Four out of five health and medical sector companies are confident of their prospects over the next six months, with strong current profits driving their optimism, a new survey of SMEs has found.

New research from Santander Corporate Banking, conducted online among 1,049 SMEs in August 2009, reveals that 83% of health and medical firms are confident in their prospects during the remainder of 2009, compared to a national average of 75%. One in five firms (20%) are 'very confident', 63% are 'confident' and 18% are 'not very confident'.

Profitability is the leading factor in this confidence, with one in four company owners (25%) citing it as the most important indicator. It is closely followed by turnover (23%) and forward orders (12%).

The economic downturn has resulted in falling profits for twice as many businesses as those which enjoyed increased profits in the first half of 2009 (46% against 23%). In the health and medical sector, however, 51% saw a rise in profits and 23% a decrease, making it the most successful sector.

Health & Medical is among the five business sectors most confident of its prospects for the next six months. Financial Services, the 1980s business career of choice, is among the five least confident sectors.

Steve Pateman, Head of Santander Corporate Banking, said: "Our research indicates that the health and medical sector has recorded strong profits in the first six months and confidence is high. It is important that the banking sector supports these businesses and helps them to turn their confidence into profits.

"Banks need to learn from the downturn and build stronger relationships with their customers in order to provide solutions that will help their stability and growth."

Data published by the DH shows that the waiting times for patients with hearing difficulties to receive a digital hearing aid has reached an all-time low.

Patients in England are now waiting 4.9 weeks on average from GP referral to treatment in direct-access audiology services. Three years ago, 47,000 people were waiting over a year for a hearing assessment before facing another wait for the fitting of a hearing aid.

In March 2008, the Department of Health committed to reducing waiting times for patients referred to audiology services.

Health Minister Mike O'Brien commented: "The NHS treats around 400,000 patients referred directly to audiology services every year and it is vital people across the country are able to access these services without delay.

"The use of new technology in the NHS and support from the Department of Health's National Audiology Programme, which is promoting clinical innovation and new models of care, have played a key role in cutting waits in audiology services."

"RNID welcomes the increasing numbers of people receiving their hearing aids within the 18-week waiting time standard," said Jackie Ballard, Chief Executive of RNID (the Royal National Institute for the Deaf). "No-one should face an unnecessary delay to be provided with essential services and equipment that can dramatically improve their quality of life."

Mike O'Brien

Smith & Nephew's Advanced Wound Management division has launched two extensions to its Allevyn Ag range of dressings, designed to minimise the pain and wound trauma of dressing removal.

The new Allevyn Ag Gentle Border and Allevyn Ag Gentle combine the antimicrobial protection of silver with the gentleness of silicone and soft gel adhesives. They offer the key benefits of antimicrobial protection, minimal pain at dressing change and superior fluid management.

"The addition of these two new Allevyn Ag variants will undoubtedly add to the growing success of Allevyn and will enable us to maintain our position as the leading global brand within the foam dressings market," commented Roger Teasdale, President, Smith & Nephew Advanced Wound Management. "We will be the first company to offer an adhesive bordered silicone silver product which combines the benefits of silver and silicone gel technology." The new dressings, he said, "offer additional benefits and choice to our customers and will continue to improve the quality of life for patients living with a wound."

Following their recent US launch, the new dressings were described by clinician Paula Kotz of E.T. Consultant Services Inc. as "An innovative new dressing which provides antimicrobial protection, as well as the ability to remove and re-apply without disruption of the wound base, which is suitable for many types of wounds, especially skin tears."

For more details, visit www.smith-nephew.com.

Allevyn Ag Gentle

The UK showed a stable rating among the healthcare systems of Europe when the 2009 Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) was presented today in Brussels.

The annual survey of EU healthcare ranked the UK 14th out of 33 countries.

The Netherlands won the ranking for the second year with a record 875 points, followed by last year’s runner-up Denmark (819), newcomer Iceland (811) and Austria

(795).

The UK scored 682 points from a potential 1,000 and performed poorly on waiting times but well on pharmaceuticals. The Index ranks the UK behind Ireland but ahead of Italy or

Slovenia.

