Bill Gates and Warren Buffet- two great names with respective glories...
This is a great piece of information from Bill Gates...to all of us who aspire to be as successful and tech savvy as Bill Gates.
His take away's were-

1.   How to connect with his shareholders
2.   Use your platform to the fullest
3.   Know how valuable your time is.

Here is the link to the entire article.  Also send me your thoughts... Happy reading !

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130612065727-251749025-three-things-i-ve-learned-from-warren-buffett?trk=eml-mktg-celeb-bg-link2

It was a great Sunday morning ... little unusual, because it was extremely sunny ... and the weather was enticing... and then I found myself looking at the Rocky mountains from my window...You know, I find it real fun to sip a cup of freshly ground coffee and look outside- see the Canadian Rockies on one end and the tall buildings of Calgary downtown on the other !

This led me to re-think a questions that frequently pops into me- "How was the universe formed? Is there only one world?"
Our scriptures state different possibilities depending on which religious text one reads... so I thought to be neutral and turn to science for my answers.

And then Google came to my rescue... Viola ! I found this excellent documentary presented by BBC World on "The birth of Universe" and believe me, its truly magnificent.

My first reaction after watching this- " Physics is trying to read the mind of God".

But, after watching this documentary, another question popped into my mind- We always say "I'm in my own world...or... she seems to be in her own world". Does this really, I mean- literarily and figuratively stating- There are parallel worlds existing actually ? Your thoughts ??

BBC Horizon: Parallel Universes (2002)
http://www.thegreatplanet.com/parallel-universes-bbc-horizon-documentary/#sthash.dXYcQGKM.hpvt 

Every company in every industry needs an ‘Innovation Strategy’- whether it be high-tech product innovation, packaging innovation or process innovation.  Now more than ever, innovation is the key to growth, to acquiring and sustaining competitive advantage and to building shareholder value for long-term. 
 
An effective innovation strategy depends more on an organization’s innovation processes, tools and culture than how much it spends on R&D. 

An ideal innovation strategy customizes client’s innovation portfolio to their needs, reduces time-to-market revenues as well as helps clients define the role of innovation in their pursuit of growth. Also, it keeps a comprehensive focus on both top-line and bottom-line (i.e. value-mix) levers, help improve product competitiveness and drive increased profitability : 

-      By focussing on the top-line, quantify and translate customer insights and needs into advantaged product concepts and feature sets- together with an understanding of the willingness of customers to pay for them.   Advantaged product drives superior competitive positioning and that in-turn drives higher sales.

 -     While, bottom-line focus helps companies deliver advantaged products and features sets to customer at the lowest possible price. The goal is to reduce basic product or service ‘functional’ costs and then re-invest the savings into product features and consistent quality attributes that create real and perceived value in the minds of the customers.

A sound Innovation strategy increase the health of the industry's product portfolio, in turn improves the overall return on their innovation investments- ROII, by introducing PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION. 
 
And, differentiation goes way beyond just a mere shift from ‘me too product’ to ‘novel product’  break-throughs.

True Product Differentiation stems from the presence of carefully nurtured distinctive product capabilities/ attributes that endure and are TOUGH TO COPY.


Email:  Shruti.Bhat@Innoworks.ca
www.DrShrutiBhat.com

Yesterday late night or should I say today early morning around 1.00 am read the news of The Bengali director Mr. Rituparno Ghosh's demise at age of 49 due to a heart attack.... the next news that caught my attention was that he had just completed shooting of his new film this week.

Immediately my mind traced back reading another such news of Mr. Yash Chopra passed away due to dengue. He too had just completed his film and was doing the post production jobs. Strange isn't it both directors are good film makers... they just complete their respective film and pass away... It almost makes me think that God had sent them here on a mission to make films and when its done they just go away? Dont't you think so ?

I have heard of people dying at 21 years due to a heart attack and these were people with a normal heart, no diagnosed medical condition. Which then brings me to another question- why people suffer heart attacks at young age?

Yesterday had a fun time at the Liliac festival in downtown Calgary.... its first time for me, so I was learning, roaming around and just having fun.
There were people -people everywhere, something very unusual for Calgary, where like all North American cities, life is very fast, mechanical and professional.
But, the event was "Cool" and fortunately there was no rain :)) so that was a real blessing. Few pictures in the slide show below...

DNA targeting could pinpoint early cancers or deliver radiotherapy straight to the tumor. U.K. researchers have found a way to test for a protein that could become a biomarker for many different types of cancer. The DNA damage-signaling protein, γH2AX (gamma-H2AX), signposts the points where both strands of the DNA double helix have broken, one of the first steps in development of cancer (known as tumorigenesis).
 
