Global report - April 6, 2016
Pfizer and Allergan terminate $160bn merger
Pfizer and Allergan have terminated their $160bn merger, blaming a crack-down this week on tax inversions deal by the US Treasury Department for scuppering what would have marked the largest-ever healthcare acquisition, reports The Telegraph. Tax avoidance schemes such as inversion deals, in which US companies move their legal addresses overseas to take advantage of lower tax rates, have long been a thorn in the […]
Global report - February 11, 2016
Key challenges in the global healthcare sector
Siemens Financial Services has released a new research report examining how healthcare organisations around the world meet the sector’s key challenges with smart finance. Conducted with healthcare providers across thirteen countries, the report has identified four common challenges: ‘managing investment in a capital-constrained environment’, ‘adapting to market forces’, ‘digital innovation and technological transformation’ and ‘meeting […]
Global report - February 7, 2016
WHO declares the Zika virus an international publich health emergency
On yesterday’s WHO meeting, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus and its suspected link to birth defects an international public health emergency. This is a rare move that signals the seriousness of the outbreak and gives countries new tools to fight it. An outbreak of the Zika virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, […]
Global report - January 29, 2016
The spread of the Zika virus
The World Health Organization has convened an emergency committee on Zika virus. It will meet on 1 February to decide whether Zika should be treated as a global emergency. The organisation expects “three to four million cases of Zika virus disease” in the Americas. Zika virus, which has caused thousands of severe birth defects in […]
Global report - January 13, 2016
Grail hopes to beat cancer with DNA tests
The gene sequencing company Illumina has created a new company that is trying to invent a blood test that could hopefully find all cancers in their early stages. A key part of helping more patients survive cancer is finding new ways to catch cancer sooner, so doctors can treat it before it has time to […]
Global report - December 24, 2015
A crisis of global concern
New and reemerging infectious diseases pose an urgent threat to the health of world populations. “We are standing on the brink of a global crisis in infectious diseases. No country is safe from them. No country can any longer afford to ignore their threat.” Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, WHO World Health Report 1996 The spread of infectious […]
