Tendencias Regionales: Avanza la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Infecciosas Desatendidas en LatAm

Washington, DC, 16 de enero de 2013 (OPS/OMS).-- Durante la última década se registraron grandes progresos en la lucha contra las enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas en la Latinoamérica y el Caribe, como la enfermedad de Chagas, la lepra y la oncocercosis (ceguera de los ríos), pero el compromiso sostenido de los gobiernos de la región y otras instituciones y socios sigue siendo necesario para controlar y eliminar este grupo de enfermedades que afectan en mayor medida a la población que vive en la pobreza, afirmaron expertos de la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), en el marco del lanzamiento del Segundo Reporte Global de las Enfermedades Tropicales Desatendidas de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS).

El nuevo informe de la OMS reporta un avance mundial sin precedentes en contra de 17 enfermedades tropicales desatendidas gracias a una nueva estrategia global, un suministro regular de medicamentos de calidad y costo-efectivos y apoyo de los socios mundiales. En las Américas el grupo se conforma por 12 de esas enfermedades y se clasifican bajo el nombre de enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas, muchas de las cuales son causadas por parásitos, otras por bacterias o virus.

Un total de diez enfermedades (filariasis linfática, oncocercosis, ceguera por tracoma, enfermedad de Chagas, malaria, lepra, sífilis congénita, tétanos neonatal, rabia transmitida por perros y peste) podrían ser eliminadas entre 2015 y 2020, y otras dos (geohelmintiasis y esquistosomiasis) mejor controladas en la región, según las metas de eliminación aprobadas en 2009 por el Consejo Directivo de la OPS y de acuerdo a la Hoja de Ruta de la OMS para enfermedades tropicales desatendidas (2012).

Entre los avances regionales de la última década figuran:

• La transmisión de la oncocercosis ha sido interrumpida o eliminada en 11 de los 13 focos, y Colombia está en proceso de recibir la verificación oficial de la eliminación por parte de la OMS;
• Catorce países han interrumpido la transmisión por el vector doméstico de la enfermedad de Chagas en todo el país o en algunas de sus áreas endémicas, y la transmisión a través de los bancos de sangre también ha sido eliminada en la gran mayoría de los países;
• En el Caribe, Guadalupe, Martinica y Puerto Rico han eliminado la transmisión de la esquistosomiasis, y Santa Lucía y Surinam están cerca de la eliminación;
• De los 35 países y territorios de las Américas, 34 han eliminado la lepra a nivel nacional (menos de un caso por cada 10.000 habitantes);
• Costa Rica, Surinam y Trinidad y Tobago fueron retirados de la lista de países endémicos para filariasis linfática, y 9 millones de personas fueron tratadas en 2011 y 2012 contra esta enfermedad principalmente en Haití;
• Seis millones de niños pre-escolares y 19 millones de escolares fueron desparasitados contra los geohelmintos en 2011.

“Todos estos logros representan una reducción importante en el sufrimiento, discapacidad y dolor de las familias más pobres y también representan la experiencia ganada que debe ser potenciada y expandida para cerrar aún más las brechas en la Región en cuanto al control y eliminación de estas enfermedades”, señaló el asesor principal en Prevención y Control de Enfermedades Infecciosas de la OPS, Luis Gerardo Castellanos.

En enero de 2012 la OMS lanzó una Hoja de Ruta para acelerar el logro de las metas de eliminación de las enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas a nivel global, y los socios y aliados firmaron la Declaración de Londres.

Como parte de la nueva estrategia global de la OMS para combatir las enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas, la donación de medicamentos para “quimioterapia preventiva” y el financiamiento de acciones e iniciativas a través de la alineación de un amplio grupo de socios internacionales están teniendo un impacto medible en los países afectados. De los millones de personas en riesgo de sufrir enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas en América Latina y el Caribe, muchas ya están recibiendo en forma masiva un suministro de los medicamentos necesarios -seguros, de dosis única, con garantía de calidad- para el tratamiento preventivo contra cinco enfermedades (filariasis, oncocercosis, tracoma, geohelmintiasis y esquistosomiasis).

