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Among the major advances of civilization - development of the wheel, agriculture, printing, the industrial and technology revolutions - the greatest achievement may be the doubling of life expectancy in the 20th century. As recently as 1900, people around the world lived an average of only 31 years. In America, where one of every five newborns died before celebrating a fifth birthday, the leading causes of death were pneumonia, tuberculosis and diarrhea. Over the past century, sanitation programs and antibiotics pushed those conditions far down the mortality list. They've been replaced by heart disease, cancer and stroke, more commonly among the aged.

Today, we have biotechnology to thank for therapies and medicines that treat debilitating diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis - and for promising next generation therapies still under development for these and other diseases.

To many in and around the biotech and pharmaceutical industries the hot topic of the moment is the future of biogenerics in the US market. As the new administration undertakes an overhaul of the $2.5 trillion healthcare environment much of the focus is on drug costs and the increasing role of generics. But it is generally accepted that drug costs account for just 10% of total spending, so why all the attention? Well, more than most other constituents, biotech and pharma manufacturers continue to share a higher profile - not always positive - and much of their critics' focus emphasizes excess profits, poor disclosure, and aggressive lobbying. Biotech and pharma are easy targets for political snipers (and many would argue they make it too easy for them) and so must deal with the biogenerics issue sensitively.

Despite allocating an increasing proportion of sales revenue to research and development the pharmaceutical industry has largely failed to increase the average annual number of new drug introductions. Furthermore, development attrition rates have changed little over the last 25 years. If we make assumptions that the average attrition rate for biologics is somewhat lower than for traditional small molecules, we might conclude that the attrition rate for the latter has in fact worsened. Why is this?

Finding a new indication for an existing drug (or a developmental one) has been the basis for a good number of medicines over decades, from Viagra™ to thalidomide (Thalidomid), often by serendipity. Recently it been advocated as a strategic means of enhancing R&D efficiency, through its combined allure of reduced risk of failure, time and cost of new product entry.

As the largest health care market in the world, the United States serves as an incubator and launching pad for leading-edge health care technology, attracting top engineering and management talent. Private equity investment from around the world continues to boost the US biopharmaceutical sector as investors worldwide seek financial rewards from the development of next-generation therapeutics here in the US.

Since pharma-focused blog sites such as Pharmalot emerged during the past couple of years, the pharmaceutical industry has been hit with a bit of a shock to the system.