Activities - Articles
Latest Reports in Life Science Research Global Library, Far East & Southern Africa
The slowdown in the economy of China, at the same time that Japan is showing growth and India is investing heavily in Life Sciences, is the right time to consider where business effort is placed in the whole Far East
Latest Reports in Life Science Research Global Library: Western Europe
The Life Sciences has a major position in the economies of Western Europe and all the 17 countries covered in this report (ABA 374.3) have put Biotechnology high up the list of priorities within science. The problem has been, and remains, that economic issues have limited funding and even the EC has taken funds from the Horizon 2020 programme. Individual countries are overcoming these economic issues led by the UK, Germany and some of the Scandinavian countries with major changes to the markets during 2015. The technology advances of Next generation Sequencing and Genetic Modulation through CRISP technology are also rapidly changing the market applications and product uses. This new report covers the whole market up to the end of December 2015 and the 2016 budgets where available with projections for Applications and Product markets out to 2020 in line with other reports covering the Middle East, Africa and the Far East countries. The Contents Lists and Abstracts can be seen on the Latest Reports page of the web site for Western Europe, ABA 374.3, as well as all the other reports.
Brexit Impact on Life Science Research in UK and Europe.
The decision by the UK population to leave the European Union (EU) will have a dramatic impact not only on the UK but also on the rest of the EU.. In addition to the decision itself, there is concern within the EU that there are other countries with an increasing voice considering a similar course of action. The outcome of the exit negotiations will be followed closely by these groups to determine how favourable the exit might be for the UK and for this reason there is concern that the exit agreement might be punitive to prevent further exits. Such a belief was one of the arguments for the Remain groups and these groups, together with so called "independent experts", were prophesying economic disaster for the UK and a diminished global role for the UK.
The Life Science and Academic sectors were particularly adamant that it would be a disaster for UK science if the UK voted to leave the EU and they continue to express concern over the result. Some particular articles rightly express the worries on funding and practicalities of the future arrangements, for example relocation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and other bodies. Perhaps the real concern, as with the financial markets, is that the future is unknown which is why the UK government has stated it will support funding out to 2020 for EU funded research projects initiated before September 2016. What is certain is that the dynamics of the Life Science markets will be different and the UK will find a way to continue as a leading force in Life Sciences R&D.
Life Science Research Global Library: Mid-2016 updates & South (Latin) America.
The slowdown of the global economy, including that of China, with reduced consumption of raw materials, has affected many economies. For the Oil producing countries the low price of Oil has created severe budget issues for many governments so that developments in the first half of 2016 are of major importance. The Middle East markets has been particularly affected (ABA 348.3) by the low Oil price.
All of the 8 regional reports in the ABA Global library have now been extended so that events and budget plans for 2017 announced in the first half of the year are now included in each report.
A particular region that has been analysed at August 2016, with the markets for 2015 as the base line, is South (Latin) America [ABA 370.3] where the economic problems of Argentina and Brazil have created bi changes for Life Science research budgets despite commitment to the sector.
Reality of NHS Funding, Need for NICE and Effective Health Technology Assessment.
The NHS is always calling for funds but at a time of economic constraint and major change with the UK leaving the EU any money made available will not satisfy the demand. However, experience has shown that throwing money at the NHS does not work, as seen from the doubling of NHS funding during the Blair years with only marginal change. Although not the main cost area within the NHS, a focus has been on reducing, or at least controlling, costs for new Drugs, Devices and Diagnostics through economic assessments under the auspices of NICE. Despite this being another hurdle to jump it imposes an effective discipline on industry to balance profit with clinical benefit through Health Technology Assessment, HTA. The challenge of HTA is that involves detailed analysis of the Patient Pathway and all the costs involved.
Life Science Research Global Library: 2016 updates at October 2016.
For the first time it has been possible to have all the eight (8) ABA Global Library reports on the same time line with 2015 as the market base line and August 2016 as the period for which individual country budgets for 2017 and activities have been analysed and included for each report. Full details of Contents Lists and Abstracts are available for each region. View Contents List & Abstract