Author Archives: Joanna Breitstein

Gearing up: HBA Leadership Conference

Two thousand and eight seems to be a year of unprecedented female leadership. Forget for a second (if you can) the run-off for the Presidential election. If you just consider healthcare, the ladies are really stepping up—and making all the right moves. Consider a few examples: J&J names Sheri McCoy worldwide chairman of pharmaceuticals [...]
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Linguistics: "Salami-slicing" Orphan Drugs

Ultra-orphan? It’s a phrase I never heard before, but increasingly, companies are taking it on and finding it a useful way to describe the very smallest patient groups. “Language is very important, and you have to understand how it affects perception,” says Maria Hardin, vice president of patient services for NORD (National Organization for Rare Diseases). [...]
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Access Programs and Financial Benefit

I’ve always been interested in pre-approval access because it is at the cutting-edge of bringing science and patients together – and it really is about helping those in need. But research presented today in Baltimore, at CBI’s conference on Pre-Approval Access (sponsored by IDIS), shows that there is a financial return for providing these programs [...]
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UBS Life Science Conference Dominated by Wall Street Drama

The UBS meeting’s annual Global Life Sciences Conference this week in Manhattan confronted a unique nexus of Wall Street’s manic behaviors resulting from the nation’s financial crisis and the heavy presence of security on the streets and at the conference hotel as the Sept. 22-25 meeting coincides with nearby UN sessions. These events heightened the [...]
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Clinton Tinkers With Malaria Market

A team of reporters and camera crews packed into the headquarters of the Clinton Foundation on West 125th Street this afternoon to hear the details of former President Bill Clinton’s plan to tinker with the market for malaria drugs “in a way that has positive implications for the pharmaceutical companies,” he said.
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