“The UK in 2009 has showed surprisingly negative feedback from patient organisations on the waiting time situation, particularly after government spending on the NHS has been increasing heavily,” said Dr. Arne Björnberg, the Euro Health Consumer Index Director. “It seems that management of the behemoth NHS organisation is difficult to do under a centralised paradigm.”

The EHCI ranks 33 national European healthcare systems across 38 indicators, covering: patients’ rights and information, e-health, waiting times for treatment, treatment outcomes, range and reach of services provided, and access to medication.

The Index is compiled from a combination of public statistics, patient polls and independent research conducted by the founders, Brussels-based think tank Health Consumer Powerhouse.

According to this year’s measurement, the top performers in European healthcare are the systems that have started using healthcare information and choice to engage patients in the decision-making, building a pressure from below for improvement. At the lower end of the ranking are the countries that have a traditional hierarchical system and a lack of transparency.

The CHMP has recommended Spanish pharmaceutical firm Zeltia’s drug Yondelis (trabectedin) for use in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Zeltia has been developing Yondelis for use in combination with Johnson & Johnson’s Doxil for the treatment of ovarian cancer, but has so far failed to win a green light for the medicine in the United States.

Chairman of the struggling company Jose Maria Fernandez Sousa-Faro has predicted that sales from Yondelis could be €300 million a year in Europe and that the company could break even or make a small profit by the end of 2010.

“It’s highly probable that other countries will now approve Yondelis and that within a few months the only country which hasn’t approved it will be the United States,” said Luis Mora, Managing Director for Zeltia’s PharmaMar biotech unit.

The EU decision contrasts with the verdict of the FDA, whose experts were concerned that risks of heart and liver toxicity outweighed the limited ability of Yondelis to keep disease in check.

Yondelis is already available in Europe as a treatment for soft tissue sarcoma, a relatively rare disease affecting soft tissues such as muscle, fat and tissue around joints.

Once-daily Seroquel XR (quetiapine fumarate extended-release tablets) and Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) have been approved under the European Mutual Recognition Procedure for the treatment of bipolar disorder.

The drugs have been approved specifically to prevent the recurrence of bipolar disorder in patients whose manic, mixed or depressive episode has responded to quetiapine treatment.

Following this new indication, Seroquel and Seroquel XR are the only agents approved in the EU to treat all phases of bipolar disorder: acute depressive episodes, acute manic episodes, and maintenance treatment to prevent recurrence of any mood event in bipolar disorder.

AstraZeneca has said that it will now move forward to obtaining local approvals with the Member States that take part in the Mutual Recognition Procedure.

Launched in 1997, Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) has been approved in 94 countries for schizophrenia, 91 countries for bipolar mania, in 51 countries for bipolar depression and in 8 countries for bipolar maintenance.

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that causes dramatic and severe mood swings. Bipolar I disorder is the classic form of the disease, characterised by recurrent episodes of mania and depression. Bipolar II disorder involves one or more episodes of major depression with at least one episode of mild to moderate mania (hypomania).

It is estimated that the worldwide prevalence of bipolar disorder is 3–5 per cent.

Medtronic, Inc. has launched a new technology designed to protect people with type 1 diabetes against the risks associated with hypoglycaemia.

The Paradigm Veo, now available across Europe, can automatically suspend insulin delivery when the device senses that glucose levels have fallen below a user-selected threshold.

A common occurrence in type 1 diabetes management, hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) can cause loss of consciousness, seizure, coma or even death. A third of diabetes patients suffer from hypoglycaemia while asleep.

"The Paradigm Veo is the biggest step thus far in our commitment to closing the loop on diabetes management," said Chris O'Connell, President of the Diabetes business and Senior Vice President at Medtronic. "We believe this automatic feature offers added protection, greater confidence and may lower the risk of injury associated with hypoglycaemic events."

The Paradigm Veo System includes an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitoring system provided by a sensor and transmitter. The patient uses readings from the monitor to program the insulin pump. If data transmitted from the sensor show the patient's glucose levels have dropped below a defined threshold, the device alerts the patient. If the alerts are ignored, the device suspends insulin delivery.

