"Ulysses" / James Joyce cumple 100 años

 

  — Veamos: en el escenario, algunos objetos (una mesa y dos sillas, una camilla, una estantería con obras médicas de consulta, varios frascos) permiten al espectador pensar que está frente a la consulta de un médico en torno a 1904 o fecha similar; precisamente, un actor caracterizado como médico se encuentra sentado a la mesa completando unos papeles cuando golpean a la puerta. Alguien (llamémoslo James Joyce, por ejemplo) ingresa por la derecha al escenario después de que el médico se lo ordene: es joven pero camina encorvado y parece tener dificultades para ver con claridad a cierta distancia.

“¿Qué puedo hacer por usted?”, pregunta el médico. 

James Joyce responde: “En el transcurso de un encuentro nocturno con la realidad de la experiencia es posible que haya adquirido la enfermedad descrita por Galeno: he estado orinando anzuelos de pesca durante semanas”. 

El médico le hace una seña para que se acerque y se baje los pantalones; reticente, Joyce accede y pone al descubierto un miembro viril cubierto de pus que el médico sostiene un momento entre el pulgar y el índice de su mano izquierda: de su extremo cae una gota de pus de color blanquecino. “Gonorrea, efectivamente”, constata.

 “Veremos si reacciona bien a la irrigación con permanganato potásico. Por favor, póngase de pie y sostenga esta bacinilla bajo sus partes”, agrega. 

Extrae una jeringa de considerables dimensiones repleta de un líquido de color ligeramente azulado, lo introduce en el meato urinario del paciente apretando el glande y bombea el desinfectante, que provoca un reflujo de pus y orina y sangre que se derrama en la bacinilla. Joyce, naturalmente, se desmaya.

El estado mental 

LITERATURA Y ENFERMEDAD 

Patricio Pron

 

Ver: 

Ulysses cumple 100 años

Ratón de biblioteca: Viagra pàra las marcas / Joan Mir Juliá

La innovación Viagra es el auténtico motor de vitalidad para las nuevas marcas y un revitalizador para las que ya llevan un tiempo en el mercado y empiezan a mostrar signos de fatiga.
  La innovación Viagra se basa en la innovación en conceptos (nuevas necesidades, nuevos usuarios, nuevos usos).

La creación de un concepto brillante precisa que éste sea diferente, singular, único y original, que no sea una copia de algo ya existente. Además debe ser relevante y cautivador.

En un mundo saturado de productos y servicios, el primer requisito para que una nueva idea tenga futuro es la diferenciación, el aportar algo realmente distinto, y que se sustente en la simplicidad, en la sencillez, en la lógica y en la coherencia.

Por otro lado, este nuevo concepto debe sustentarse en una ejecución impecable, gestionando de forma óptima el producto o servicio, la marca, la comunicación, la distribución y el precio.

La prueba de que estamos ante un concepto innovador e impecablemente ejecutado aparece si se dan dos situaciones por parte del usuario: repetición de compra y recomendación del producto o servicio.

Generar una nueva categoría no es fácil, supone cambiar hábitos en los usuarios. Una nueva categoría se asentará en el mercado si es capaz de aportar un beneficio diferencial y relevante a un número suficiente de consumidores.

La capacidad de una empresa para generar innovación Viagra, en cantidad y calidad, depende de la activación de tres palancas del proceso de innovar:

1.  Disponer de personas con talento.
2.  Ser una organización orientada claramente a la innovación.
3.   Ejecutar una metodología sistematizada.

Una vez hayamos generado una innovación sustancial que funciona en un determinado nicho de mercado, hemos de tratar de extenderla hacia un consumo masivo (nuevos usuarios o nuevos usos).

La marca Aspirina, de Bayer, es un medicamento que se lanzó como remedio para aliviar el dolor o bajar la fiebre. Como Aspirina contiene ácido acetilsalicílico, un componente no indicado para personas con el estómago sensible, la presencia en el mercado farmacéutico de productos que superaban este inconveniente hizo que, por un tiempo, Aspirina perdiera vitalidad. Sin embargo, hace unos años se descubrió que Aspirina tenía efectos anticoagulantes en la sangre, lo que llevó a la marca a añadir el nuevo concepto de "prevención de problemas cardiovasculares". Nuevo concepto, mismo producto, nuevos usuarios y más frecuencia de uso. .

