Archive for the 'Drug Delivery' Category
July 29th, 2010 by admin
Milestone payments are becoming an increasingly familiar aspect of many biotech deals, as buyers try to mitigate the risks inherent with big purchases. Take Celgene’s $2.9 billion buyout of Abraxis; the biotech giant set aside $650 million in milestone payments if Abraxis’ key drug Abraxane hit certain goals. “These structures are a great way for buyer and seller to share the risk that’s related to drug development,” says analyst Brett Skolnik. Milestones also encourage buyer and seller to look beyond the merger, making it more likely the deal will be beneficial to both sides in the long term.
Continue reading ‘Milestones Mitigate Risk in Biotech Deals’
July 27th, 2010 by admin
Oncologics, lipid regulators, respiratory agents, antidiabetics and anti-ulcerants are the five largest drug classes by sales. But annual sales are only half the story. Which drug classes are booming, and which have plateaued–or even dropped? IMS Health has released top-line industry data revealing the 15 largest drug classes, and we’ve crunched the numbers to take a closer look at the average sales growth of the 15 largest therapeutic classes over the last five years.
Continue reading ‘Fastest Growing Therapeutic Classes (by Sales)’
July 26th, 2010 by admin
Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) is looking to its pipeline to fill the gaps left by a number of high-profile drugs coming off patent. In October 2011, blockbuster Zyprexa will fall to generic competition; additionally, about three-quarters of Lilly’s current revenue comes from eight drugs that will lose patent protection between now and 2017. ”We have the challenge of replenishing our product portfolio from our pipeline,” says CEO John Lechleiter in a USA Today interview. “Fortunately, we have the most exciting pipeline today in our history.”
Continue reading ‘Pipeline to Soften Lilly Patent Losses’
July 22nd, 2010 by admin
Nigeria is fast-tracking mobile authentication services in its fight against drug counterfeiters. Manufacturers will bear the brunt of the cost, at least initially. The costal country of 150 million is at the forefront of African anti-counterfeiting efforts, thanks largely to a rampant supply of malaria drug fakes. In mid-May, the nonprofit Pedigree Network and computer giant HP launched an authentication trial in Nigeria and Ghana; Nigeria is also conducting tests with Merck using technology from Sproxil.
Continue reading ‘Nigeria Takes on Fake Drugs with New Technology’
July 19th, 2010 by admin
Worrywarts who thought Roche would corporatize and homogenize Genentech can rest easy. Roche is veering toward Genentech, rather than the other way around, Bloomberg reports. Even though Roche was the one that bought out Genentech in last year’s $46.8 billion deal, the Swiss drugmaker has named Genentech scientists to key jobs–Hal Barron as head of global development, Ian Clark as chief of Roche’s North American commercial operations, Pat Yang as global manufacturing chief. Genentech veterans have also taken hold farther down the food chain, running marketing teams and commercial-management roles.
Continue reading ‘Roche Cedes Power, Jobs to Genentech’
July 15th, 2010 by admin
Hold onto your hats: The global market for contract manufacturing is headed for speedy growth over the next few years. According to a new report from RNCOS, pharmaceutical contract manufacturing is poised to grow about 12 percent per year from 2010 to 2012. Cost is one of the reasons, of course.
Continue reading ‘Contract Manufacturing to see Double-Digit Growth’
July 12th, 2010 by admin
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) recalled more Tylenol and other over-the-counter drugs on Thursday after they were linked to a musty or moldy odor, expanding a recall the company started in January. J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit said the latest recall involved 21 lots of medications, including Tylenol for children and adults, several forms of Benadryl allergy tablets and Motrin painkiller. But it did not say how many pieces were in each lot or give a total number of items involved. J&J spokeswoman Bonnie Jacobs said, “We do not have that information.”
Continue reading ‘J&J Recalls More Tylenol, over-the-counter drugs’
July 7th, 2010 by admin
The clock is ticking on Pfizer’s final, 18-month countdown on its $11.5 billion Lipitor franchise, but analysts are growing increasing fretful about the pharma giant’s ability to find new drugs to fill the looming revenue chasm. Pfizer had to admit that it suspended a slate of osteoarthritis trials after its highly touted pain drug tanezumab–billed as the world’s first likely biologic for pain–was linked to potentially perilous safety issues. And that came just two days after the company had to pull the cancer therapy Mylotarg from the market.
Continue reading ‘Pfizer’s Litany of Pipeline Snafus Cause Analysts to Fret’
July 6th, 2010 by admin
A new, $50 million biomedical research lab has been completed at George Mason University near Washington D.C. and is being ramped up to study new therapies for infectious diseases–including a range of potential bioterror weapons. Once the 52,000-square-foot facility is licensed and fully operational in a few months, 50 people will be on site to handle the R&D work on infectious diseases as well as anthrax, plague, influenza and Rift Valley fever. It’s one of 13 biocontainment facilities that have been built with federal funds, and it features some state-of-the-art security systems as well as an air purification system that is designed to filter out any pathogens.
Continue reading ‘New Bio-terror Lab Will Target Infectious Disease Therapies’
July 5th, 2010 by admin
While the overall economy may be flagging, Maryland says that its biotech industry is booming. And the governor wants to keep the momentum going with a few new industry incentives. Gov. Martin O’Malley told reporters that the biotech industry added more than a thousand jobs in the last three months; that’s 10 percent of the state’s total tally of new jobs. And he touted a report from Battelle Technology Partnership Practice claiming that the state’s biotech industry has been expanding aggressively for the last several years.
Continue reading ‘MD Governor Touts a Booming Biotech Biz, New Jobs’
