What are the problems with Pharma? Nobody has a definitive answer, but there are signs and signals. Diverse and seemingly unrelated issues are factors – the drift from phenotypic “screening” to target-based screening, the out-of-control expansion in management layers and decision-making by committee, the risk averse strategy of process-based management. Forbes Magazine has long been active in analysis of the industry’s problems, and here are three recent detailed blog posts on that analysis:

Culture as a Culprit in the Pharma R&D Process

Pharma Prognosis: The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

The Drug Industry’s Blind Alley

The discussion is great – too long coming. The ideas for how to fix things are worthy, not expensive (compared with the present course of R&D management), and innovative. Let’s hope someone gives them a try.

Good friend Joe Helble at Infinity Pharmaceuticals puclished a nice article entitled “Fast LC for Conventional HPLC Systems” in the April 2011 issue of LC-GC magazine. It’s not a hot topic these days – with UHPLC the fast analytical technique of choice – but from my point of view there are a lot of practical reasons to work with conventional HPLC systems to improve fast analysis. Joe gives some great examples, but here’s one from myperspective – it’s easier to scale a conventional separation up to preparative LC.

I would put up a link, but the issue just arrived and a complete index isn’t yet available online.

There’s a good paper with a new SFC application in the latest J. Chromatography A. Several researchers at Pfizer teamed up with Larry Taylor at Virginia Tech to develop an easy and fairly general method for polypeptide analysis using 0.2% HFTA/methanol co-solvent with HA-Pyridine columns (Princeton Chromatography. The results show (amazing? Is that too strong a word?) selectivity in resolving a series of very similar polypeptide isomers (about 1200 Da). Nice work.

ScienceDirect – Journal of Chromatography A : Packed column supercritical fluid chromatography of isomeric polypeptide pairs http://bit.ly/flueJO

Our objective is to get useful content up quickly. Suggestions to help us define “useful” are always welcome.

At present, ideas include:
– discussion-provoking posts about trends and applications within our “sphere of knowledge” – that is, chromatography and pharma R&D
– recent articles or news worth reading, and
– upcoming events.

We will also post when we have a new presentation or application note available through the website.

All new posts will be tweeted – sign up for twitter @averica_feed. There’s a way to link to our facebook page as well – we hope to use facebook as a collaboration space in the future.

Welcome, come back, and please comment!