Pharma Industry Archive

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines said she will consider the interests of foreign investors and other “satisfactory” proposals before signing a maximum retail price law that would impose price caps on drugs in the archipelago nation. The news will cheer Pfizer, which attended a controversial meeting with the government there in which the company offered...

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The FDA has “formally admitted” that excluding a critic of Eli Lilly’s Effient/prasugrel blood-thinner from a panel earlier this year was wrong, according to a press release from Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. The news is the latest headwind in the troubled launch of a drug that is crucial for Lilly. The release says: The FDA admitted that the decision to remove [Dr. Sanjay]...

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Novartis‘ Q2 2009 results sound a warning for companies banking on a move into generics to shore up the future for their companies: Novartis’ generic unit, Sandoz, performed weakly in both Q2 and the first half of the year, while its branded pharma section grew strongly. Novartis total revenues were down 2 percent $10.6 billion; net income was down 10 percent to $2 billion. But...

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House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel’s insistence that tax deductibility on drug advertising be ended turned out to be more bluster than principle. Ad Age reports that the draft for health-care reform outlined by Rangel’s committee keeps the federal tax break for prescription-drug advertising: In lieu of eliminating the deduction to raise funds, the committee...

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Noven CEO Peter Brandt could receive a $2.4 million change-of-control payment in the acquisition of his company by Hisamitsu. (see page 38 of this document.) Brandt has only been Noven’s CEO since April 2008. In that year, he earned a total of $2 million. A Noven press release says Brandt is leaving the company in the acquisition. The acquisition brings to a close a controversial chapter...

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As Abbott Labs reported a Q2 2009 sales increase of 2.5% to $7.5 billion it is becoming clear that the effect of foreign currency — the dollar’s rise against the world — will be the defining factor for many companies this quarter. Unfavorable currency-exchange rates reduced growth by 8 percentage points, the company said. Net profit was $1.29 billion, down from $1.32 billion....

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An allegation that Pfizer attempted to “bribe” the government of the Philippines with 5 million discount cards to get a price control law postponed has developed into a full-blown scandal in the archipelago nation. Pfizer denies there was an attempt to bribe anyone, and yesterday described the allegations as “absurd.” BNET first noted the allegations here. Pfizer...

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Johnson & Johnson was punished by the declining value of foreign currencies as its U.S. sales grew but total sales declined 7.4 percent to $15.2 billion. Its Q2 2009 net income dropped to $3.21 billion, from $3.33 billion. There was a negative currency impact of 13.1 percent, the company said. In drugs, the company said: … domestic sales decreased 16.4%; while international sales...

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AstraZeneca’s cycle of good news regarding its antipsychotic Seroquel – that it was winning early motions in the initial set of cases filed against it and that sales were still rising despite the controversies surrounding the drug — may be coming to an end. A new study suggests that patients on older schizophrenia medicines survive longer than those on Seroquel, Reuters...

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A Belgian family has accused a Denmark drug company of reneging on a promise to sell them a supply of Metazym for their fatally ill daughter and instead giving it to Shire. Shire has declined to supply the family with the experimental drug, saying it does not have enough of the substance, which it is using in an ongoing trial. William Massart – who raised €1 million to buy the drug...

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