The team from Oxford University's Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology has built an imaging probe that targets this protein. The  probe is in three parts--an anti-γH2AX antibody that targets the biomarker, a  peptide (TAT) that penetrates the cell, and 111In, a radioactive marker used as an imaging agent.
 
To test out the concept, the researchers used the probe and SPECT imaging to find DNA damage in a type of genetically modified mice that tend to develop breast cancer lumps that can be felt after around 17 weeks. The test  spotted potential cancers in mice up to 5 weeks before they developed these  lumps. The same marker is also seen in lung, skin, kidney and bladder cancer. 
 
Katherine Vallis of the institute told BBC News: "If larger studies confirm this, the protein could provide a new route to detect cancer at its very earliest stage--when it is easier to treat successfully."

As well as being a biomarker for many cancers, this finding could also lead to a way to deliver radiotherapy directly to the damaged cells and monitor its effects, treating established tumors or even heading off cancers almost before they start. As Vallis explained to BBC News, the system is "self-amplifying" because the radiotherapy will cause further damage to the cells, therefore attracting more antibodies that will deliver more radiation, eventually killing the cancer cells. However, the technology has only been studied in mice so far, and it is a long way off use in  humans.

We are in the midst of third quarter earnings reports, and they show  with stark detail what the tsunami of patent losses means to the financial  underpinning of drugmakers. It's a serious problem that will erode earnings for  years to come. Pharmaceutical researcher EvaluatePharmaestimates there are $290 billion of sales at risk from patent  expirations between this year and 2018.

Companies are trying to put the most positive spin they can on the  impact, but the effects can take your breath away. For example, Sanofi ,  suggested in their company's most recent earnings call that things are looking  up because its new full-year projection is for earnings to drop only 12% this  year, not the 15% projected earlier. Sanofi lost protection for three drugs.  Megablockbuster Plavix, a blood thinner, alone saw sales drop 70%. 
 
And the patent cliff pain continues. In 2013, patents will expire on drugs that currently have sales of $29 billion annually. The research firm expects more than 70% of that total will be lost to generics. Falling revenue is usually tracked by a falling share price, but the firm points out that patent cliff problems, when a wave of big-ticket drugs lose protection, generally show  up several years in advance with a stalling stock price.

The implications are, of course, huge. But is it all bad? "The patent cliff is generally portrayed as a bad event for the Industry, but it may turn out to be a good event, with companies feeling liberated from the mega-blockbuster curse of replacing aging cash flow
streams."

That depends, on how companies respond. Too often, spurred by the feeling they need to raise their share price--and perhaps made overconfident by the success of aging blockbusters--they blow it. They take excess cash from those aging cash cows and overindulge on "risky, late-stage, in-process R&D assets in seemingly high-priced and speculative in-licensing deals and company
acquisitions”.

Even those companies that say they are dedicated to finding their future with R&D don't always seem to know how. Statistics points out the industry has plunked down $1.1 trillion, in the last decade on research and development--and too often with very poor results. 

So what are the drugs that top the 2013 patent expiry list?  Presented here the top 15, out of about 120, that will see patents expire next year. It is led by Eli Lilly's anxiety and depression drug Cymbalta, which last year generated $4.9 billion in sales for the company. It includes Purdue Pharma'sOxyContin, which sold to the tune of $2.4 billion last year, and tails off with the Novartis osteoporosistreatment Reclast, which generated $612 million.

While the overall losses are less than this year's, which will see patent protection stripped away on about $67 billion, they will keep some companies in a vise grip of indecision. Others, perhaps, will free themselves and find their way to smart investments and drugs that provide benefits to patients and returns to shareholders.

The Food and Drug Administration approved about 21 drugs in 2010, a relatively modest figure that shows the pharmaceutical industry hasn't yet escaped its drought in recent years.

A few potential blockbusters won approval during the year, but some of the most highly anticipated new products got delayed into next year or beyond. That partly reflects a tougher environment at the FDA, with regulators stepping up their scrutiny of safety issues in drugs for obesity, diabetes and other conditions.

According to monthly drug-approval reports on the FDA's website, 21 new drugs were approved in 2010, down from 25 in 2009 and 24 in 2008, but higher from a recent low of 18 in 2007.

More... http://pharmacy-education.blogspot.com/2011/01/drug-approvals-slipped-in-2010-some.html