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Largest pharmaceutical industry M&A until early 2021(in billion U.S. dollars)

 As of 2021, the largest deal in pharmaceutical industry history was Pfizer’s acquisition of Warner-Lambert for nearly 90 billion U.S. dollars in 2000. A further two deals in the rankings involve the American company Pfizer: its acquisitions of rival firms Pharmacia (2002) and Wyeth (2009).

Deals that reshaped the pharma industry 

The year 2000 was a significant one in the pharmaceutical industry. The merger of SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoWellcome was completed at the end of the year and created a pharmaceutical giant to compete with Pfizer. Rising research and development (R&D) costs were one reason for such mega-mergers – the R&D expenditure of companies based in the United States increased by approximately 11 billion U.S. dollars between 1995 and 2000. In the race to develop new drugs, companies searched for merger partners so that R&D budgets could be combined.

Pfizer believes in the power of advertising Pfizer was ranked as one of the world’s most valuable pharmaceutical brands in 2020. The company continues to invest large sums of money into advertising its products to consumers. One of the company’s best-known products is Viagra, which entered the market in 1998 and quickly became one of the most heavily advertised products in the pharmaceutical industry.

BIOGEN: Aduhelm "borra" también las expectativas y previsiones de ventas

 

Biogen readies fight to reverse preliminary CMS coverage decision for Aduhelm

Biogen executives on Thursday pledged to try to reverse a draft decision by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would sharply limit Medicare coverage of its Alzheimer's disease drug Aduhelm (aducanumab). 

The "coverage with evidence development" proposal would only cover Alzheimer's amyloid antibody treatments for patients who are enrolled in approved clinical trials, a decision that threatens to further erode Aduhelm's already struggling sales.

Biogen had expected roughly 50,000 patients would begin treatment with Aduhelm in 2022. However, CEO Michel Vounatsos estimates that only a small number, possibly in the hundreds, who have the resources and time to travel to major hospitals conducting the trials, would now get access to the drug under the CMS rule

Stakeholders urged to voice disapproval

The draft proposal is currently in a 30-day public comment period, with Alisha Alaimo, president of Biogen's US business, saying it is "really, really important" for stakeholders to express their view about the policy. Vounatsos also urged patients to "make their voice heard" during the period to allow for a "broader and more equitable access" to the therapy. After that period closes, Biogen executives said there is likely to be a 30-day period when CMS officials will meet with interested companies and advocacy groups.

Vounatsos indicated that he has had no dialogue with CMS during an initial Medicare coverage review process last year, other than a call with the administrator at the review's outset. In the near future, the CEO hopes that he and his team can meet with CMS officials to share the company's perspective. He also anticipates the final decision, due by April 12, will look different than the "dramatic" CMS proposal that was issued this week.

Most cost-cutting on the way? Meanwhile, the drugmaker recently announced plans for $500 million in cost-reduction measures in 2022, and company officials suggested Thursday that more could be on the horizon if Medicare's final decision does not go its way. "We are engaging very closely with our board on tactical shorter measures, but also strategic options," remarked Vounatsos, although he did not provide specifics.

Biogen previously said that the healthcare system has been "a major bottleneck" to uptake of Aduhelm, which was awarded an accelerated approval by the FDA in June despite doubts over its safety and efficacy .

Ver: 

Todo sobre Aduhelm en PHARMACOSERIAS

The drug's original annual cost of $56,000 per patient also raised concerns over the toll it might take on the Medicare programme. Last month, the company slashed Aduhelm's list price by about half to $28,200 per year . Biogen has indicated that it was banking on the pending Medicare decision to provide "clarity on reimbursement" to help drive sales.

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Creatividad: Ministerio de Sanidad / Esto no es un juego

 

Humor...es lunes: Test al grito Munch

 

FORBES: 100 españoles más ricos.

 

'Science': ‘Patient zero’ COVID-19 un vendedor de Wuhan.

 

The search for ‘patient zero’

"The “Patient Zero” of a viral pandemic is the first individual to be infected by the disease. Scientists attempt to locate this patient using a host of genetic, evolutionary and epidemiological models."

