Those who cover green and sustainability issues know that Pharma is pretty progressive. No, the industry's not perfect, certainly, but many of its leading companies also make it a point to be leaders in environmental stewardship. While more drug companies are successfully jumping on the green bandwagon, it's getting harder and harder to find projects that make a real difference. In other words, the low-hanging fruit has been picked. So what's next?

We at Pharmaceutical Manufacturing are always speaking with industry experts and insiders, picking their brains about issues that truly matter to the industry. Below are 12 of my favorite interviews from last year—in case you missed them the first time around. Enjoy.

Bayer and its workers in Berkeley, California, are embroiled in protracted contract negotiations. Last week, we heard from Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents the workers. Bayer owes workers and the community more, said Merrilees, and worker patience with the company is “wearing thin," he said.

The contentious negotiations between Bayer and the 400 or so unionized workers at its Berkeley, California biotech facility have become a test case for whether workers in pharma/biopharma (and other industries) have any leverage whatsoever in the face of potential or expected downsizing and outsourcing.

I'm sure you've all been following the lawsuit, and wondering about whether a corporate culture and mindset may have existed at the company that might have driven six professional women to take this drastic step.  It was discussed yesterday in an unusual source (you may have to scroll to see the last frame).

While there is increasing acceptance of the idea of cannabis-based drugs and the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes (particularly in California), there is still political resistance across much of the U.S. Britain's GW Pharma continues to push ahead with Sativex, which was approved in Canada five years ago for neuropathic pain associated with MS. MHRA has now also approved its use related to spasticity in MS patients (see press release in italics below).

Shire Development (Wayne, PA) has received a warning letter from FDA for what the agency says are overstatements of the efficacy and understatements of the risk of Adderall XR, the firm's popular ADHD medication. The claim's were voiced in a testimonial by none other than Ty Pennington, host of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," on its own web site and on a popular Internet video site.

Am starting to feel like the witch in "The Wiz" -- "Don't nobody bring me no bad news." A quick look at some headlines brought yet another story of blockbuster-challenged pharma ethics, this time involving Germany's Bayer AG.

Next Sunday, CBS' 60 Minutes will interview Dr. Dennis Mangano, a researcher whose studies reportedly had found higher rates of kidney failure in patients who took Bayer's Trasylol, which is designed to stop bleeding during heart surgery. For more read on. His research came out in January 2006; the drug was recalled last November. In the interim, Dr. Mangano claims, 22,000 patients receiving the drug may have died needlessly.

Dr. Mangano's study was the subject of an FDA advisory board panel meeting in September 2006, but Mangano says that Bayer did not disclose negative findings during that meeting, even though internal company research had confirmed the results. FDA advisory panel chair Dr. William Hiatt, reportedly told 60 Minutes he would have voted to remove Trasylol from the market had he been informed about Bayer's study.

AMS

ControlGlobal has been reporting from the Foxboro Users Group meeting this week.  Among the highlights was a presentation by Bayer's Central Automation Group, which is using Invensys' InFusion enterprise control system to, in the words of control engineer, Noël Jans "aggregate and convert reams of under-utilized data into actionable intelligence."

He and his colleagues have found it essential to make plant managers aware of the goldmine of information available in their applications. "We've found that only about 5% of the total process data generated is presently turned into useful, actionable information, and that half of all IT projects eventually fail because expectations weren't defined ahead of time," he said.  To read the full article summarizing the project, click here.

We'd developed an RSS feed of Bloomberg and AP clips pertinent to pharma, but let it slide a bit, due to technical issues and the fact that Bloomberg et al. didn't cover the drug industry (at least on TV) as much as they generally do, in May. 

However, it's back in business now, and you'll find a number of potentially interesting shorts  (click here to access the entire feed):

An interview with Zymogenic's CEO.  (Bayer has just signed a $200+-million deal with them for a new blood clotting agent)

A report on Amgen by Montgomery and Lazzard analysts

An update on Gilead's new treatment for lung disease

An overview of the cancer and cardiovascular drug pipeline by Mark Monane of Needham

A look at weight loss drugs, in light of recent developments with Acomplia/Zimulti, with Citi analyst

An interview with Puerto Rico's governor about biotech

AMS