Clean energy investments declined 12.1% last year to $254 billion due to the reduced cost of photovoltaic systems and changes in investor confidence as a result of US and European policy changes. In fact, European investments fell 40.9% to $57.8 billion. China, the largest investor, reduced its investments for the first time in more than […]

CROs are projected to be the leading growth market for the instrument industry in 2014. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms are increasingly outsourcing analytical research activities and clinical trials, especially those located in China. The CRO market is followed closely by biotech, agriculture/food, hospital/clinical and pharmaceutical labs, all with similar analysis requirements, especially utilizing mass spectrometry […]

As part of the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) final 2014 Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) released in November, the CMS has announced a new process for reviewing payment amounts for tests that are part of the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS). The CLFS sets the price paid by Medicare for clinical […]

The FDA has announced that it plans to revise the language of two draft food safety rules, which were announced in January as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule and Preventive Controls for Human Food (see IBO 1/31/13). The rules proposed standards for the produce industry and safety requirements for food […]

According to a report by EuroStemCell, the Kyoto University Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences and Elsevier based on an analysis of publications in the Scopus database, stem cell research is growing rapidly. Stem cell research publications totaled 21,193 in 2012 to make up 1% of global scientific publications. Between 2008 and 2012, the number of […]

The US government has announced a budget agreement that eliminates sequestration for fiscal 2014. As a result, non-defense discretionary spending is estimated to increase 4.7% to $491 billion. However, final appropriations for individual agencies have yet to be determined. Optimism is high regarding budgets for research agencies because the standard budget process, in which Congressional […]

Global gross expenditures on R&D (GERD) are estimated to increase 2.7% in 2013 to $1,558 billion in terms of purchasing power parity, or 1.8% of GDP. In 2014, GERD is expected to grow 3.9%. The top 10 countries accounted for about 80% of GERD. Asia, the Americas, Europe and Rest of World accounted for 38%, […]

An analysis of the 12 largest research-based biopharmaceutical firms found that, between 2010 and 2013, these companies did not refill their drug pipelines at a sufficient rate to compensate for the new drugs released, the failure of compounds in development, and lower sales forecasts for compounds in late-stage development. Consequently, the value of their drug […]

The FDA has released finalized guidance on the distribution of IVD products. IVD products for the lab research phase of development may be commercialized if they are labeled, “For Research Use Only [RUO]. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.” Investigational devices shipped for testing prior to commercial marketing must be labeled, “For Investigational Use Only […]