Pharma Industry Archive

January 2009

Prasugrel’s FDA approval looks closer — Prasugrel, the blood thinner on which Lilly is pinning so much hope, got a boost in a newly-published FDA document stating that “the Division recommends approval of prasugrel.” The briefing is meant to sway the outside committee that will convene next week to advise the FDA on the drug. [Source: WSJ Health Blog] Roche lowers...

More...

BNET’s 10-Q Detective, David Phillips, reports that Carl Icahn has filed papers to nominate a slate of directors for the board of Amylin, maker of diabetes drug Byetta. The last time Icahn interfered with a smaller company, ImClone, it ended up being bought by Eli Lilly. Here’s Phillips’ description of Icahn’s motivation: What’s Icahn’s interest in Amylin? Ill-timed...

More...

Roche, its pockets empty, has gone hostile in its bid for Genentech and offered holders a lower bid than its initial offer last summer. Roche is offering $86.50 a share, a 2.8% drop from the $89 it originally offered. Roche does not have financing lined up for the deal, Reuters reported. The move indicates that the couterintuitive view — that the Genentech deal price was falling, not...

More...

Another quarter, another $80 million in “not meaningful” charges for Eli Lilly. The company reported its Q4 2008 results yesterday, and as usual the income statement contained a lump devoted to money lost on “asset impairments, restructuring and other special charges.” With the new charge for $80 million, Lilly has burned off 7.4 percent of its total revenues in...

More...

GSK to lose $400 million on legal challenge — Legal action against GlaxoSmithKline, stemming from the state of Colorado’s allegations of improper marketing on nine top products, will cost $400 million, the company has announced. The charge will appear in the fourth quarter results due in February. [Source: WSJ Health Blog] AstraZeneca to cut thousands more jobs — AZ has...

More...

Pfizer did its deal for Wyeth. Eli Lilly did its deal for ImClone. So where is Roche’s acquisition of Genentech? The non-appearance of the Roche-Genentech buy is currently the longest running show in town — but don’t worry, Reuters reports that Roche management is trying — again! — to get money from somewhere to execute this much-promised, little delivered deal....

More...

Back in August, BNET ragged on Sepracor for implementing a cost-cutting program that drove up its expenses and drove down its revenue. In its Q4 earnings today, the company has turned that all around — sales are up and expenses are down. The turnaround has come at a price, however. The company also announced it would lay off 530 people, including 350 sales reps, plus 410 contract sales...

More...

AstraZeneca announced plans for another 7,400 layoffs to take place before 2013. About 38 percent of those job cuts will come prior to 2010, the company said. The remainder will occur before 2013. The company expects the “restructuring” to cost $2.9 billion, but to save $2.5 billion a year after that. AZ has already laid off 7,600 people since 2007. The new cuts bring that total to...

More...

Roche’s founding family moves to block acquisitions — In today’s feverish climate of M&A speculation, the descendants of Roche’s founder indefinitely extended their majority voting stake in the company. This will make it more difficult for a competitor, like Novartis (which already owns 33 percent of Roche), to swoop in and take majority ownership. [Source:...

More...

Bristol-Myers Squibb is dependent for half its revenues on just three drugs, and those brands will all be generic by 2012, the NYT reports. The article asks whether BMS can survive on its own or be acquired, possibly by Sanofi Aventis: Of Bristol-Myers’s $4.5 billion in drug sales for the fourth quarter, more than half that came from three drugs: the blood thinner Plavix at $1.47 billion;...

More...