Estos medicamentos son suministrados a través de donaciones de los asignatarios a la Declaración de Londres, mientras que otros medicamentos para otras enfermedades están siendo facilitados por compras a través del Fondo Estratégico de la OPS o del Fondo Global para Malaria, Tuberculosis y VIH.

Este año, la OPS cumple 111 años y es la organización internacional de salud pública más antigua del mundo. Trabaja con todos los países del continente americano para mejorar la salud y la calidad de la vida de las personas de las Américas y actúa como la Oficina Regional para las Américas de la OMS.

Fuente: OPS / OMS

Biotech Trends: Surveys Point to Biopharmas following the Money by Outsourcing More

CROs are playing a Growing Role in R&D, and Companies are also offshoring Clinical Trials

by Alex Philippidis

The lure of lower costs, and to some extent the need to navigate the growing jungle of regulations, will have more biopharma companies continuing to outsource R&D operations to third parties in the U.S. or overseas.

A study released in December by EquaTerra (soon before its acquisition by KPMG) found growing demand for outsourcing new drug R&D including clinical trials and drug manufacturing, in addition to back-office functions long since farmed out to third parties such as call centers. Not surprisingly, cost savings is key. Companies are looking to redirect capital to more strategic activities and improve shareholder return-on-investment.

Biopharma’s growing appetite for cost-cutting can be seen in two study results. Of pharma organizations that outsourced at least one function—IT, finance/accounting, HR, procurement, or call center/customer relationship management—39% said they plan to expand outsourcing into new business units or geographies, versus 30% overall. And no biopharmas planned to eliminate outsourcing, compared with 2% overall.

Outsourcing R&D

“You can automate certain activities like finance and accounting and HR, more than you necessarily can with R&D,” Stan Lepeak, director, global research, KPMG Management Consulting, told GEN. Lepeak and Vicki Phelan, pharmaceutical industry practice lead with KPMG’s Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory practice, both noted that R&D has historically been viewed as a crown jewel of operations, and thus companies have traditionally been reluctant to engage third parties. As a result, many companies have yet to reach the full potential of outsourcing in terms of maximum savings.

However, R&D outsourcing is increasingly taking place, and for reasons that go beyond cost, Phelan told GEN: “Organizations now, both within SG&A as well as in R&D, have taken this best of breed approach. When you go to a best of breed approach, it is more costly. But you get a higher quality product. That’s where R&D leaves a lot of money on the table,” Phelan said.

A Booz & Co. survey of BayBio members also found growing interest in outsourcing more R&D activity to CROs. The survey found two reasons for this beyond cost-cutting: to comply with increasingly complex regulatory requirements and to access new patient samples in large enough numbers needed for diseases thinly spread across a population.

U.S. companies are increasingly being directed by overseas regulators to include local populations during their clinical trials, Matthew Le Merle, a partner based in Booz’s San Francisco office, told GEN. “We do expect that for major populations—China, India, and other very large population bases—you will need to be doing more local trial activity. And that, in turn, does imply that if you don’t have the ability to do trials in those countries, that you need to find a partner that can.”

Beyond clinical development, Le Merle added, “most approvals require some dialogue and some back-and-forth, and it’s very hard for a U.S.-based English speaking company to make sure they’re really on top of all of the questions as they surface.”

Types of Partnerships

More often, he said, outsourcing companies are not biopharma giants but early-stage companies looking to stretch scarce capital and plug knowledge gaps. As they grow and bring products to market, they generate the revenue that lets them at least think of offering some operations themselves. And if they grow into biopharma giants, Le Merle added, they can plug pipeline holes by snapping up smaller life science companies. “That cycle is one that we’ll see continue to play out.”

