Pharmaceutical Processing World Archives - Page 6 of 64

Novartis’s Sandoz spin-off and Sanofi’s portfolio slim-down reflect pharma push toward specialization

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Modern pharma: Evolving through specialized strategies

The pharmaceutical trend toward increasing concentration appears to be gaining momentum. On September 15, Novartis shareholders approved the company’s proposed spinoff of Sandoz, the generics and biosimilars unit. The company anticipates the deal to close in early October. Similarly, Sanofi is also taking a scalpel to its operations, offloading a selection of its central nervous system medications to Pharmanovia.

Sanofi, similar to several other of its pharma peers, is aiming to realign its portfolio, emphasizing areas where it can drive innovation and deliver robust growth.

Last week, Johnson & Johnson, for instance, announced a rebrand that traded its historic ‘Janssen’ pharma moniker for ‘Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine.’ The move is part of a broader initiative to priorit…

New Bayer CEO Bill Anderson’s move to cut management mirrors his Roche playbook

Bill Anderson, who assumed leadership of Bayer in June, is eyeing cuts to the company’s mid- and upper-management. In addition to the cost-savings, Anderson expects the cuts to streamline decision-making. The moves are part of Anderson’s first step in bolder initiative to revamp Bayer’s operational dynamics in the face of investor pressures.

It is relatively rare for an American to lead a major German company. One notable precedent was Bill McDermott at SAP, who made history of the first American CEO of the software company in 2014. At the helm of the software giant, McDermott touted cloud-based evolution, helped introduce the in-memory database platform SAP HANA, prioritized a customer-centric approach, and championed sustainability initiatives.

Anderson, much like McDermott, appears to have bold moves in mind at Bayer. In addition to the cost-savings, he expects these cuts to streamline decision-making. This approach reflects Anderson’s ambi…

Pfizer’s revenue soared in the pandemic, but its stock valuation slipped relative to industry peers since 2000

In recent years, Pfizer has emerged as the largest Big Pharma firm. In 2022, its revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time. But even though the pandemic has cemented the company as a leading pharmaceutical powerhouse — with a healthy M&A appetite — it does not count among the upper echelon of public companies by market capitalization. The Pfizer market cap analysis below shows the company’s ups and downs.

The situation, however, was different in 2000, when Pfizer was the ninth largest company with a market share of $202 billion — approximately $357.54 billion today, according to an analysis from City Index, a financial services firm. The data below comes courtesy of City Index.

While Pfizer’s market cap surged from 2020 to December 2021, it began to fall in early 2022. The main driver of the decrease is plunging demand for Pfizer’s COVID vaccine and Paxlovid. In the second quarter of 2023, the company reported revenue of $12.7 billion,…

PBMs increasingly under fire in drug-pricing battle

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As the national debate over drug pricing ramps up, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) find themselves squarely in the spotlight. PhRMA, which has also criticized hospitals for marking up drug prices by as much as 500%, launched a seven-figure ad campaign targeting proposals in Congress to lower drug prices.

PhRMA, which counts companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, and Merck & Co. as members, finds itself on the defensive as the federal government and the public demand greater transparency and accountability in drug pricing. A recent study from KFF found that 82% of adults believe the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable.

As prices for new drugs continue to soar, PhRMA is taking a proactive approach in its messaging. Instead of touting innovation as it has done in the past, the ____ is ramping up attacks on intermediaries like PBMs as driving up costs.

For instance, in a recent PhRMA ad titled…

White House targets blockbusters in Medicare’s price negotiation strategy

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The Biden-Harris Administration has nominated 10 drugs for price negotiations directly with pharmaceutical giants after capping monthly insulin costs at $35.

Americans have historically paid more for prescription drugs than most other major economies. In a fact sheet, the White House highlighted that seniors paid $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for these drugs just last year. Biden, like Trump before him, aim to bring prices more in line with those of other advanced nations.

This move is not isolated. The Biden Administration has implemented other cost-saving measures, such as reining in the cost of insulin and making some vaccines free for Medicare beneficiaries.

All of the 10 drugs on the list were blockbusters. Eight of the 10 were among the bestselling drugs of 2022. The remaining two are insulin formulations from Novo Nordisk: Fiasp and NovoLog.

…

FTC approves Amgen-Horizon merger

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has signed off on Amgen’s proposed $27.8 billion purchase of Horizon Therapeutics . The acquisition, one of the largest pharma deals in recent years, is set to close in the early fourth quarter of 2022.

The agreement resolves an FTC lawsuit filed in May attempting to block the deal over antitrust concerns. FTC did not entirely let Amgen off the hook, however, as it is prohibiting Amgen from bundling two of Horizon’s top drugs — the thyroid eye disease therapy Tepezza (teprotumumab-trbw) and gout medicine Krystexxa (pegloticase). The agency also will require Amgen to get FTC approval before it acquires any products treating the same diseases as Tepezza and Krystexxa until 2032. The agency also set other requirements that will be in place for 15 years. State attorneys general agreed to dismiss their suits as part of the deal.

