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Fresh directions for Sinobiomed

Home/Pharma News | Posted 10/12/2010

Sinobiomed Inc announced the appointment of a new President and Chief Executive Officer on 2 September 2010. Mr George Yu completed his education in Germany and the US. Under his experienced guidance the company hopes to move swiftly on the following strategic initiatives:

FDA generics division officer joins Teva

Home/Pharma News | Posted 03/12/2010

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has added to its team Mr Gary Buehler, former head of the generics division at the FDA, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr Buehler joins Teva as vice president of regulatory strategic operations.

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Endo acquires US generics’ giant Qualitest

Home/Pharma News | Posted 26/11/2010

Endo Pharmaceuticals is buying US generics’ giant Qualitest Pharmaceuticals for about Euros 850,000 in cash to expand its portfolio of pain drugs. This is its second acquisition in as many months; last month it acquired Penwest Pharmaceuticals for just over Euros 100 million. Shares in US-based Endo were on the rise following the news.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb looking stronger than expected

Home/Pharma News | Posted 19/11/2010

Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate), which prevents blood clots in patients at risk of heart attack or stroke and is the world's second biggest-selling prescription drug, loses US patent protection in November 2011. Bristol-Myers Squibb markets the drug in the US, while its partner sanofi-aventis sells it in other countries. Bristol-Myers got almost a third of its 2009 revenue from Plavix—Euros 4.6 billion out of a total of Euros 14.1 billion—and is racing to find new drugs to fill the gap.

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Mylan granted US restraining order over sales of paroxetine

Home/Pharma News | Posted 12/11/2010

Generics’ giant Mylan Laboratories was granted a US court order in September 2010 prohibiting Apotex, a Canadian pharma company, from selling paroxetine. The order also prohibits GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from supplying Paxil CR (paroxetine extended-release tablets) to Apotex. Mylan has an exclusive agreement to sell a copy of GSK’s Paxil CR. If GSK were to authorise additional sales of generic paroxetine this would undercut sales and cause an “irretrievable loss of market share and customers” for generic Paxil CR, a Mylan spokesman said.

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Spotlight on Bosnia

Home/Pharma News | Posted 08/11/2010

In today’s global business environment, companies battle for position all over the world. Today Bosnia’s pharmaceutical industry is making the headlines, with a battle to invest in the leading company, Bosnalijek.

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Teva bruised in Copaxone fight

Home/Pharma News | Posted 29/10/2010

Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) is generic’s giant Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ proprietory multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment, which netted the company Euros 1.17 billion in the first half of 2010. This success story, however, is now tainted with allegations that Teva performed an unethical clinical trial.

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Sun Pharma finally wins battle for Taro

Home/Pharma News | Posted 08/10/2010

On 21 September 2010 India-based generics manufacturer Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (Sun Pharma) announced that it had acquired a controlling stake in Israel generics’ firm Taro Pharmaceuticals Industries after a prolonged legal battle.

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AstraZeneca expands its generics business with Indian agreements

Home/Pharma News | Posted 01/10/2010

In line with its continued mission to supply branded generics to emerging markets, such as Africa and Latin America, AstraZeneca has entered into yet another agreement with an Indian generics firm.

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Actavis plans entry to biosimilars market with Bioton agreement

Home/Pharma News | Posted 24/09/2010

In a press release on 7 September 2010, Icelandic generics’ manufacturer Actavis announced that it plans to enter into the field of biosimilars with an agreement with Polish biotechnology company, Bioton.

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Ranbaxy to transfer R & D and focus on generics

Home/Pharma News | Posted 13/08/2010

On 2 July 2010, the Japanese Daiichi Sankyo Group and Indian-based Ranbaxy Laboratories announced that Ranbaxy’s New Drug Discovery Research (NDDR) has been transferred to Daiichi Sankyo India Pharma as part of the strategy to strengthen the global Research and Development (R & D) structure of the Daiichi Sankyo Group.

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Ranbaxy to pay FDA to end impasse on manufacturing ban

Home/Pharma News | Posted 17/09/2010

Daiichi Sankyo hopes that its interventions may lead to a lift of the FDA’s import ban on 30 products from Ranbaxy, its Indian generic drugs arm.

