Editor's letter

Welcome to the latest issue of Pharmaceutical Technology Focus magazine

Almost one year ago, Brazilian president Lula da Silva assembled the first South American summit in nearly a decade to gather the continent’s nations onto a single forum to encourage pharmaceutical trade. In this month’s cover story, we take a look at the progress made since then and identify the main priorities for the public and private pharma sectors in South America.

Also in this issue, we continue to follow the opioid crisis in the US, by understanding the nature of the multibillion dollar settlements made by companies implicated in the crisis to several state governments. Now that the legal settlements have been finalised, the next question remains on how to distribute these funds in the best way possible to address the ongoing challenges with those suffering from opioid use disorder.

Don’t miss coverage on the burgeoning cell and gene therapy landscape in the US, the challenges with sham patents, and much more. 

Manasi Vaidya, editor