SBWire

Pharma is a competitive industry and organisations within it are constantly looking to find new ways to get ahead and to reach every part of the market. However, there are lines that even competitors can't cross and this is something that can be seen in action in the recent successful injunctions won by Boehringer Ingelheim against Dr. Reddy's Labs and MSN Labs. The two Indian labs recently released low-priced versions of the German pharma company's anti-diabetes drug empagliflozin, despite the fact that the German brand has a valid product patent in the country until 2025. The injunctions are interim injunctions and will mean that the Indian manufacturers will be restricted when it comes to the sale, use, import etc of generic versions of empagliflozin. The validity of Boehringer Ingelheim's patent in India provided a firm foundation for the injunctions, which were based on the infringement triggered by the actions of Dr. Reddy's Labs and MSN Labs.

The labor market in the US has gone through some seismic shifts over the past year or so and new patterns are emerging in terms of the way that we engage with work today. In particular, we are beginning to see a new working generation focused on leveraging the power that they have in the labor market to continually move on to bigger and better things.

Prospects are looking bright for the insurance sector in 2022 - at least according to Deloitte's 2022 insurance industry outlook. Despite the fact that this year has been a tricky one for many insurance businesses, two-thirds of the respondents to the Deloitte survey said that they felt that revenues would be "significantly better" next year.

Finding opportunities to ensure that workplace accidents don't get repeated is one of the most important elements in the evolution of the construction sector. Any tool that could be useful to make that happen is worth integrating - and there are plenty on offer now thanks to the way that technology has developed. Job site safety is a high priority for engineering and infrastructure projects and the use of autonomous work vehicles could now make this much easier to achieve.

Even in 2021, data science is still a relatively new and growing field in which to work. However, it's also one of the most innovative areas of technology and one where there is huge opportunity for progress. Such has been the demand for those with data analytics skills that data scientist was the number one job in America between 2016 and 2020. Now that organizations are relying even more on data-driven decision making there is a huge market for data analytics jobs and those with the right skill set to help businesses start using the data they have to thrive.

The cloud is driving digital transformation across many different sectors today. Organizations eager to move to the next level are focused on finding the right people to help recruit for a more resilient approach, especially given the challenges of recent times. Average salaries for cloud infrastructure jobs are already in the six figures and that's not the only benefit for those who work in this field.

Severe spinal cord injuries can be some of the hardest to treat and offer the most difficult path to recovery. Now, the discovery of 'dancing molecules' may provide hope to those who have suffered a devastating spinal cord injury, as they may be able to reverse paralysis and repair tissues. In a new study, paralyzed mice were injected with just one dose of a new therapy - and a month later regained the ability to walk. The treatment sends bioactive signals to trigger cells to repair and regenerate.

Pediatric patients in need of a valve replacement have historically had few options. There are two solutions that have traditionally been put forward - a purely mechanical valve, which comes with an increased risk of blood clots, and a valve that has been made from animal tissues (a bioprosthetic valve). The major issue that most children have faced with both of these options is outgrowing them.

Clinical trial management has faced many obstacles in recent times, not least thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, technology has the potential to help transform this vital field of life sciences and to create opportunities to do more with the insights and research available. AI-powered support automation - chatbots - for example, can provide a lot of key support for clinical study, especially when it comes to organizing the more mundane parts of the process.

Digitization and digital operations have been prioritized in procurement over the past 12-24 months. Today, research has emerged indicating that it's the digital world-class procurement organizations that fully embrace digitization that typically achieve the top results when it comes to efficiency, as well as meeting and managing the expectations of customers.

Supply chain disruption has been hitting the headlines throughout 2021 and there is no sign that this is going to ease up much as we start the new year. In fact, recent input from the experts indicates that the problems experienced with supply chains today could well continue into 2023. High variability, rising inflation, issues with port infrastructure and shortages of containers are noted by experts as being significant, creating something of a perfect storm when it comes to ongoing disruption. Rather than a focus on last mile delivery issues it's actually the first mile of delivery where reliability in the supply chain is currently a real problem.

We continue to see many examples of action being taken against organizations and institutions that fall short where regulatory compliance is concerned. One of the most recent is Mashreqbank, which is based in the United Arab Emirates. The bank was fined $100 million by the New York State Department of Financial Services for violating sanctions regulations and also for not having an adequate compliance program in place. Thousands of payments were flagged by the New York State Department of Financial Services as being problematic.

Smart manufacturing is accelerating across the USA, as organizations seek to achieve greater efficiencies and explore the opportunities that technology and innovation can create. Key to the speed at which smart manufacturing is able to develop is the level of education within the industry. Two organizations looking to tackle this are SME, a non-profit professional association dedicated to advancing manufacturing, and CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute, which together have formed a collaboration, combining their resources, to help businesses begin to invest more in the smart manufacturing approach.

Heart health is something that has been a focus for the medical industry for decades. However, now there is increasing research indicating that the long-held views on the role that cholesterol has to play in heart health might actually be wide of the mark. Landmark early studies on cholesterol laid the foundations for dietary guidelines that suggest saturated fat should make up only around 10% of total energy intake today. However, since those early studies, it has been established that it's not the cholesterol itself that causes the issues but the lipoproteins that carry it to and from cells - and that the narrow focus on low cholesterol as a route to a healthy heart might have been misguided.