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Sun Pharma blocks Wockhardt settlement

Home/Pharma News | Posted 17/09/2010

Troubled generics’ firm Wockhardt is set to raise US$100 million via its foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs). However, fellow Indian generics’ manufacturer, Sun Pharma, has objected to the deal, amongst much speculation as to what Sun Pharma’s intentions are.

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Teva increases its global position with acquisition of Ratiopharm

Home/Pharma News | Posted 10/09/2010

Generics are becoming an increasingly lucrative market with good prospects for the future. However, a report by US market data provider BCC Research shows that this is also a bit of an exclusive club. The top four global generics manufacturers in 2009 – Teva, Sandoz, Mylan and Watson – accounted for 40% of the world market.

The global generic medicines market

Home/Pharma News | Posted 03/09/2010

The global market for generic drugs was worth an estimated US$84 billion for 2009 and is expected to increase to a staggering US$168.7 billion by 2014.

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Generics’ manufacturer Hospira merges with Javelin

Home/Pharma News | Posted 10/08/2010

On 22 June 2010, Hospira announced that it had successfully acquired 79% of the stock in Javelin Pharmaceutical’s. The merger agreement also allows for Hospira to exercise a ‘top-up’ option to increase its share ownership in Javelin, which, states Hospira, it fully intends to do.

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Sanofi-aventis and Nichi-Iko announce joint venture for generics in Japan

Home/Pharma News | Posted 02/07/2010

Sanofi-aventis and Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Nichi-Iko) have announced that they have signed an agreement to establish a new joint venture, called sanofi-aventis Nichi-Iko KK, in order to develop a generic business in Japan.

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Orchid acquires US generic sales and marketing company Karalex

Home/Pharma News | Posted 25/06/2010

On 10 June 2010, Indian-based generics manufacturer, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (Orchid) announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Karalex Pharma, LLC, a US-based generic marketing and sales services company with headquarters in New Jersey, USA.

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GSK acquires Argentine generics’ maker Laboratorios Phoenix

Home/Pharma News | Posted 25/06/2010

On 10 June 2010 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) acquired Laboratorios Phoenix, a leading Argentine pharmaceutical business, for approximately US$253 million. GSK will gain full ownership of Phoenix in a move to accelerate sales growth and further extend its pharmaceutical portfolio in Argentina and the Latin America region.

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Abbott acquires Indian generics’ maker Piramal Healthcare

Home/Pharma News | Posted 18/06/2010

The US-based company, Abbott, agreed to buy the domestic unit of Piramal Healthcare, one of India’s biggest generics makers, for US$3.7 billion.

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EGA welcomes MEPs decisions on falsified medicines and pharmacovigilance reports

Home/Pharma News | Posted 11/06/2010

On 27 April 2010, ENVI (The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety) of the European Parliament voted to adopt reports on both falsified medicines and pharmacovigilance. The measures included in these reports are intended to increase patients’ safety. This can only be good news for the generics sector, as this should result in increased consumer confidence and as a result encourage acceptance and increase sales of generics.

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IMS Health Top 20 pharmaceutical companies 2009

Home/Pharma News | Posted 23/04/2010

The 2009 list of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, ranked by IMS Health according to global prescription drug sales for the 12 months up to September 2009, shows that Teva, Novo Nordisk and Boehringer Ingelheim scored better in percent change than Big Pharma in those months.

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IMS Health, BCC: Generics sales continue to climb

Home/Pharma News | Posted 12/03/2010

Over the 12 months that ended September 2009, global sales of generics grew by 7.7%, up from 3.6 % the year before, IMS Health reported. This compares with the 5.7% growth seen within the overall global pharmaceutical universe in 2009.

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Global generics: time for consolidation and expansion

Home/Pharma News | Posted 12/03/2010

The global generic drug industry has witnessed an almost decade-long sales euphoria. Volumes and sales growth of prescription generic drugs continued to increase in 2009. At the same time, large companies are consolidating their operations in established markets and/or expanding into emerging ones through local acquisitions or partnerships.

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After generics slow down in 2013: into biosimilars

Home/Pharma News | Posted 12/03/2010

Large pharmaceutical companies are consolidating their generics operations in established markets and/or expanding into emerging ones through local acquisitions or partnerships, writes Ms Doris de Guzman on ICIS website of 10 February 2010.