Le Merle cited Gilead as one such company. The company spent $10.8 billion to diversify beyond HIV treatments by acquiring Pharmasset, in a sale completed in January. Gilead outsources clinical trials and much of its manufacturing but also owns many manufacturing facilities worldwide and has begun expanding its Foster City, CA, headquarters to accommodate more R&D. Yet Gilead’s latest R&D project, announced April 19, has the company turning to Adimab, which will identify antibodies against two targets selected by Gilead.

As Le Merle acknowledged, few firms grow as successfully as Gilead: “It’s only a game that a handful can play.”

A second Booz survey identified four types of relationships between biopharma companies and CROs:

1. Qualified talent suppliers providing companies with temporary employees with specific skills to expand capacity or enhance capabilities.
2. Preferred capacity partners offering services that biopharmas may also retain internally to expand capacity during peak periods.
3. Preferred capability partners delivering services deemed noncore by companies.
4. Strategic partners that join with companies to deliver overall development results.

“We came away with the sense that people don’t really know which strategy is the best strategy for them yet,” Le Merle said. Over time he anticipates that companies will go from selecting CROs project-by-project based on lowest bids to forging more strategic relationships involving multiple contracts. At least that’s what outsourcers hope will happen. A wider scope of services would prove more appealing to CROs, said Phelan of KPMG, by letting them spread costs across both lucrative and less lucrative functions.

Cost Cutting a Driving Force

More support for biopharma outsourcing emerged in a third report released in January. In its 15th Annual Global CEO Survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers included a telling statistic—43% of surveyed biopharma CEOs said they “outsourced a business process function” within the past 12 months, compared with 35% for all industries. “Pharma and life sciences CEOs are increasingly challenging their companies’ cost bases, especially as pricing and margins come under greater pressure,” PwC reported.

The PwC results came in the same survey that showed 28% of biopharma CEOs saying they “insourced a previously outsourced business process or function” within the past 12 months, compared with 20% in all industries. That’s an indication that at least some biopharma companies are considering bringing work back Stateside, if not entirely in-house. This would certainly benefit CROs like Albany Molecular Research (AMRI), which in November announced plans to hire more than 40 synthetic chemists by the third quarter of this year to support drug discovery programs for Eli Lilly under a six-year collaboration.

Biopharmas are certainly likely to go the tried-and-true outsourcing path. The only potential letup could come if companies conclude they have replenished their pipelines enough to recoup the billions lost as blockbusters jump off the patent cliff. Moody’s recently predicted the cliff will bottom out this year, with the industry heading back to positive earnings growth by 2013. A flattened cliff could slow down outsourcing but won’t likely stop it, given shareholder pressure to produce more ROI.

Fuente: Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Martes 19/3 - 19 hs - Charla Introductoria a
GOSyF 2013 - UTN

Curso de Extensión Universitaria en
Gestión de Organizaciones de Salud y Farma

http://actividades.frba.utn.edu.ar/index.php

http://www.sceu.frba.utn.edu.ar/cursosfooter/gestion/gestion-de-organizaciones-de-salud-y-farma.html

El Curso de Extensión Universitaria de Posgrado en Gestión de Organizaciones de Salud y Farma 2013 tiene como propósito el desarrollo de capacidades específicas, la formación y capacitación de Funcionarios, Ejecutivos y Profesionales del Sector Salud, Farma y Biotech, a través de Nuevas Herramientas, Modelos y Metodologías de Gestión que permitan crear, evaluar, investigar, planificar, gerenciar y dirigir Empresas, Instituciones, y Organizaciones con y sin Fines de Lucro del Sector, o vinculadas a él, basándose en la participación interdisciplinaria, el intercambio de conceptos y experiencias y el aprendizaje de modelos y metodologías innovadores/as en cada una de las áreas de Gestión, mediante:

1. el aprendizaje y la aplicación de Nuevos Modelos y Nuevas Metodologías de Gestión de Organizaciones del Sector Salud, Farma y Biotech,
2. la interrelación entre homologías temáticas y homologías problemáticas;
3. la exposición y discusión de casos reales en tiempo real, conteniendo la presentación de escenarios competitivos y estrategias organizacionales que serán analizados por los participantes, a partir de la utilización de Modernas Herramientas y Metodologías de Gestión de:

• Dirección y Gestión de Servicios Médicos, de Enfermería, de Diagnóstico, Farmacéuticos y Odontológicos;
• Demografía y Epidemiología;
• Administración y Finanzas;
• Análisis de Cadena de Valor;
• Abastecimiento y Costos;
• Calidad;
• Planificación y Gestión Estratégicas;
• Marketing e Imagen Institucional;
• Gestión Estratégica de la Información;
• Auditoría de Costos y Auditoría de Calidad;
• Gestión de Riesgos y Seguridad del Paciente;
• Gerenciamiento de Enfermedades Crónicas y Grupos Relacionados de Diagnóstico;
• Farmacoeconomía;
• Investigación Clínica;
• Farmacogenómica;
• Pipelines;
• Marketing Medico;
• Market Access Management;
• Accesibilidad al Medicamento: formularios y vademécum;
• Propiedad Intelectual; Ley de Patentes y Genéricos;
• Eficientización de Procesos;
• Gestión de Desarrollo del Recurso Humano: Aprendizaje Organizacional y Competencias Distintivas;
• Modelos de Capacitación;
• Responsabilidad Social Empresaria;
• Gestión del Cambio.

Director Académico y Profesor:

Dr. Miguel Ángel Medina Casabella, ME, MBA, SMHS (para consultar su CV, hacé click aquí).


Profesores Invitados:
Dr. Med. Alberto Mazza - Dr. Med. Ricardo Bonfil - Dr. Med. Carlos Martínez Sagasta - Dr. Med. Enrique Sánchez - Lic. Econ. Víctor Hugo Quiñones, MESM - Lic. Adm. Guillermo Nervi - Dr. Abog. Fernando Mariona, y otros.

Duración:
100 horas (70 presenciales y 30 virtuales).


Fecha de Inicio:
Martes 9 de Abril de 2013.


Lugar:
Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN) - Facultad Regional Buenos Aires (Medrano 951, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Destinatarios:

El Curso de Extensión Universitaria en Gestión de Organizaciones de Salud y Farma fue diseñado para satisfacer la necesidad del desarrollo de capacidades específicas, formación, capacitación y actualización de Funcionarios, Ejecutivos y Profesionales de:

• Servicios y Sistemas Públicos, Semipúblicos (Obras Sociales) y Privados de Salud, con o sin Fines de Lucro;
• Industria Farmacéutica;
• Empresas, Instituciones y Organizaciones Políticas;
• Empresas, Instituciones y Organizaciones, con o sin Fines de Lucro, prestadoras y/o proveedoras de Salud;
• Empresas, Instituciones y Organizaciones, con o sin Fines de Lucro, prestadoras y/o proveedoras de la Industria Farmacéutica;
• Aseguradoras de Riesgos del Trabajo (ART);
• Compañías de Seguros;
• Empresas Industriales y de Servicios especializadas en el Sector específico;
• Consultores especializados o con necesidad de especialización o actualización en Gestión de Organizaciones de Salud y Farma.

Informes e Inscripción:
Ing. Lucas García (Coordinación y Admisiones)
lgarcia@frba.utn.edu.ar, cc: posgrados@sceu.frba.utn.edu.ar
Facultad Regional Buenos Aires
Secretaria de Cultura y Extensión Universitaria
Universidad Tecnológica Nacional

Inversión, Forma de Pago y Preinscripción:
Hacer click en http://inscripcion.frba.utn.edu.ar/preinscribir_web.php?cursada=676

IMPORTANTE:

