According to Food Processing magazine’s 39th Annual R&D Survey, which questioned 310 food manufacturers, R&D remains a priority. Half of those surveyed chose “new product development” as the most important target for their companies’ R&D efforts this year, followed by “existing product improvement,” which was selected by 13% of respondents. Food safety and nutrition are […]

IMS Healthcare Insight is maintaining its forecast of 4%–6% growth in pharmaceutical sales this year. Slower growth due to patent expirations and government cost mandates will be offset by growth in emerging markets. Over the next five years, patents will expire for products with sales of more than $142 billion. Drug sales are forecasted to […]

The food and beverage industry’s capital spending is expected to increase 19.3% this year, according to a survey of 32 public companies. In 2009, these companies’ capital spending fell 8.7%. Twenty-four of the 32 firms project increases in capital spending this year, led by PepsiCo and Tyson Foods. Spending plans include greenfield projects, which are […]

Pharmacy-service companies Medco Health Services and CVS Caremark are increasing their positions in the genomic-testing market. Medco recently purchased DNA Direct, and late last year, CVS partnered with Generation Health. Medco and CVS previously offered services for personalized medicine, but have expanded them in response to the growing number of genetic tests, payor interest and […]

Investment in clean energy fell 6.6% last year to $162 billion. These figures exclude R&D, which totaled $25 billion in 2009. In 2010, investment is forecast to increase 25% to $200 billion. Global stimulus funding for clean energy was over $184 billion, including $77 billion in the US and $47 billion in China. But only […]