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Originator/generic competition: who's the 'bad guy'?

Home/Pharma News | Posted 26/02/2010

As reported in Scrip News on 28 January 2010 by Xavier Buffet Delmas and Laura Morelli of Hogan & Hartson MNP, Paris, intellectual property rights are key elements of the fierce competition between originator and generics companies. Patents are central because it is only when patents elapse that generic products can enter the market. This is when competition in the market begins. Trademarks, trade dress and other marketing tools then come into play. The authors explain some interesting recent legal developments linked to this battle.

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Indian Ranbaxy buys Biovel to strengthen in vaccines and follow-on biologics

Home/Pharma News | Posted 12/02/2010

Ranbaxy Laboratories in India (now part of Daiichi Sankyo) has strengthened its vaccine and biologicals manufacturing capabilities by acquiring India-based Biovel Lifesciences.

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Pharmalot: Are pay-for-delay deals good or bad?

Home/Pharma News | Posted 11/02/2010

On 13 January 2010, the Federal Trade Commissioner (FTC) Jon Leibowitz held a press conference to deride the ongoing practice in which brand-name drugmakers offer cash or some other inducement to their generic rivals, which, in turn, agree to delay the marketing of lower-cost copycat medicines.

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PhRMA threatens to withdraw US healthcare reform support

Home/Pharma News | Posted 10/02/2010

As reported by PharmaTimes on 18 January 2010, US research-based drugmakers have threatened to withdraw their support for US President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms unless biological drugs receive 12 years’ guaranteed protection from generic competition.

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Innovative biologicals development must be preserved

Home/Pharma News | Posted 26/01/2010

As reported by Gene Quinn on IPWatchdog.com, for many months we have been hearing about the US government attempts to “reform” health care in the United States, and in the first weekend of December 2009 the US Senate was actually working, as the contentious debate continues. Even a relatively rare Presidential visit to Capitol Hill was scheduled for the afternoon of 6 December 2009, presumably so President Obama can rally the troops for whatever lies ahead. While patent policy has not taken centre stage in these debates, it is hard to ignore the under current that rages through the debates. Health care costs too much, so costs need to be contained. Of course, market initiatives like a national heath insurance market, which would lower premiums for everyone overnight, are not being considered.

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Pfizer plans to launch biosimilars of Top 10–15 biologicals

Home/Pharma News | Posted 22/01/2010

Pfizer, which became the biggest drugmaker selling widely prescribed pills such as the Lipitor heart medicine, is preparing to enter the business of making cheaper copies of pricey, injectable drugs from biotechnology.

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Establishing an API manufacturing base in China

Home/Pharma News | Posted 21/01/2010

According to an analysis by Robert Kennedy, Manager of Industry Research for Thomson Reuters API Intelligence, as published in Scrip News of 9 December 2009, a striking number of Chinese companies are gearing up to supply pharmaceutical ingredients to the regulated markets of the west.

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China API sourcing: the way forward

Home/Pharma News | Posted 21/01/2010

According to an analysis by Robert Kennedy, Manager of Industry Research for Thomson Reuters API Intelligence, as published in Scrip News of 9 December 2009, a striking number of Chinese companies are gearing up to supply pharmaceutical ingredients to the regulated markets of the west.

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Can China retain its API sourcing appeal?

Home/Pharma News | Posted 21/01/2010

China has a burgeoning active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing base, albeit one focused largely on achieving quick profits in the domestic sector. According to an analysis by Robert Kennedy, Manager of Industry Research for Thomson Reuters API Intelligence, as published in Scrip News of 9 December 2009, a striking number of Chinese companies are gearing up to supply pharmaceutical ingredients to the regulated markets of the west.

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China's appeal of the Chinese API sourcing market

Home/Pharma News | Posted 21/01/2010

According to an analysis by Robert Kennedy, Manager of Industry Research for Thomson Reuters API Intelligence, as published in Scrip News of 9 December 2009, a striking number of Chinese companies are gearing up to supply pharmaceutical ingredients to the regulated markets of the west.

