Articles By Marcus Johnson

  1. Merck To End Testing On Chimps 1/31/2014

    Under pressure from animal rights groups and with the new cost effectiveness of improved technology, some companies in the pharmaceutical industry are giving up practice of testing drugs on animals, namely chimpanzees.

  2. A Unique Take On Pharmaceutical Research 1/31/2014

    In an increasingly competitive drug industry, getting key patents on new treatments can be extremely lucrative and drive not only sales, but research and development for new drugs. In a unique move, pharmaceutical company UCB has created a global competition where individuals or families with unique health characteristics are awarded.

  3. Which Pharmaceutical Companies Will Win The Marijuana Battle 1/29/2014

    In the United States, marijuana is becoming increasingly socially acceptable. Colorado and Washington, traditionally liberal states, have made it legal to carry relatively small amounts of the drug for recreational use. In California, the drug is already legal for medical use. Even in more traditional states such as Florida, medical marijuana has reached the 2014 ballot. The rapid state level legalization of marijuana in the US presents some important challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies are interested in the opportunities of the marijuana market, with some companies traveling as far as Uruguay to find a high quality product.

  4. Are Drug Companies Returning To Research And Development? 1/29/2014

    For years, the medical community has claimed that pharmaceutical companies had abandoned efforts in research and development of new antibiotic drugs. Indeed, the statistics seem to support that notion. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports a steady drop in approvals for new antibacterial drugs each year, from almost 20 in 1984 to nearly none in 2012.

  5. Are The Life Sciences Inching Closer To Profiling Colon Cancer? 1/21/2014

    Colon cancer is a common killer, and is currently the third most acquired cancer in the world. Major industry leader Caris Life Sciences, has been preparing a presentation to share their findings in their colon cancer profiling project. Their study had over 7,000 test patients, which has made it the largest of such studies of colon cancer on record. Caris took the approach of individualizing the process, looking at each individual’s symptoms and cancer mutations instead of treating the disease as the same for each of the 7,000 patients.