"This latest technology is a significant breakthrough that will help people with diabetes to control their condition," said Prof. Dr. Tadej Battelino, head of the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology at Ljubljana's University Children's Hospital. "For the first time, a mechanical device can now warn the patient of the risk of severe hypoglycemia."

For more details, visit www.medtronic-diabetes.co.uk.

Paradigm Veo

Wyeth has received a positive opinion from the CHMP for its pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine).

The CHMP has recommended Prevenar 13 for active immunisation of children aged six weeks to five years for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease, as well as pneumonia and otitis media (middle ear infection) caused by 13 pneumococcal serotypes.

“The CHMP’s positive opinion brings us one step closer to providing infants and young children in Europe with the broadest serotype coverage of any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine,” said Emilio Emini, Executive Vice President, Vaccine Research and Development, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. 

“Prevenar, our currently available vaccine, has both proven clinical efficacy and documented effectiveness, which has resulted in a significant public health benefit. Prevenar 13 builds on the scientific foundation of Prevenar and, if approved, will provide coverage for the 13 most prevalent pneumococcal-disease causing serotypes, including serotype 19A, which has emerged as a serious public health threat in Europe and around the world.”

Prevenar 13 is designed to provide the broadest serotype coverage of any pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. The vaccine contains the seven serotypes included in Prevenar (Pneumococcal Saccharide Conjugated Vaccine, Adsorbed), plus six additional serotypes responsible for the greatest remaining burden of invasive disease. 

Released in Europe in 2001, Prevenar is now available in 97 countries and more than 265 million doses have been distributed worldwide.

The vaccine is also being studied in global Phase 3 clinical trials in adults, with regulatory submissions expected in 2010.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) supports the use of a new permanent contraception system in its updated guidance on female sterilisation.

The Adiana implant system from Hologic, Inc. received CE Mark approval in January 2009. It offers women a minimally-invasive, non-incision alternative to surgical sterilisation procedures.

The guidance concludes that safety and efficacy data support the use of the Adiana procedure by the NHS.

"This is an important milestone for Hologic and our GYN surgical products business in the UK," said Tony Kingsley, Senior Vice President, GYN surgical products at Hologic. "With more than 50 NHS surgeons now trained to perform the Adiana procedure, the updated NICE guidance should further support our efforts to establish Hologic's minimally-invasive, safe and effective Adiana system in the UK."

The Adiana procedure can be performed in a GP surgery, using local anaesthesia. Patients are normally able to resume activity within a day. Surgical methods of permanent contraception, such as tubal ligation, generally require hospital admission, general anaesthesia and four to five days for recovery. As a result, they pose a significant risk of complications.

During the Adiana procedure, a flexible instrument is passed through natural body openings to deliver a low level of radiofrequency energy to a section of each fallopian tube. A soft insert, the size of a grain of rice, is then placed in each fallopian tube. Over the next three months, new tissue grows around the inserts, blocking the fallopian tubes. A final X-ray test confirms that the patient can rely on the implants for permanent contraception.

US-based Hologic, Inc. describes itself as 'the women's healthcare company'. For more details, visit www.hologic.com.

Representatives of two companies that regularly support or contribute to On Target - FLE Group and Marketing Medicine - have successfully completed this year's BUPA Great North Run in aid of charities.

Louise Brooks, Sales Director, FLE Group completed the 13-mile race for NSPCC, and is on target to raise £350. Her site www.justgiving.com/nspcc-louise is still open for donations (however small). Louise said: "It was a great race, tremendous atmosphere and thank you to all friends, family and colleagues for their support."

FLE Group is a consultancy offering medical sales and nurse recruitment, marketing advice and regulatory support.

Katy Draper, Director of Marketing Medicine also completed the Great North Run for Breast Cancer Care. Katie's site www.justgiving.com/ladieswithsofttops is still open for donations. "A huge thank-you to everyone who has supported us, both in donations and also encouragement," Katie said. "We had loads of messages of support at the start and it was just fantastic. Feel very privileged to have been able to do this and to raise money for such a good cause. Thanks again!"

Marketing Medicine is a marketing consultancy aimed specifically at healthcare companies that require additional resources or specialist advice.

Katy Draper