GOSyF puede ser dictado "In Company", adecuando sus contenidos, extensión, etc. a las necesidades puntuales de cada Empresa, local o regionalmente
(LatAm - América Latina)
Consultas a: msg.latam@gmail.com

© Copyright Miguel Ángel Medina Casabella y MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS GROUP LatAm

George Washington University SMHS Dean,
Jeffrey S. Akman, lays out Priorities

Dr. Akman hosted a town hall to discuss his priorities as the new vice president for health affairs and dean, addressing the school’s efforts around scholarships, research, diversity and philanthropy

Jeffrey S. Akman, the newly appointed Vicepresident for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, gave the George Washington University’s SMHS community a glimpse of what he envisions for the school’s future under his direction.

At a well-attended town hall meeting, Dr. Akman said the school—inspired by its students, residents and faculty, and built on a bold vision, historic mission and spirit of collaboration—is on an “upward trajectory” with “aspirations for a new level of greatness.”

Though the list is not exhaustive, Dr. Akman identified seven priority areas that will help guide the school in the coming years: education and training, research, diversity, program growth, philanthropy, construction and a new strategic plan.

Education and training
Student scholarships and tuition affordability are always a priority, Dr. Akman said. “We have an obligation and a need to continue to raise money to support our students,” he said. “The goal is not only to recruit the best and brightest, as we do, but to provide more opportunities for our students and to lessen the debt load over time.”

Revisions to the school’s curriculum, currently in the draft stage, are also a priority. Calling for an innovative model, Dr. Akman said the school will examine whether changes are necessary to the traditional structure of medical school education, which is typically two years of basic science followed by two years of clinical medicine. He also wants to reduce the time students spend in lectures and increase the time they spend learning independently. Leaders will soon solicit feedback on the curriculum.

Meanwhile, expanding Health Sciences distance-education programs and creating additional residency programs, including a dermatology residency and allergy fellowship, are also possibilities, he said.

Research
Helping GW become a top-tier research university is another priority. The dean emphasized working collaboratively with GW Medical Faculty Associates, GW Hospital and Children’s National Medical Center; expanding interdisciplinary research within the school itself and “breaking down silos” to work with other schools across the university; and focusing research efforts on specific areas, like tropical diseases, HIV/AIDS, neuroscience and cancer.

Diversity
A “key priority,” Dr. Akman said, is examining a task force report on the school’s diversity efforts. While the school has done very well, he said, “we can take it to the next level.”

Program growth

International opportunities—both bringing students here and allowing for opportunities for students, residents and faculty to go abroad, such as on a medical mission—are also important. The school has strong relationships in the Middle East and Africa, but will also look to expand to China and other countries, Dr. Akman said.

Philanthropy
“Clearly, we need to fund these ideas. To make these ideas reality, we have to raise money,” Dr. Akman said. The dean wants to make the case, particularly to the many alumni or grateful patients who may want to contribute, that supporting the school is a good investment.

Construction
After Ross Hall’s partial makeover, the school will soon have new labs on the fifth and sixth floors, along with a state-of-the-art Clinical Learning and Simulation Skills Center on the fourth floor next year. Meanwhile, a new power plant under Ross Hall will serve both Ross and the university’s new Science and Engineering Hall.

Looking forward, the school will look for lab and teaching space at the Science and Engineering Hall and on the Virginia Science and Technology Campus.

Strategic plan

The school’s strategic plan will build on the university’s overall plan, but Dr. Akman said he will wait to move forward until new leadership appointments—such as that of the senior associate dean for research and senior associate dean for M.D. programs—are finalized.

Over these next years of growth and change, there will be constants, the dean said in closing.

“What we do every single day as clinicians and healers is impacting and changing lives,” Dr. Akman said. “It’s about what we do on a day-to-day basis to the lives of those who are students, residents, faculty, to what we do for our community and what we can do globally.”

GEORGE WASHINGTON TODAY

Rice Hall
Division of External Relations
2121 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: (202) 994-1000 
gwtoday@gwu.edu