In an effort to stimulate the economy, cut drug costs and reduce the dependence on imports, Russia has made its pharmaceutical industry a priority for modernization. The Pharma 2020 strategy aims to increase the percentage of medicines made in Russia from 23% to more than 50% over a 10-year period. Based on the strategy, a […]

Generic drug sales in Brazil grew 24% last year to $2.5 billion to make up 15% of the country’s drug market, according to IMS. Units sold rose 19.4% to $330.9 million. Pró Genéricos, the generic drug industry organization, expects $444 million of Brazilian drug patents to expire in 2010–2011. Pró Genéricos estimates that there are […]

Foreign drug companies are rapidly increasing their share of the Indian market. Since December 2008, the number of top 10 drug firms in India controlled by foreign companies has increased from one to four. Daiichi Sankyo acquired Ranbaxy Laboratories, Sanofi-Aventis purchased Shantha Biotechnics, and Abbott Laboratories plans to acquire Piramal Healthcare. Tarun Shah of MP […]

In 2009, revenues for the Swiss biotechnology industry grew 7.3% to CHF 9,343 million ($8,572 million). R&D spending by the industry rose 6.2% to CHF 2,199 million. Publicly held firms accounted for 80% of revenues and 72% of R&D spending. However, profits for the industry fell 47.6% to CHF 100 million, and liquidity fell 5.3% […]

The World Bank has approved a $100 million loan to China, its largest food safety loan to date. The money will finance 70% of the government’s Jilin Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Project. Located in northeast China, Jilin province is a major supplier of agriculture to the country. The Project is designed to improve product […]

There are more than 50 countries in Africa, yet the region’s research output remains disproportionately low. According to an analysis of research papers in Thomson Reuters’ Web of Sciences database published between 1999 and 2008, Africa’s north region (five countries) accounted for the greatest portion of the continent’s scientific output, publishing 10,500 papers in 2008. […]

The RAPEX 2009 Annual Report details non-food consumer-product safety notifications. The RAPEX system enables EU member states to share information about dangerous products. The number of measures taken and notifications about dangerous products rose 7% in 2009 to 1,993. The highest number of notifications were issued for toys (28% of notifications), and clothing and textiles […]

According to a survey conducted earlier this year by biotechnologie.de for the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in 2009, there were 531 firms “occupied primarily with biotech” in Germany, a 6.0% increase. The number of employees at these companies grew 3.5% to 14,950. However, revenues declined 0.3% to €2,184 million ($2,914 million), and R&D […]

China has released an update to its rules for chemical registration and evaluation. Although in effect since 2003, few companies comply with the rules, according to China Chemical Industry News. To comply, chemical manufacturers and users must register new chemical substances with the Ministry of Environmental Protection if they are not already included in an […]

The Swedish government has increased R&D appropriations for 2010 by 3.3% to SEK 29,470 million ($4,092 million) (in 2010 prices). R&D funds appropriated for the country’s “higher education units” increased 1.9% to SEK 13,636 million. R&D appropriations for the Swedish Research Council rose 10.7% to SEK 4,500 million. Measured by the category of “education and […]