorders has imposed a huge burden, in terms of fin