Google Glass? Fitbit? DNA necktie? Again this year, BioWorld Today polled our staffers, biotech execs, PR folks, tweeps and others in the science world to bring our readers top finds for the holidays. Enjoy! Books and entertainment             In February, the FDA met to consider whether and how to conduct trials to test gene manipulation techniques to prevent mitochondrial disease from occurring in offspring. “Are we heading to a world envisaged in Gattaca?” asked BioWorld Insight Editor Peter Winter, suggesting it might be time to substitute the 1997 movie for the even older holiday classic, Miracle on 34th Street. (Just...

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.” Will Rogers The IRS and the U.S. Treasury last month announced plans to squelch the trend for businesses to seek foreign tax shelters through corporate inversions. But why are companies fleeing? Because the current corporate tax rate is oppressive. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 24, 2014.) It’s time to change the U.S. tax code, starting with the corporate tax rate. In an article from the political website Red...

By now I’ve learned to keep my flu shot habit a secret. Every year about this time, since I was 18 years old, I get vaccinated. But long ago I stopped telling people about it, so I don’t have to hear: “Oh, you know the flu vaccines are made of antifreeze [mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde], right?” or “That’s a crazy thing to do, because the shot itself can make you sick!” or – this one’s fairly new – “You don’t really need it if you’ve got a healthy immune system. Anyway flu shots cause Alzheimer’s [in the old] and autism [in...

It’s not every day that drugmakers get a chance to take on an entirely new market. Biosimilars are offering that opportunity. And hundreds of drugmakers, research institutions and governments are hoping to make the most of it. The result is more than 700 follow-on biologics (FOBs) already approved or in the global pipeline, according to a new report by BioWorld. Those entering the field are as diverse as the FOBs they’re developing. Biologics pioneers, big pharma and generic drugmakers are being joined by “pure-play” start-ups, conglomerates, public-private consortia, contract manufacturers, contract research organizations, government agencies, nonprofits and research institutions. Some...

Testifying in a joint Senate committee hearing on Ebola this week, the CDC’s Beth Bell compared the epidemic spreading through West Africa with a forest fire. She stressed that any ember left undetected could quickly flare up and re-ignite the conflagration. Her analogy took me back more than 25 years to my time as a news director for a radio station in Idaho. It was the summer of 1988, and Yellowstone National Park was on fire. The park neighbored the county where I lived, and the smoke from the fires formed a dense fog that blocked the sun for several...

RIO DE JANEIRO – I was in college when I first read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Safe within the privileged and idealistic bubble of academia, I found myself agreeing with Rand at every turn, filled with the pro-capitalist and individualist spirit.  Why should those who work hard and are successful not be suitably rewarded for their efforts? For government to step in and limit those rewards was unfair and high-handed, socialistic even. I mean, the horror. (Did I mention I was in college?) Fast forward a few years.  I was out of college and working – paying my dues as...

For more than five years, the FDA was criticized for failing to provide clear guidance on how drug developers could use social media without running afoul of its marketing restrictions. Last month, the agency finally came through with two crucial draft guidances. A webinar Thursday afternoon aimed at providing more color around the social media regulatory framework could only be described as an #EPICFAIL. The webinar, for which registration reportedly closed early due to overwhelming demand, suffered problems from the get-go, with many registrants unable to log in at all. Almost immediately, slides started crashing, prompting the agency to pause...

High drug prices are old news. Old, as in 19th century old. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t breaking news today. Breaking, as in breaking the family budget. One of the speakers at the Institute of Medicines National Cancer Policy Forum flipped through slide after slide of newspaper headlines screaming about high drug prices. The headlines were from every decade stretching back into the 1800s. Yet today’s headlines report what some have called “pornographic drug prices” as breaking news. What’s new is that drugs are now available for many more diseases that once had no treatment options. And those drugs...

Ah, the summer holidays. Time to unplug – for minutes, hours or days at a time – prop up your feet and kick back. But what about a good read? Should you grab a relaxing snoozer that won’t tax your brain or a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat? A topic that relates to the biotech field or a subject as far removed from the office as possible? History or science fiction? Inspiration or cautionary tale? Whatever your preference, BioWorld has options. One respondent to the survey for our 2014 reading list, the 8th in...

This isn’t exactly “funny” – nothing about cancer is – but during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago I couldn’t help noticing the multitude of hand-sanitizer vending devices posted around McCormick Place. They seemed … odd there. “Scrub some alcohol gel on your hands, so you don’t catch cold! Oh, cancer? Not a lot we can do about that. We’re working on it.” So they are. The number of abstracts submitted and attendees set records this year. I’m not always assigned to cover ASCO, but I’ve done my share, and 2014’s meeting seemed uncommonly active. Of...