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.

Half of Europeans using the Internet for health information are interested in online patient education programs from pharmaceutical companies, although just a small fraction are currently using these types of programs, according to Manhattan Research's Cybercitizen Health® Europe v10.0 research.

Starting today, people from all corners of the world are uniting together for three days of celebration to put diabetes firmly in the public spotlight. World Diabetes Day is the best opportunity there is to draw attention to the silent killer that is diabetes.

Using mild painkillers in pregnancy appears to raise the risk of cryptorchidism (undescended testicles) in baby boys, new EU-funded research suggests. The findings offer an explanation of why cryptorchidism, which is the biggest risk factor for poor semen quality and testicular cancer in later life, is becoming more common.