Pharma Industry Archive

A source tells BNET that the FDA is sending out letters to drug companies giving them new guidelines for drug approvals in the diabetes category. The source says the FDA will now require a meta analysis of all phase II and phase III trials for cardiovascular events if the studies are still under way. Morgan Stanley put out an analysts’ note indicating that: FDA, following a panel...

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Roche’s acquisition of Genentech is becoming a conspicuous non-event as the ground on which the deal needs to be made seems to be shifting faster than Roche can cope with it. BNET readers will remember that Roche announced its intention to buy the 60 percent of shares in Genentech that it does not own back in July — four long months ago. Genentech rejected the deal as too cheap and...

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A Johnson & Johnson TV commercial for Motrin has triggered an avalanche of hate from new moms. The offending ad, which you can see here (and below), pokes fun at moms who carry babies in slings by suggesting that it is likely to make your neck and back ache more (and you should therefore take Motrin). Baby-slinging moms turn out to be a powerful internet force, however, and in a matter of...

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DTC ad spending continues to slip — A report from TNS Media Intelligence suggests that pharma companies now spend less on direct-to-consumer advertising. The sector was considered recession-proof in the past, but spending dropped in 2007 and is projected to do the same in 2008. Big declines have occurred in non-branded advertising, such as disease-awareness ads, showing a 63% decline...

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Before President Obama is even sworn in, the battle lines between PhRMA and the healthcare reformers are already being drawn. The drugmaker’s lobbyist group is drawing up a campaign to defeat Obama’s healthcare reform ideas even before he has actually proposed any. PhRMA is preparing: a multimillion-dollar public relations campaign to tout the importance of free-market health care...

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BNET suggested recently that Merck’s Gardasil anti-HPV vaccine had mostly tapped the sweet spot of its revenues — preteen girls — and was thus moving on to populations where the vaccine is much less beneficial. There is almost no point in giving the vaccine to women aged 29-45 who are already sexually active because they have already encountered the disease. Merck has...

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Drug company conference calls with Wall Street are often dull or baffling — a fast tide of numbers and facts extracted by spreadsheet jocks. But they’re often the only chance we have to hear CEOs and other senior execs talking without the benefit of prepared remarks. Every once in while they screw up, get it wrong or — most commonly — try to get around tricky questions...

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Merck wants Gardasil approved for males — The HPV vaccine, already successful despite several controversies, showed promising results for preventing genital warts in young men. About a quarter of young women in the United States have received the treatment, which costs $300-$400 for three shots, and Merck sold $400 million worth of the drug in the third quarter. [Source: CNBC's Pharma's...

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Bristol-Myers Squibb made a presentation this morning at the Credit Suisse Healthcare Conference that showed CFO John Marc-Huet wants to save the company $2.5 billion in “productivity initiatives.” He’s going to squeeze these out of “headcount and related costs” — which sounds like a euphemism for layoffs. BMS’s own numbers show the company is indeed...

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New York City wants biotech  — The city is investing more than $700 million in biotech facilities, hoping to lure companies from California and Massachusetts, the current hubs of bitoech activity. More than one million square feet of office and lab space will open by 2010. [Source: FierceBiotech] Amgen predicts blockbusters — CEO Kevin Sharer expects big sales for Sensipar and...

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