Here’s a tip for sales reps barred from certain physicians’ offices–catch them at a meeting instead. As the number of doctors who readily accept calls from pharma reps continues to shrink, sales folks are looking for work-arounds. And one that seems to work is chatting with docs at industry meetings, a new survey shows.
I have to admit that MetroWest Medical Center’s text messaging service is pretty slick. I texted them last night at 11:48 p.m. and within seconds received a text message with average emergency room wait times at its two hospitals. Framingham Union was 12 minutes and Leonard Morse Natick was five minutes.
Continue reading ‘Is ER Text Messaging Service just a Marketing Ploy?’
Ask just about any biotech CEO about licensing strategies and you can almost guarantee that at some point the chief will mention that the best deal valuations come after the developer has a solid set of proof-of-concept data. But the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Douglas writes that the shopworn biotech strategy no longer applies in an age when Big Pharma companies are spending more on development and less on research.
Continue reading ‘Early-Stage Deals are Getting a Lot Sweeter for Biotechs’
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’
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.”
Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment has received more than a dozen regulatory approvals so far this year, and it plans to make approximately 80 significant submissions across its seven franchises between 2010 and 2012. In fact, the MD&D business segment, which generated $23.6 billion in sales in 2009 and became Johnson & Johnson’s largest business segment, holds the No. 1 or 2 market positions in the majority of its markets. These facts were emphasized in a business review, during which Alex Gorsky, worldwide chair of MM&D, said the company is “very pleased, but not satisfied.”
What three trends are most important to pharma these days? Generics, emerging markets and personalized medicine, according to the Harvard Business Review. Branded generics are the wave of Big Pharma’s future, HBR says. These branded versions of off-patent meds sell at higher prices than regular generics do, but are cheaper than the branded meds themselves. They give a measure of assurance to patients worried about counterfeit meds–and to those concerned that unbranded generics won’t work as well as their branded counterparts. They also offer drugmakers a niche in emerging countries.
Continue reading ‘Pharma Trifecta: Generics, New Markets and Personalization’
Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals has hauled in a $45 million C round–a hefty chunk of cash that will open a development runway stretching out up to two-and-a-half years. Over that time, CEO Guy Macdonald says the company will put its technology for developing a better breed of tetracycline antibiotics to the clinical development test, taking a lead program–TP-434–through Phase II and ushering two more into the clinic. By the end of this stretch, the biotech should be able to position itself for a collaboration deal and possibly even an IPO.
Continue reading ‘Tetraphase Hauls in $45M to Back Antibiotic Work’
Bio-Optronics, Inc., a leader in healthcare workflow software, launches Clinical Conductor(TM) Enterprise, a new comprehensive, in-depth clinical study management system, at the Association of Clinical Research Professionals Global Conference & Exhibition in Tampa, Florida. The Clinical Conductor(TM) Enterprise CTMS is an extensive optimized clinical trial management system (CTMS) designed to centralize crucial information on patients and studies to ensure an accurate and efficient workflow throughout the clinical trial process. Specifically designed for CROs, SMOs, and sponsors, Enterprise CTMS builds on the well-established benefits offered by Clinical Conductor(TM) Site CTMS, which is already being used in over 600 sites worldwide, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Ukraine and South Africa.
Continue reading ‘Clinical Conductor Clinical Trial Management System Enjoys Record Growth’
Big Pharma companies know all too well that they have a big development problem. As Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter has said: “We’re taking too long, spending too much and producing far too little. Re-powering pharmaceutical innovation is an urgent need.”
Continue reading ‘Big Pharma Tries to Think Like a Biotech While Re-engineering R&D’
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