Pharma Industry Archive

GlaxoSmithKline’s Q2 2009 results, released a few days ago, were well received but within the company’s disclosures and investor presentations were some sobering statistics on the ongoing damage that generics are doing to the company, and the limited progress of its cost-reduction programs. The basics: Revenue rose 15 percent to £6.7 billion, net income was £1.5 billion. This...

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AstraZeneca’s “Enhancing Productivity” program — in which it has promised to lay off 15,000 staff — appears to be a long, slow haul, and the company has far to go. (The Onglyza situation isn’t helping, of course.) The company said in its Q2 2009 earnings release: Good progress continues on the previously announced business reshaping programmes. In the second...

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If you held stock in Medarex before the company agreed to be acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb, you’re very happy right now: Medarex closed at $8.40 before the sale and BMS agreed to buy it for $16 a share, an almost 90 percent premium on your holding. But not everyone is happy. Kenneth Blumberg of Pikesville, Md., is suing Medarex and BMS claiming he’s been shortchanged. He owns...

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The Wall Street Journal’s Inside Track column appears to be baffled by the failure of Medarex CEO Howard Pien to cancel a scheduled sale of stock right before he announced his company was being acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Had he held on, he would have pocketed $250,000, the WSJ noted: After the offer was announced last week, Medarex shares nearly doubled, to $15.87. Mr. Pien had...

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AstraZeneca said its Seroquel litigation costs have exceeded $593 million, and that it has tapped out the extent of its liability insurance. With no more insurance available to cover its bills, the company said it will take charges on its income statement in upcoming quarters. The news comes as AstraZeneca also gave an update on the scale of the litigation filed against it: 10,381 cases are...

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The first of Pfizer’s Neurontin mass tort cases could not have been stranger: The plaintiffs dropped the case after a mystery donor paid them $50,000; a Pfizer investigator was accused by a witness of blocking his driveway and scaring his family; and CEO Jeff Kindler made it personal between him and the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer, Mark Lanier. Lanier said the donation came from another...

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Sanofi-Aventis‘ Q2 2009 earnings releases seem to indicate that more layoffs are on the way. They also gave clues to the company’s Multaq marketing strategy. The basics: revenues were €7.4 billion, up 11.2 percent; net income was €2.3 billion, up 29.4 percent. The investor presentation that accompanied the release indicates that management’s “Transforming”...

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It’s official: Pfizer has settled the Nigerian Trovan case for $75 million. Nigerian kleptocrats will probably take about $40 million of that settlement, according to the deal structure described by Reuters. UPDATE: Pfizer confirmed the deal. See the company’s statement below. BNET noted the settlement and the deal price back in March. Pfizer said that report was “not...

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Levitra thieves! Cheating in obesity studies! Butterfly hunts! It all happened in the pharmaceutical industry in July. $6.9M of Levitra stolen from Bayer in Germany Police are looking for a gang of hardened criminals who face stiff penalties if caught. ‘Tight Throat Tammy’ (pictured) advertises Mebucaine in South Africa It’s a sore throat lozenge. Mouse whiskers are key to...

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Amgen’s Q408 earnings were marred by a perfect storm of safety, regulatory and reimbursement issues converging on its erythropoiesis-stimulating agent franchise, and Q109 earnings took a hit thanks to economic woes pressuring patients to forgo pricey meds like the anti-inflammatry drug Enbrel (etanercept). But with Q209, everyone’s favorite big biotech is back on top again. Second quarter...

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