Impact of corporate social responsibility in the European pharmaceutical market

The objective of this master thesis is to evaluate the impact of CSR measures in the financial performance of the European pharmaceutical industry. By definition, CSR measures is quantified as corporate social disclosure considering the published CSR keywords on the annual reports of the selected companies, over four fiscal years (2010-2013). The financial performance of the companies were measured as return on assets (ROA) and Tobin’s Q. In order to defend the hypothesis developed, a multivariate regression is performed. The results obtained show no significant impact on the financial performance of a company nor in the short-time, nor in the long-time. Moreover, by comparison with other studies, it was possible to conclude that the financial performance is differently affected when considering different industries.

Evaluating the potential of yeast strains to produce added value products for the food and/or pharmaceutical industries

This study focus in the valorization of the apple pomace with the main goal of obtaining added value products. For that, hot compressed water technology was used for the extraction of phenolic compounds and hydrolysis of polysaccharides presents in the lignocellulosic structure of apple pomace to obtain simple sugars. The sugars have been utilized as alternative carbon source for growth, lipid accumulation and carotenoids production by five different yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Rhodotorula glutinis, Rhodosporidium babjevae and Rhodosporidium toruloides. Hydrolysis experiments were carried out with constant pressure of 100 bar, flow rate of 2mL/min and temperatures between 50°C and 250°C. The amount of total sugars present in apple pomace hydrolysates showed maximum values for the hydrolysis temperatures of 110°C and 190°C. In fact, these temperatures revealed the best results regarding the monosaccharides quantities. The amount of 5-HMF and furfural in each hydrolysate varied through the different temperatures. Maximum values for 5-HMF were obtained with 170°C, while furfural showed to be maximum at 210°C. Extraction of phenolic compounds were performed in simultaneously with hydrolysis reactions. Total phenolic compounds (TPC) increased along the temperature, however with small variations between 170°C and 250°C. Hydrolysates were then used as alternative carbon source to yeast growth. R. mucilaginosa shows the highest optical density, with the hydrolysate obtained at 130°C. Carotenoids produced by these yeast scored a total of 7.02μg carotenoids/g cell dry weight, while for the control assay, the same yeast scored 9.31μg caratonoides/g cell dry weight. β-carotene was quantified by HPLC, were 33% of the carotenoid production by R. mucilaginosa with hydrolysate as carbon source, corresponded to β-caroteno.

Price linkages in pharmaceutical markets

This paper studies the existing price linkage between generics and branded pharmaceuticals, in which the generic price must be a fraction of the latter. Using a vertical differentiation model, we look at the market equilibrium, the effects on the incentives for the brand producer to develop new products, and the possibility of predation by the brand producer over the generic firm. We find that the price linkage increases prices compared to no indexation and it may increase the incentives for the brand producer to expand its set of products. When prices are freely set, the branded firm may also want to expand a new product with a higher quality, but will prefer to remove the original one from the market. Predation may equally occur in both schemes but the price linkage may give fewer incentives for the branded firm to predate while compensating losses with a new drug.