Ver:

How Do Scientists Find “Patient Zero” Of A Viral Pandemic?

There is an intense ongoing investigation to find out exactly when Covid-19 emerged in humans. It’s important to identify how epidemics emerge, not least the current pandemic, and especially how it is spread. As suspected, it was in circulation a lot earlier than initially indicated.

A 55-year-old individual from Hubei province in China may have been the first person to have contracted Covid-19, according to the South China Morning Post. This dates back to November 17th, more than a month earlier than doctors noted cases in Wuhan in late December.

Authorities suspected the virus stemmed from something sold at a “wet (seafood) market” in the city. It’s now clear some infected people had no connection to that location. That included one of the earliest cases from December 1st; researchers reported in The Lancet.

Scientists now suspect SARS-CoV-2 (its medical name) originated in a bat and somehow hopped to another animal, possibly the pangolin, which then passed it on to humans. It is now spreading between people without any animal intermediary.

 

If they can find the earliest cases, they may be able to confirm the animal host where the virus lurks. Even with this November 17th case identified, doctors can’t be certain the individual is “patient zero”, the first to have been infected. 

There’s every chance even earlier cases will be found. Más

Cinema Paradiso: Coronavirus Patient Zero / Jason Campbell

A clinic in Washington state tries to cope with an influx of patients suffering from a new outbreak of illness, Dr. Stone (Tim Ross), the head physician, tries to understand the cause and who is Patient Zero as the CDC moves in to quarantine the clinic in a desperate attempt to stop the spread.

US doctor Jason Campbell whose dance videos posted on social media have proven just the right medicine for hundreds of thousands of people, including health care workers talks to TRT World about how it all began and why.

Ver también:

 'Science':  ‘Patient zero’ COVID-19  un vendedor de Wuhan.

 

Pfizer vs Merck: PAXLOVID vs MOLNUPIRAVIR

 

With at-home Covid-19 testing kits beginning to arrive in Americans’ mailboxes nationwide, people who test positive for Covid and at high risk for severe illness may want to seek out two newly authorized antiviral pills that have been shown to cut the risk of hospitalization or death.

 Unlike all other FDA-authorized Covid treatments, which need to be given intravenously or by injection from a health care provider, the two antiviral pills — Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck's molnupiravir — can be picked up at a pharmacy and taken at home.

The two easy-to-administer treatments add to the nation's Covid arsenal at a time when federal regulators have asked states to stop using certain antibody drugs because they don't work against the omicron variant, which now accounts for virtually all new cases in the United States. Pfizer and Merck have said their pills should work against the new strain.

To be sure, the process for obtaining the pills is more complex than for Covid vaccines and other treatments, and both drugs come with risk of side effects for certain groups of people.

Additionally, finding the pills won't be easy for everyone, health experts say, as they are currently in short supply in the U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services has already allocated hundreds of thousands of courses of the antivirals, but the distribution has varied by state and some state governments may have different eligibility requirements for who can receive the drugs. In some places, preference is given to the unvaccinated or those with weak immune systems who don't respond well to vaccination.

"There is very limited supply at this point and they are for very specific types of patients," said Kurt Proctor, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at the National Community Pharmacists Association. "It certainly isn't like every person who gets one of these [over-the-counter] tests and, if they test positive, should start trying to get one of these meds."

 The pills are not available to everyone.

 The FDA authorized Paxlovid for at-risk people as young as 12 with mild to moderate Covid to receive a five-day course of the medication. The agency authorized molnupiravir for at-risk adults with the illness. Molnupiravir is also limited to situations where other authorized treatments are inaccessible or not “clinically appropriate," according to the FDA.

Because of supply shortages, some states and local governments may have even narrower eligibility requirements and some people at high risk may be turned away. Additionally, unvaccinated patients may get priority when there is a limited supply under National Institutes of Health guidelines.

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Pfizer frente a MSD/Merck: comparamos las dos píldoras contra la covid

La EMA también tiene previsto dar el visto bueno en febrero a otro antiviral de administración oral, de la farmacéutica Merck, cuyo uso también fue aprobado por parte de la Administración de Medicamentos y Alimentos estadounidense (FDA por sus siglas en inglés) un día después de la píldora de Pfizer.