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Sourcing APIs from China

Home/Pharma News | Posted 21/01/2010

According to an analysis by Robert Kennedy, Manager of Industry Research for Thomson Reuters API Intelligence, as published in Scrip News of 9 December 2009, a striking number of Chinese companies are gearing up to supply pharmaceutical ingredients to the regulated markets of the west.

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China is not the low-cost option in every category

Home/Pharma News | Posted 21/01/2010

According to an analysis by Robert Kennedy, Manager of Industry Research for Thomson Reuters API Intelligence, as published in Scrip News of 9 December 2009, a striking number of Chinese companies are gearing up to supply pharmaceutical ingredients to the regulated markets of the west.

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Considerations about the exclusivity period of biologicals

Home/Pharma News | Posted 19/01/2010

A proposal by US Democratic Representative Anna Eshoo included in the US House health reform bill, would give developers of innovative biomedical drugs 12 years of data exclusivity from generic competition, significantly extending their patent rights, writes Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik.

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Emerging markets: a clearer categorisation needed

Home/Pharma News | Posted 08/01/2010

Emerging markets are a popular topic at the moment, with pharma firms seeking sales growth outside the mature and slowing markets of the west.

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Emerging markets key to Big Pharma growth

Home/Pharma News | Posted 21/12/2009

There is a growing consensus in the pharmaceutical industry that emerging markets will have to be a crucial component of the big players’ businesses if they are to maintain growth in the coming years.

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US direct-to-consumer advertisements ‘led to higher drug prices’

Home/Pharma News | Posted 18/12/2009

A new study by Dr Michael Law et al. of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine of 23 November 2009, suggests that US direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for a top-selling drug had no effect on prescribing rates, but led to a major rise in the drug’s price. Use of Bristol-Myers Squibb/sanofi-aventis’ blood-thinner Plavix (clopidogrel), which first appeared on the market in 1998, did not increase as a result of the consumer advertising campaign for it, which began in 2001. However, a “sudden and sustained increase” in the drug’s price after the advertisements commenced cost 27 state Medicaid programmes an additional US$207 million in pharmacy expenditures during 2001–2005, say the authors.

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Is the pharmaceutical industry ‘innovating to extinction’?

Home/Pharma News | Posted 18/12/2009

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) of 25 November 2009 examines an increasingly problematic phenomenon in the pharmaceutical industry: ‘innovation to extinction’. In short, the better pharmaceutical companies do their job, the more difficult it will be for companies to create innovative therapies, particularly for well-treated populations (and thus they increasingly focus on generics and biosimilars ...).

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CMO market to be worth US$33.7 billion by 2014

Home/Pharma News | Posted 16/12/2009

The market for contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) will be worth US$33.7 billion (Euros 22.4 billion) by 2014 according to the latest Business Monitor International (BMI) report The CMO Market Outlook: Emerging Markets, Key Players and Future Trends published in October 2009, which says developing biologicals/biosimilars capabilities is a key imperative for growth.

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US lobbying, campaign contributions, and healthcare reform

Home/Pharma News | Posted 16/12/2009

As pointed out by Mr Robert Steinbrook in NEJM.org on 19 November 2009, interest groups are spending huge sums of money to influence the final US legislation and other matters pending in Washington. Since 2006, the health sector has spent US$1.7 billion lobbying Congress and federal agencies – more money than any other sector of the economy. Between January and September 2009, healthcare interests spent US$396.2 million. If current trends continue, the health sector is likely to spend more than half a billion dollars on lobbying in 2009. Pharmaceutical and healthcare products companies alone are likely to spend more than US$250 million, and the insurance industry, which is part of another sector, more than US$160 million. In all cases, these would be record annual expenditures.

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Biopharma growing fast due to lower generics threat

Home/Pharma News | Posted 15/12/2009

Biopharmaceuticals, which are the fastest growing sector of the pharmaceutical market, are causing demand and manufacturing capacity issues, delegates heard at the Visiongain 3rd Annual Contract Manufacturing Conference meeting in London, UK, this week.

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US drugmakers furious over price probe demands

Home/Pharma News | Posted 10/12/2009

US drugmakers have reacted with fury to two separate calls by Members of Congress for official inquiries into allegations of industry ‘price gouging’ in anticipation of healthcare reform.

