Pharma Veterans

Colossal Wrongdoings by Big Pharma – Insulin Price Gouging – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1092 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1092 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Insulin Vials Insulin Pen Preamble Few drugs in modern medicine are as essential—and as emblematic of life-saving innovation—as insulin. Since its discovery in 1921, insulin has been a lifeline for millions of people living with diabetes. Yet, over the past two decades, a storm of controversy has erupted over the skyrocketing price of insulin in the United States and elsewhere, turning this once-celebrated medical breakthrough into a symbol of pharmaceutical greed and systemic dysfunction. This blog post explores the insulin price gouging crisis from 2000 to the present. We will examine how pharmaceutical companies manipulated p...

Two Landmark New Drug Approvals – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #897 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #897 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans  aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Google Images Credit: Google Images Credit: Google Images In December 2023, US Food and Drug Administration approved two gene therapy-based drugs for sickle cell disease treatment.  CASGEVY (exagamglogene autotemcel) is the first approved CRISPR/Cas9 genome-edited cell therapy for the treatment of Sickle Cell Disease – SCD, in patients 12 years or older with frequent vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs). CASGEVY has been developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics and has been shown to reduce or eliminate vaso-occlusive crises for SCD patients....

Medicines Pricing in Pakistan - History – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #862 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #862 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: JESHOOTS Credit: Maxim Goncharenok Credit: Tara Winstead Human welfare directly relates to health. There is a positive relationship between a population’s health and economic development of a country. An important component of public health is access to quality medicines, as it accounts for a significant portion of health expenditure. For the same reason, Pakistan is among those countries where drug prices are fixed and regulated by the government. There are other reasons for this exercise also, more important of which is the political mileage that the gover...

Pain Points of Pharma Industry Pakistan – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #829 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #829 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Jonathan Borba Photo Credit: Mikhail Nilov Photo Credit: Thirdman Pharma Industry in Pakistan is going through difficult times, and it is not just due to Pak rupee devaluation or rising cost of production. There are several pain points, some gathered internally over time, and some brought on by government policies and circumstances.  Let us talk about three major pain points. I may add here that pharma industry also has a role in getting pain inflicted on it.  Pricing  Without doubt, it is the biggest pain point. And the main responsibil...

Pakistan Pharma Industry SWOT – Part 37 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #628 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #628 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Opening Note February 2022 marked my completing 47 years of working in Pharma Industry. Allah be praised. I am still working. My journey of near half century is also the journey of Pharma Industry in Pakistan. Great changes have occurred in this time and a lot could be written about it. In my blogs, which were started about four and a half years ago, I have covered several topics related to Pakistan Pharma Industry. This multi-part series shall do and review the SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats – of the Pharma Industry. STRATEGIES It is now time to ...

Pakistan Pharma Industry SWOT – Part 15 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #606 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #606 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Opening Note February 2022 marks my completing 47 years of working in Pharma Industry. Allah be praised. I am still working. The first half of my working career was spent in Multinational companies, and the latter half in the Local Pharma, making me well-versed with both innovators and generics markets. I also had the opportunity to work in business as well as operations.  My journey of near half century is also the journey of Pharma Industry in Pakistan. Great changes have occurred in this time and a lot could be written about it. In my blogs, which were started ...

GST Levy on Pharmaceuticals – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #583 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #583. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. News reports say that the government has finalized the mini-budget to raise about 360 billion rupees by levying 17% General Sales Tax – GST on 140 items or so. The items include milk, cereals, bakery items, meat, chicken, gold, bicycles, cars including electric cars, mobile phones, phone calls, pharmaceutical raw materials and so on.  It is yet a draft which will have to be approved by the parliament so that it could be implemented. Considering that most members of our parliament either do not understand such technical matters (the rest understand too well and try to manipulat...