Medical affairs is an area of life sciences that continues to evolve, particularly given the shifting regulatory landscape that affects the way that the real-world applications of drugs can be communicated. A 2020 report by McKinsey & Company suggested that this is such a vital area that the relevance of medical affairs be accelerated to improve patient access to, and ensure optimal engagement with, treatment. The report identified a number of key ways in which this could be achieved, including integrating more patient-centric healthcare by creating partnerships with a wider range of healthcare stakeholders and also focusing on targeted recruitment.

Being able to monitor adverse drug reactions is vital to the ongoing development of the life sciences sector and something that is a focus for patients, clinicians and regulatory agencies. Data is vital to this process - the collection of real-world data can inform everything, from black box warnings to drugs being withdrawn from the market as a result of pharmacovigilance processes. Today, there is a wealth of technology to make this system even more effective and this digitization is defining a new era in pharmacovigilance careers. From spontaneous reporting databases to social media surveillance, the use of digital devices and electronic health record monitoring, there are many opportunities to improve efficiency and accuracy in this field.

Although employment news has been challenging in many sectors throughout 2021, the technology industry has seen consistent demand. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US IT industry added 8,900 available positions in September this year and 4,800 available positions in October. The market has continued to grow despite the obstacles that have been thrown up by COVID-19 - and, in fact, has benefitted from the widespread digitization that has been the result of the pandemic response. Many in the industry have speculated that the issue is not the availability of roles when it comes to positions such as commercial services jobs in IT but the availability of candidates.

While the first sign of the pandemic in many industries was an increase in activity, in the world of R&D jobs in pharma it was when nothing happened at all. The usual supply of clinical data simply disappeared as lockdowns forced people to stay at home and made normal structures and circumstances impossible. 40% of life sciences companies had to delay or cancel a study as a result of the conditions that were triggered by the pandemic and this has forced a rethink in terms of the way that clinical studies happen going forward.

The most recent fixed income outlook from Goldman Sachs asset management has identified an ongoing situation of changing landscapes and challenges as the pandemic continues to evolve. However, it's not just COVID-19 that is having an impact on the way that the market is changing but also other factors including logistical problems and changing demand dynamics. Financial conditions have eased somewhat since 2020 and there is a positive impulse from fiscal spending as well as global activity that is expansionary.

Times have been lean for everyone at moments over the past year but, as we come round to the bonus season once again, it seems like there is a much more positive outcome to look forward to. Tight talent markets in locations such as New York and London have meant that firms are introducing discretionary special bonuses that are designed to act as an incentive to keep hold of those who might otherwise be looking elsewhere for great benefits and higher salaries. Paul Weiss has already announced that it intends to pay these discretionary special bonuses, which will be received by those lucky enough to deserve them, on top of the regular bonuses for the end of the year.

Modular construction is a burgeoning trend thanks to rapid urbanization across the world as well as a rise in demand for building methods that are greener and more sustainable. In 2020, the Global Modular Construction Market was valued at USD 95.49 billion and this is projected to rise to more than USD 140 billion by 2027. As affordability begins to bite for many construction projects there is also a need to be able to integrate more complex design and this is where modular construction has many advantages. It tends to be not only a more cost-effective construction process but also one that is easier to manage and which can significantly reduce the volume of labor that is required on-site.

October was a pretty impressive month for cryptocurrencies - the most well-known of all, Bitcoin, enjoyed a 40% spike and many others also pushed up to reach an all-time high. The Shiba Inu coin, for example, gained more than 800% during the month. Shiba Inu coin was created as a spin-off from the Dogecoin but overtook the original by a long way thanks to October's incredible activity. There's no doubt that Bitcoin changed the financial world forever when it was invented in 2009 and it now has the potential to dominate the balance sheets of corporate America too.

Insuretch is a burgeoning industry across the world and the US sector enjoyed a positive wave of funding in the third quarter of 2021. According to a recent report from Forrester Research Inc, global insurtech funding reached $53 billion in the third quarter of this year. This is in comparison to the same time period the year before where only $1.87 billion of insurtech funding was recorded. Of this increased amount, 70% was received by US insurtechs with the largest volume of funding being channeled into early-stage start-ups. In terms of Q4, the outlook remains strong and the forecast is bullish for the rest of the year.

Wastewater treatment is a vital process, one that can have many challenges - and cost is often one of the biggest. Using aeration technology can have multiple benefits, whether that relates to performance, reliability or energy efficiency. Proper aeration is a crucial part of the process, as it will ensure that organic compounds are biologically decomposed. The air itself is, of course, a free resource. However, aeration systems can be incredibly costly, not just in terms of paying for the infrastructure but also the energy - new research has revealed that aeration can account for up to 90% of the energy costs of a wastewater plant. Different plants tend to have a range of different aeration needs and these are generally met either by surface aeration or air being introduced at the bottom of a tank, with the former often the more costly option.

Elon Musk has become a big figure on Twitter since he joined but using the social media platform to make investment decisions is not something anyone anticipated he would do. Nevertheless, Musk recently launched a Twitter poll that appeared to give Twitter users the chance to decide whether or not he would sell a large chunk of Tesla shares. However, it has now emerged that Elon Musk had actually already committed to selling many of his shares in the company weeks before he even mentioned it on social media. According to an SEC filing, Musk had actually committed to selling at least $1 billion of shares in Tesla in September.