The Irish health ministry is planning measures to boost the prescribing of biosimilar medicines, but companies marketing biosimilars say that the pricing agreement signed last year by the originator industry and the government has served to hinder uptake of their products.

The Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Ireland (APMI) has been relaunched as the Irish Generic Medicines Association (IGMA), a name that is designed to reflect its specific remit, scope of functions and responsibilities, it announced. The association represents seven companies employing 2,300+ people in Ireland. The member companies are Accord Healthcare, Actavis Ireland, Clonmel Healthcare Ltd, Fannin Ltd, Hospira Ireland, Rowex Ltd and Pinewood Healthcare. The organization's primary purpose is to promote and support the supply of affordable medicines in Ireland, and is the recognized negotiating body on supply and pricing of generics in the country. Among other things, it is calling for new legislation in Ireland on biosimilars and high-tech generic molecules.

A new project devised by Pfizer and the Wellcome Trust aims to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in four sub-Saharan African countries by using real world data to track resistance patterns and allow patients to be treated more successfully. Wellcome’s Gemma Buckland-Merrett explains how the project will work and how it could help other industry partners and governments to generate valuable data in the fight against AMR.