Pfizer announces 6000 job losses

The announcement follows Pfizer's acquisition of its rival company Wyeth in 2009. The cuts would take effect over the coming 18 months, with about 6,000 jobs expected to go worldwide.Eight plants in Ireland, Puerto Rico, and the United States are expected to close by the end of 2015, as well as about 90 jobs from the pharmaceutical plant in Hampshire, although the company said the vaccine packaging and distribution plant in Havant, which employs about 400 people, would remain open....................& more

A step closer to "Aids Vaccine"

Research findings published in Nature, may help international efforts to design an effective Aids vaccine. It seems some people have a natural protection against HIV, but the research team at MIT and Harvard says any such vaccine is at least a decade away.The findings relate to so-called "elite controllers" - a small number of people who, when exposed to HIV, progress very slowly to Aids or never deal all. In the late 1990s it was discovered that these individuals - about one in 200 of those infected with HIV - carry a specific gene, known as HLA B57.....................& more

Sanofi prostate cancer drug shows 28 percent survival

Sanofi-Aventis' cabazitaxel candidate prostate cancer drug combined with prednisone reduced the risk of death by 28 percent compared with another treatment, the outcome of a final-stage trial showed.The French drugmaker said on Thursday that the combination of the treatments led to an improved median overall survival of 15.1 months against 12.7 months in patients who took a chemotherapy of mitoxantrone with prednisone/prednisolone.The primary endpoint of the so-called Tropic trial was overall survival......................& more

Clinical Research

India is becoming a hub for clinical research; the demand for professionals in this field is growing rapidly. Clinical research business in India will be worth $1 billion by 2010. Thus, there will soon be a massive demand for clinical research professionals, making it an interesting career option with massive growth potential.
Clinical research is all set to become the next big thing in India. A large population with a substantial workforce and cost benefits influence multinationals to set up research facilities here. Besides due to the prevalence of a large variety of diseases, including widespread cases of cancer and diabetes India is viewed the world over as the ideal location for clinical research trials for the pharmaceutical industry.