mahdieh fathi

The pharmaceutical industry's performance in the global economy has been affected by the growing competition associated with globalization, economic liberalization, and the trade-related aspect of the intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement. To maintain performance, organizations need to consider strategic foresight (SF) and organizational resilience (OR) to anticipate future trends and survive crises. By proposing a conceptual framework, this study examines the relationship between organizational resilience, strategic foresight, competitive advantage (CA), and firm performance (FP). A conceptual framework was developed to assess the hypotheses in the pharmaceutical industry. Then, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to investigate the relationships quantitatively. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) based on the data generated from 202 completed questionnaires by the pharmaceutical companies in Iran demonstrate that OR, SF, and CA have significant positive impacts on FP. Moreover, CA partially mediates the relationship between OR and FP and also between SF and FP. The findings of this study enrich the existing literature by demonstrating that early detection of environmental change and resilient manner assist Iranian pharmaceutical firms to survive if joining the WTO. This is the first study that examines the direct and indirect effect of OR and SF on the FP, considering the mediating impact of CA. This investigation attempts to address the mechanisms through which OR and SF affect organizational performance, especially in the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmaceutical companies in developing countries are heavily influenced by the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and economic liberalization rules. To adjust to the new patent regime, pharmaceutical companies had to adopt some strategies. A systematic review was conducted on the experiences of the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries and strategies adopted by local pharmaceutical companies to survive after the TRIPS agreement. Scopus, PubMed, and ProQuest databases were searched, and twenty-five papers were reviewed. The pharmaceutical industry experiences have been classified into successful and unsuccessful experiences based on criteria developed by the authors. Firm strategies were also divided into four categories based on external and internal factors: aggressive, conservative, competitive, and defensive strategies. Companies were able to survive and even grow after the TRIPS agreement by rebuilding their structures, improving their competencies, and adopting appropriate strategies in line with the new conditions.

Ionizing radiation causes DNA damage and chromosome abbreviations on normal cells. The radioprotective effect of celecoxib (CLX) was investigated against genotoxicity induced by ionizing radiation in cultured human blood lymphocytes. Peripheral blood samples were collected from human volunteers and were incubated at different concentrations at 1, 5, 10 and 50 μM of CLX for two hours. At each dose point, the whole blood was exposed in vitro to 150 cGy of X-ray, and then the lymphocytes were cultured with mitogenic stimulation to determine the micronucleus frequency in cytokinesis blocked binucleated lymphocytes. Incubation of the whole blood with CLX exhibited a significant decrease in the incidence of micronuclei in lymphocytes induced by ionizing radiation, as compared with similarly irradiated lymphocytes without CLX treatment. The maximum reduction on the frequency of micronuclei was observed at 50 μM of CLX (65% decrease). This data may have an important possible application for the protection of human lymphocytes from the genetic damage induced by ionizing irradiation in human exposed to radiation.

Bleomycin (BLM) as an anti-cancer agent causes tissue toxicities through DNA damaging and cell deaths. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of thymol against genotoxicity and anti-proliferation induced by BLM in normal human lymphocytes and ovarian cancer cells. Peripheral blood samples were collected from human volunteers and were incubated with thymol at different concentrations at 50, 100, and 150 μM. After 2 h incubation, the whole blood was treated with BLM. Then the lymphocytes were cultured with mitogenic stimulation to determine the micronuclei in cytokinesis blocked binucleated lymphocyte. Human ovarian cancer cells (SKOV-3) were treated with thymol at various concentrations and/or BLM with their combinations and then cell viability were evaluated. Incubation of whole blood with thymol exhibited a significant decrease in the incidence of micronuclei in lymphocytes caused by BLM, as compared with similarly BLM-treated lymphocytes without thymol. Neither enhanced cell death nor cell protective effect was observed using thymol pre-treatment of SKOV-3 cells. This study showed that thymol selectively protects human lymphocytes against DNA damage induced by BLM without any protection on cancer cell. This result is promising for using this natural product in treatment of ovarian cancer with BLM.