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Europe could beat US in biopharmaceutical innovation

Home/Pharma News | Posted 03/12/2009

Europe could overthrow the US as a leader in the biotech-drug industry if US lawmakers decide to shorten intellectual property protection for brand-name biologicals under proposed legislation, writes Ms Benedetto della Vedova, former member of the European Parliament, in The Wall Street Journal. A proposal to provide five to seven years of protection – shorter than Europe's 10 years – would stifle innovation and diminish the chance of US companies to be globally competitive, giving way for European firms to create the next generation of biotech treatments, Ms della Vedova writes.

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Big Pharma seeks growth in emerging markets

Home/Pharma News | Posted 03/12/2009

China is the place to be for Western drugmakers seeking insurance against slowing growth, but plenty of other emerging markets are also tempting for Big Pharma, executives told the Reuters Health Summit.

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Brand-name and generics firms fight over bulk drug supplies

Home/Pharma News | Posted 03/12/2009

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expressed concern about the practices of brand-name drugmakers after generic drug companies complained they can not get bulk supplies of some medicines they want to copy.

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Pharmaceutical sector back in the EU antitrust spotlight

Home/Pharma News | Posted 12/11/2009

The raids on 6 October 2009 on the premises of several pharmaceutical companies show that the European competition authorities are serious about taking action against suspected anticompetitive behaviour in the EU generics market.

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Johnson & Johnson ‘buys’ to fight generic competition

Home/Pharma News | Posted 10/11/2009

Johnson & Johnson reported on 13 October 2009 that third-quarter revenue from pharmaceuticals fell 14.1% to US$5.3 billion (Euros 3.59 billion) compared to the prior-year period, due to generic competition and the negative impact of currency exchange. Net income for the three-month period increased 1.1% to US$3.3 billion (Euros 2.23 billion), due in part to reduced costs from job reductions and the consolidation of the company's management structure.

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EU warns pharmaceutical industry of new competition probes

Home/Pharma News | Posted 26/10/2009

The European Commission warned the pharmaceutical industry yesterday to “look out for” new antitrust investigations over the coming months.

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Pharma tempted into generics in emerging markets

Home/Pharma News | Posted 22/10/2009

With many western generics markets showing sluggish growth, the lure of big emerging economies such as India is proving irresistible to pharmaceutical companies looking for promising new outlets – and not only generics firms.

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GlaxoSmithKline may eye five percent stake in Dr Reddy's

Home/Pharma News | Posted 15/10/2009

There is speculation that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is in talks to buy a 5% stake in Indian drugmaker Dr Reddy’s Laboratories in a deal likely to be valued at US$150 million (Euros 101.47 million), an Indian newspaper reported on 18 September 2009.

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European patent will make medicines cheaper

Home/Pharma News | Posted 06/10/2009

Big pharmaceutical concerns manage to keep out cheaper medicines, even if the patents have expired. These firms would not be so good at this if a European patent would exist, says Mr André den Exter of the Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam/Erasmus Observatory on Health Law at Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

Big Pharma chiefs warn of ‘sea change’ in drug industry

Home/Pharma News | Posted 04/09/2009

Product pipelines are under serious pressure as pharmaceutical companies face competition from generic rivals and smaller biotechnology groups are struggling to secure backing from venture capitalists because of the recession. The industry has seen a string of so-called mega-mergers, including Pfizer's US$68 billion (Euros 48.66 billion) deal for Wyeth, but AstraZeneca CEO Mr David Brennan will reiterate his opposition to this type of deal and claim collaborations are essential to boosting drug development.

Radical treatments for difficult times

Home/Pharma News | Posted 30/07/2009

The economic downturn is only one of many factors forcing the drug industry to rethink its strategy reported Financial Times pharmaceuticals correspondent Mr Andrew Jack in the British Medical Journal. According to him, large drug makers such as AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Pfizer are being forced to adapt at an increasing pace to a range of growing pressures.

API opportunities in biologicals, biosimilars and generics

Home/Pharma News | Posted 29/07/2009

The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) market, traditionally dominated by small-molecule drugs, is currently witnessing a rapid shift towards biopharmaceuticals. At the same time, the manufacturing volume outsourced to contract manufacturing firms is on the rise. As plain vanilla generics continue to get highly competitive, API manufacturers are searching for newer avenues such as the production of high-potency APIs to differentiate themselves from competition.