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SANDOZ (NOVARTIS) could be valued at around $25 billion...

 

Private equity firms Blackstone Inc and Carlyle Group Inc are in talks about potentially teaming up on a bid for Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ generics unit, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. 

The companies have been studying the merits of a joint offer for the Sandoz business, which could be valued at around $25 billion, according to the report.

Ver:

SANDOZ: Listo para todo...

Other buyout firms are also considering bids, Bloomberg News said. 

Last year, Novartis announced a strategic review of its generics unit, Sandoz, after years of revamping the business, as price pressures mount in the off-patent drug sector. 

Carlyle and Novartis declined to comment, while Blackstone did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment

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Creatividad: SANDOZ...Se vende

 

Humor...es lunes: Símbolo de la medicina

 

Biogen’s reckoning: How the Aduhelm debacle pushed a troubled company and its fractured leadership to the brink

 

The shocking revelation came in a Saturday afternoon email, restricted to a tight circle of top executives within Biogen. 

Al Sandrock, the company’s most prominent scientist and chief of its entire research and development group, was leaving. There was no warning or explanation. After 23 years at Biogen, Sandrock, 64, had apparently decided it was time to retire. Más

Ver

 Biogen Announces Alfred W. Sandrock, Jr. to Retire as Head of Research & Development

FDA "resucita" LSD con fines terapéuticos

Several decades after Timothy Leary began evangelizing the benefits of LSD, the Food and Drug Administration is looking into the drug’s benefits.

The FDA has cleared a phase 2b study of an anxiety treatment that uses a pharmacologically optimized form of LSD. Mind Medicine (also known as MindMed), the biopharmaceutical company that developed the drug, says it expects clinical trials to start “in early 2022.”

Ver:

Todo sobre LSD en PHARMACOSERIAS

 

“This trial, the first commercial study of LSD in more than 40 years, builds on productive discussions with FDA and provides an opportunity to explore improvements in anxiety symptoms,” said MindMed CEO and director Robert Barrow in a statement.

The experimental drug, called MM-120, focuses on generalized anxiety disorders and other brain-based disorders. Phase 2b trials are designed to test the efficacy of a drug, looking at its success rate in treating a disorder or disease.

In the case of MM-120, MindMed says it will begin a dose-optimization trial with 200 patients, which will guide dose selections in Phase 3 trials (which generally involve a larger number of patients and look at how a medicine works compared to existing treatments). Researchers hope to determine how much the LSD-based drug reduces anxiety symptoms over 12 weeks after a single dose.

LSD isn’t the only psychedelic drug MindMed is looking to bring to clinical use. Its pipeline also includes products that use psilocybin (aka “magic mushrooms”), MDMA (Molly or Ecstacy) and DMT, a hallucinogenic drug that occurs naturally in many plants and animals.

“With a clear regulatory path, we look forward to building on this momentum and advancing this trial as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Barrow, “bringing us significantly closer to transforming the treatment landscape for patients who suffer from anxiety.”

FDA clears LSD-based anxiety drug for clinical trials 

By CHRIS MORRIS January 26, 2022

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Ratón de biblioteca: Egoístas, inmortales y viajeras / Carlos López Otín

 

“Serenidad y conocimiento” es lo que ha aportado al científico altoaragonés y catedrático de la Universidad de Oviedo Carlos López Otín (Sabiñánigo, 1958) poner fin a una interesante y comprensible trilogía sobre la vida donde a través del envejecimiento humano y la lógica molecular de las enfermedades ha sabido captar el interés del lector y mostrarle las claves necesarias para alcanzar el bienestar. 

Ver sobre anteriores libros de Carlos Lopez Otin en PHARMACOSERIAS

 Además el hecho de que sea una realidad el propio investigador considera “todo un gran privilegio para mí, comparable al que percibo cada mañana cuando llego a una cualquiera de las aulas de la Universidad, cierro la puerta y el mundo entero se reduce a un grupo de alumnos que quieren aprender y a un profesor que intenta enseñar. Todo lo demás deja de existir en ese instante”. 

Y es precisamente ese afán por enseñar lo que le ha llevado a escribir estos tres libros de una manera muy amena y accesible a casi cualquier público, ya que ante los vocablos o expresiones más técnicas se incluye un glosario explicativo.

