| Pharma Continues Headlong Rush Into Branded Generics The Burrill Report submits: By Marie Daghlian Pharmaceutical companies’ branded generics momentum got a strong thrust with three separate emerging market deals during the second week of May. The constant reminder that emerging market pharmaceutical growth is far outpacing growth in established markets, Abbott Laboratories (ABT), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Pfizer (PFE) forged new deals to solidify their global market presence. Abbott Laboratories announced a licensing and supply agreement with Zydus Cadila, India’s fourth largest generic pharmaceutical company, for a portfolio of pharmaceutical products that Abbott will commercialize in 15 emerging markets. Under their agreement, Abbott will gain rights to at least 24 Zydus products in 15 key emerging markets where Abbott has a strong and growing presence. The agreement also includes an option for the addition of more than 40 Zydus products to the collaboration. The deal includes medicines for pain, cancer and cardiovascular, neurological and respiratory diseases, with product launches beginning in early 2012. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. At the same time, Abbott announced the formal creation of a stand-alone Established Products Division to focus on expanding the market for Abbott's established pharmaceutical portfolio in emerging markets. The new division, with $5 billion in sales, is modeled very much like Pfizer’s Established Products unit, which reported $10 billion in sales last year and has an agreement with Indian generic pharma Aurobindo for access to 60 branded generics. GlaxoSmithKline extended its presence in Asia through a strategic alliance with South Korea's Dong-A Pharmaceuticals, acquiring a 9.9 percent stake in the company for $109.5 million. Dong-A is south Korea’s leading pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drug company. GSK has a broad agreement signed in June 2009 with India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (RDY) for access to 100 branded generics. Not to be outdone, Pfizer expanded its partnership with Indian pharmaceutical Strides Arcolab to extend beyond the United States. Under their original agreement in January 2010, Strides was to deliver 40 products, mostly oncology injectables, for the U.S. market. The new deal will allow Pfizer to commercialize Strides’ products in the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea. It also adds five new injectables to the agreement. The market size for these 45 products in the United States and covered markets is about $18 billion, according to a Reuters report. Financial terms were not disclosed. Fresh on the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Provenge, Dendreon’s (DNDN) cancer vaccine treatment for prostate cancer, German biotech CureVac closed a $35.25 million round with its major shareholder, dievini Hopp Bio Tech. The mRNA vaccine company is developing a prostate cancer vaccine that is currently in a phase 2a trial, with results expected in the second half of 2010. CurVac is a spin-off from Tubingen University and has raised $83 million to date. The company also has an mRNA vaccine compound to treat non-small cell lung cancer in early stage development. San Diego diagnostics company Astute Medical completed a $26.5 million series B financing co-led by Domain Associates and Delphi Ventures. Johnson & Johnson Development and existing investor De Novo Ventures also participated in the financing. Astute will use the funding to advance research and development aimed at the identification and validation of protein biomarkers with the goal of commercializing high potential diagnostic products. Astute’s current areas of focus include abdominal pain, acute coronary syndromes, cerebrovascular injury, kidney injury and sepsis. Finally, Ikaria, a Clinton, New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical company filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $200 million in an IPO. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol IKAR and Goldman Sachs and Morgan are serving as co-lead underwriters. Unlike many in the current IPO queue, Ikaria generated $275 million in revenue in 2009 and recorded a $13 million profit. Most of the revenue comes from Inomax, a nitric oxide drug and the only FDA-approved therapy for hypoxic respiratory failure in infants. Financings Announced the Week Ending May 14, 2010Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Glaxo to Book $2.4 Billion Charge GlaxoSmithKline said it will record a charge of $2.4 billion to cover the cost of settling lawsuits involving the diabetes drug Avandia and the antidepressant Paxil, and a U.S. investigation of a Glaxo factory in Puerto Rico. online.wsj.com |
Mannkind Corp. Q2 2010 Earnings Call Transcript Mannkind Corp. (MKND) Q2 2010 Earnings Call August 2, 2010; 09:00 am ETComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Why People Can't Make Decisions Researchers have been investigating how people's view of the world affects their lives, and how they might be able to make better decisions. online.wsj.com |
Merck vs. J&J: Wait for It Derek Lowe submits: We're going to have to wait to find out if the whole Schering-Plough (SGP)-buys-Merck (MRK) charade is really going to allow revenue from J&J's (JNJ) Remicade to stay with the merged company. That merged company is known as "Merck", of course, and is run by Merck people from Merck's headquarters, so it's going to be interesting to see how that dispute goes. Although the first arguments have been made before an arbitration board, the decision doesn't look to be made until sometime next year. It sounds as if Merck is already trying to lower expectations, though..Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |