In the frame of the European Project CONTRACT, which aims at analysing, improving and harmonising "informed consent" across Europe a questionnaire has been set up which will analyse the current situation concerning the legal, ethical, technical and clinical handling of consent, mainly in European projects dealing with vulnerable patient groups.

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), currently the largest public-private partnership in the biopharmaceutical sector, launches its second wave of research projects which address key areas including cancer, immune-mediated diseases, infectious disorders and electronic health.

Pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research recently released the ePharma Consumer® v10.0 study, which explores the online behaviors of ePharma Consumers, or U.S. consumers using the Internet for prescription drug information.

The value of the global pharmaceutical market is expected to grow 5-7 percent in 2011, to US$880 billion, compared with a 4-5 percent pace this year, according to IMS Health. The forecast, included in the latest release of IMS Market Prognosis™, is the leading annual industry indicator of market dynamics and therapy performance.

First DataBank's new online medicines reference tool, FIRSTLight, is now live and First DataBank is offering a free extended trial until the end of January 2011. FIRSTLight provides instant access to reliable medicines information, empowering clinicians and supporting safer, faster clinical decision making.

Scientists working at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France have developed a new technique that enables them to introduce up to 15 fluorescent markers to a mammalian cell in one go. They say their findings could help speed up drug development and screening.

The potential of mHealth solutions has been discussed for many years, but only recently, with the advent of the new smartphone application based mHealth model, have pharmaceutical companies begun to realize how mobile services might be instrumental in the development of exciting innovations in their own businesses.