La supervivencia humana, epicentro de la trilogía

 

Desde la felicidad entendida como la ausencia de enfermedad, de miedo o de dolor hasta las claves del cáncer y sus nuevos tratamientos, pasando por los efectos de la longevidad son los asuntos que centran estos ensayos de reflexión que el investigador comenzó en 2019, cuando, según él mismo dijo, escribió en “28 días y 28 noches tras una situación de acoso laboral” que le llevó a la depresión y le hizo replantearse lo rápido que puede cambiar un estado de ánimo pasando de sentirse el hombre más feliz del mundo al más triste, 

Novartis busca invertir..."Roche stake sale"

 

Novartis has found a way to spend the big pile of cash—at least $15 billion of it—the drugmaker received from selling a large stake in Swiss rival Roche.

Novartis is initiating a share buyback campaign of up to $15 billion, which will wrap up before the end of 2023, the company said Thursday. The purchase is funded by the $20.7 billion windfall Novartis received from selling about one-third voting stake in Roche in a transaction that just closed last week.

For investors who hoped Novartis would use the money for M&A, fear not; the company said it can complete the buyback “without compromising the company’s capacity for value-creating bolt-on M&A.”

But a megadeal appears out of the picture. By explicitly spelling out “bolt-on M&A” in its buyback announcement, Novartis seems to be signaling that it won’t go after a huge buyout. That sentiment echoes similar comments made by Chief Financial Officer Harry Kirsch during an investor event a few days ago.

Novartis has historically focused its M&A dealmaking on small- and mid-cap companies, Mizuho analyst Salim Syed noted during a recent interview with Fierce Pharma. The company’s recent M&A deals include the 2018 purchases of Advanced Accelerator Applications for $3.9 billion, AveXis for $8.7 billion and Endocyte for $2.1 billion. Novartis' $9.7 billion takeover of The Medicines Company, unveiled late 2019, was the largest transaction for the drugmaker in recent years.

Novartis had a three-year share buyback plan (PDF) in place since March 2020. Under that program, Novartis can buy back up to 10% of its registered shares on a separate trading line through March 2023. Over the last five years, the company has undertaken about $12.5 billion in share buybacks.

Novartis’ latest move comes on the heels of another $15 billion share buyback plan unveiled by Bristol Myers Squibb on Monday. Like Novartis, BMS also assured investors that it will continue to invest in business development.

Deployment of cash toward paying dividends and buybacks is generally viewed as a negative sign for M&A deals.

Novartis billed the new $15 billion share buyback as a show of confidence for its revenue growth despite upcoming patent expirations. The company expects generic competition to some of its top-selling drugs, including heart failure therapy Entresto, to leave a $9 billion hole in its top-line between 2020 and 2026. Nevertheless, the Swiss pharma believes it can grow sales by 4% on average per year during that period thanks to 20 potential blockbuster launches. Ver

GSK no quiere entrar en la Marmite...

 

Marmite-owner Unilever makes three bids for GSK consumer goods arm

GlaxoSmithKline has rejected three Unilever offers to buy its consumer goods division, including one worth £50bn.  

GSK said the proposals "fundamentally failed" to reflect the value of the division. 

With a successful bid, Unilever - which owns Marmite, Dove and PG Tips - would add Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol to its list of  Such a deal would be one of the biggest ever involving London-listed firms.

GSK said in a statement the most recent proposal from Unilever on 20 December contained an offer for £41.7bn in cash and £8.3bn in Unilever shares.

The global healthcare company, which has its headquarters in London, has already been preparing to separate its consumer goods division from its pharmaceutical business in the middle of this year. 

The firm has come under pressure from investors for failing to develop a Covid vaccine.

Unilever said in a statement the GSK consumer arm "would be a strong strategic fit as Unilever continues to reshape its portfolio".

 

The consumer goods giant, which became a fully British company in 2020 after previously being separated between the UK and the Netherlands, also approached Pfizer about the potential deal, since the American pharmaceutical giant owns a 34% stake in GSK's consumer goods business. Ver

Creatividad; Vacunas / Diseases controlled

 

Humor...es lunes: Como naufragos...