Posts from — January 2009

Become A Contributor To “the international medical market place” and get your message heard around the world.

If you would like to share an opinion, expert advice or simply argue your case for the world to critique then submit your article to the editors (editor@sibaya.com) for publishing.

This is a great way to either be known (we get several thousand hits on the site and are indexed by Google and other major search engines) or simply to get your message across to your audience.

The editors will review your submission and publish it should it meet our requirements. Our requirements are entirely at our discretion and we reserve the right to not publish anything at all without explanation. We have to add that clause because unfortunately the Internet has some very divergent views and individuals.

The work you publish must be entirely original and must not be subject to copyright, contain profanity or confidential company information.

We reserve the right to edit your article and also accept no responsibility for its contents.

We also do not accept “paid” bloggers.

Market rumors abound that pharmaceutical sales reps at Pfizer may be the next to go. CNBC and Bloomberg are announcing the possibility that 2400 US domestic sales employees (about a third of the sales force) may be let go due to off patent drug expiry, and no doubt the current world financial crisis?

The irony is that we reported about a month ago that Pfizer was ranked number 1 in traditional detailing by physicians.

Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Calls And Sales Force Effectiveness – The Trend

It would not surprising of course to see sales rep layoffs coming in the medical device business as well – judging by the recent news at Cardinal.

Economic Downturn Hits Hospital Supply And Medical Device Business

Ahead of the next Pharmapack Conference, the European Commission has revised its guidance on the readability of consumer pharmaceutical labeling. This includes primary and outer packaging labels as well as leaflets / inserts.

The main purpose of this document is to provide guidance on how to ensure that the information on the package label and package leaflet / insert is accessible to and can be understood by those who receive it.

It includes information on how the requirements for Braille must be met with a suitable package leaflet format for the blind and partially-sighted consumer.

Interestingly, one of the conference topics on day 2 will address how Braille can be applied, verified and measured.

The guidance indicates that as a minimum the (invented) name of the drug followed by its strength should be available in Braille on the packaging of the product. Space being an issue for small volume products, recommendations such as contracted Braille or certain defined abbreviations are given.

The guideline also includes an example of methodology of validating the acceptability of the package insert.

This guidance has a fast approaching deadline – next June.

The EU document (PDF file) is available from the European Commission Website.

Bruno Cocheteux is a Managing Partner at Sibaya Lifescience!

Advanced Medical Optics , spun off from Allergan, Inc. in 2002, has just been acquired by Abbott.

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO), specialized in corneal, refractive and cataract products, competes with industry ophthalmic heavy weights, Alcon, Bausch and Lomb and Carl Zeiss Meditec.

John Capec, EVP Abbott said:

“With AMO, Abbott will immediately become a global leader in vision,” said John M. Capek, executive vice president, Medical Devices, Abbott. “The business is poised for long-term growth, driven by advances in refractive surgery technologies, including LASIK, and an aging global population.”

Makes sense with one possible caveat – ophthalmology requires focus and the most successful companies have been largely independent. This changes with the Abbott acquisition, but also comes short on the heels of the new majority shareholding by Novartis in Alcon…

We will see.

This conference, supported by industry opinion leaders and exhibitors will take place in Paris January 21, 22, 2009.

The event provides a unique opportunity to not only update on state of the art scientific developments but also to do business with like minded people in the drug packaging and drug delivery business.

The location is LA GRANDE HALLE DE LA VILLETTE – HALL Charlie Parker.

View Larger Map

Bruno Cocheteux is a Managing Partner at Sibaya LifeScience!

Cardinal Health, citing reduced demand for equipment capital budgets in hospitals, has reduced their earnings outlook for 2009.

David Schlotterbeck, CEO of Clinical and Medical Products said, “With the delay in hospital capital spending, we expect softness in our capital equipment sales to continue in the second half of the fiscal year. It is important to note that more than 40 percent of our Clinical and Medical Products business comes from the sale of disposable products and remains stable. There are also segments of our capital equipment business less affected, and therefore we expect Clinical and Medical Products segment results for the fiscal year to be flat or better than last fiscal year.”

Cardinal Press Release:

Stock is expected to trade down when the market opens.

Press Release:

08 Jan. 2009 (Brussels, Belgium) With complementary missions to improve the delivery of healthcare with the best use of health IT and management systems, the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) have agreed to coordinate their efforts on education, public policy and market access in Europe. COCIR, which has been a member of the organising committee of the World of Health IT Conference and Exhibition since its launch in 2006, will also bring its support to HIMSS educational efforts in the Middle East at the first HIMSS Middle East conference to be held in Manama, Bahrain on 5-7 May 2009.
[Read more →]