In the December 1, 2015 edition of the Wall Street Journal there is an article titled, “U.S. Drug Prices Dwarf Other Nations.” The author, health and science deputy bureau chief Jeanne Whalen, begins by pointing out that Norway, an oil producer with one of the richest economies in the world, is an expensive place to live. To support her claim she highlights Norway’s cost of a Big Mac ($5.65) and a gallon of gasoline ($6). But she also notes that prescription drugs are far cheaper in Norway than in the U.S. According to Whalen, The Wall Street Journal did a comparison of the drug pricing for Medicare Part B versus the health systems of Norway, England, and Ontario. Her conclusion, “Throughout the developed world, branded prescription drugs are generally cheaper than in the U.S.” While she may be right in her assessment, I still find it wrong what she and the Journal are doing, and here’s why.

One of the biggest biopharmaceutical industry events, the 34^th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, is right around the corner, January 11-14. And while the event is famous for overrunning San Francisco with neckties, as well as blowing up Twitter with its hashtag #JPM2016, there are a number of other worthwhile events also taking place.

From global macro trends to a discussion of which trends from other industries will leak into life sciences, these top-level experts offer in-depth insights for the coming year.

Dr. Ray Kurzweil, a futurist, inventor, pioneering computer scientist, and director of engineering at Google, believes that in the next 10 years 3D printers will be able to print human organs using modified stem cells derived from a patient’s own DNA, thereby providing an inexhaustible supply of organs with no rejection issues.

Stepping out of my hotel room on the last day of the 2015 International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) annual meeting in Philadelphia (November 8 – 11), I reach down and pick up the USA Today that is blocking my egress. Flipping through the newspaper the headline “Allen Always Aimed High” catches my eye. As writer Nicole Auerbach relates how Duke University basketball standout Grayson Allen strived to achieve his childhood dream, I am struck by the similarity between the story and this year’s ISPE annual meeting. “I had so much joy,” recalls Allen of the sensation experienced the first time he successfully slam dunked a basketball on a 10 foot hoop — a goal that took years of persistent practice to finally achieve. It is important to remember that biopharma executives and engineers are not immune to deeply experiencing human emotions (e.g., joy, sorrow). And while attendees of ISPE were certainly treated to high-caliber networking and educational opportunities at this year’s show, they were also provided a strong dose of emotional reality to fuel their passionate pursuit of excellence. Like Duke’s Allen, to achieve beyond your expectations, sometimes it is important to be reminded of why it is you do what you do.

In December 2014, Biogen got some huge news that sent its stock up nearly $19 — in just one day! The company had achieved positive Phase 1b clinical trial results for its experimental Alzheimer’s drug, BIIB037 (aducanumab). The data looked so good, in fact, that Biogen announced it would be fast-tracking the drug straight to Phase 3 clinical trials.

Some biomanufacturing experts have recently begun referring to the expected growth of biologic therapeutics as an oncoming tidal wave or tsunami. Like the natural disasters these terms describe, there can be harmful repercussions — both to the industry’s reputation and the patients in need — if companies are not adequately prepared for the impending biologic manufacturing capacity crunch.

Change is very, very difficult to do in government,” says Steven Kozlowski, M.D. In 2012, the director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology Products (OBP) learned that the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) would soon undertake a major restructuring. CDER had decided to reorganize around drug quality manufacturing, potentially including biologics.

This past August, Anna Rose Welch, executive editor of BiosimilarDevelopment.com, wrote an article titled “The IPR Process: How Will Pharma’s Patents Fare?” The question was in reference to the recent exploits of Hayman Capital Management hedge fund manager Kyle Bass, who has been using the Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceeding to issue 16 patent challenges held by eight pharmaceutical companies.