Amgen-Horizon merger announced in late 2022

Amgen said the deal with FTC would have no impac…

A closer look at the drugs accounting for a fifth of Medicare’s spending

As Medicare prepares to negotiate drug prices directly with pharma companies, the White House has selected 10 drugs that make up 20% — one-fifth — of Medicare’s annual spending. Our analysis provides a deep dive into these drugs, including their costs, the number of enrollees depending on them and the significant price hikes since their market debut. Data comes courtesy of a CMS fact sheet and AARP research, which quantifies the degree of price escalations since the drugs’ debut.

HHS awards more than $1 billion to advance next-gen COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $1.4 billion to support vaccine clinical trials to test new, more effective and longer-lasting COVID-19 vaccines. In all, Project NextGen is a $5 billion initiative from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The aim of the program is to identify and address strengths and weaknesses of current COVID-19 therapies and vaccines, as well as the back the development of next-gen COVID-19 vaccines and therapies

The latest funding announcement announced allots $1 billion for vaccine clinical trials, $326 million for a new monoclonal antibody and another $100 million to spark innovation of novel vaccine and therapeutic technologies.

Towards next-gen COVID-19 vaccines and therapies

Regeneron alone received $326 million under the program, dubbed Project NextGen. The funding for the Tarrytown, New York–bas…

Biopharma talent wars heat up as openings spike in 2023

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The biopharma industry had a lull in job opening growth from late 2022 and into early 2023. At that time, some early stage companies struggled to secure funding, while larger firms adopted a more cautious posture, according to recent research from the global real-estate firm JLL. Madeline Holmes, a senior research analyst at the company, noted, “Job Openings was something that we looked into as a metric of potential future growth.”

While biopharma layoffs remain a common occurrence, a turnaround could be underway — at least for bigger well-heeled players. The appetite for life sciences talent has ramped up since March of this year. June 2023 marked the sixth highest number of biopharma job openings in any month on record, in line with peaks in 2022. Year-over-year, June postings rose 11%.

Holmes provided some geographical context, noting that Massachusetts saw the most b…

Arizona Senator Sinema champions Phoenix Medical Quarter

Kyrsten Sinema (left) with Sharon Harper (right), CEO and co-founder of Plaza Companies, at a Creighton University/Phoenix Medical Quarter event. Harper’s firm specializes in developing and managing properties for medical and bioscience facilities, among others. Both Sinema and Harper are champions of healthcare and bioscience growth in Arizona.

Arizona has launched the Phoenix Medical Quarter, a 100-acre hub of medical research in midtown Phoenix. Education and patient care are primary objectives for the new hub, which aims to compete with top medical centers worldwide while cementing Arizona’s leadership in biosciences.

Independent Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who has championed the state’s healthcare and biosciences sectors, also announced more than $2 million in Senate appropriations for the Creighton and Barrow Neurological Institute, which are integral parts of the Phoenix Medica…

Lilly wraps up acquisition of Versanis, marking the fifth largest pharma deal of 2023

Top 5 biggest M&A deals in the pharmaceutical industry as of August 14, 2023: Pfizer/Seagen ($43B), Biogen/Reata Pharmaceuticals ($7.3B), Astellas Pharma/Iveric Bio ($5.9B), Merck & Co./Prometheus Biosciences ($10.8B), Eli Lilly/Versanis ($1.93B).

Eli Lilly just wrapped up its acquisition of Versanis Bio in a $1.9 billion deal, the pharma giant announced today. The deal marks Lilly’s latest move to build up its pipeline of potential obesity and diabetes treatments, which promises to be a notable growth area for the company. Lilly recently completed its submission of tirzepatide for chronic weight management to the FDA.

The company reported positive Phase 3 results from the SURMOUNT-3 and SURMOUNT-4 studies, showing the highest levels of weight loss observed so far in the SURMOUNT program.

Tirzepatide is a dual glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1…

Regeneron agrees to spend up to $213M to acquire Decibel Therapeutics

To date, 2023 is shaping up to be a relatively brisk year for M&A deals. A recent case in point is Regeneron’s acquisition of Decibel Therapeutics. The centerpiece of the deal is DB-OTO, a gene therapy intended for patients with otoferlin-related hearing loss. The drug is in its first clinical trial. Regeneron agreed to pay $4.00 per share for Decibel stock with the potential to pay up to $3.50 per share in cash if Decibel hits agreed-upon regulatory milestones for DB-OTO in a specified time frame, bringing the total value of the deal to roughly $213 million.

Last year, Decibel touted DB-OTO’s ability to support otoferlin expression for several weeks before it plateaued. The company said the data for the drug were in line with earlier preclinical research in which mice achieved a functional recovery.

Involved in transmission of sound signals in the inner ear, the protein otoferlin is essential for hearing. Deficiency or mutations in the gene that produces o…