Pharma Marketletter articles from February 2003

Pharma Marketletter archives from February 2003

Japan's Kyorin to merge with Teijin's pharma operations.
February 3, 2003... Two of Japan's smaller drugmakers, Kyorin and Teijin (which is essentially a textile producer but moved into the medical sector in 1973) have agreed to merge their pharmaceutical operations. Under the terms of the agreement, Teijin's...

Taisho and Toyama form joint sales firm.
February 3, 2003... Japan's Taisho Pharmaceutical and Toyama Chemical are forming a joint sales company. Even before the official April launch of the new venture, to be called Taisho Toyama Pharmaceuticals, the two companies have begun co-promotion of two...

Degussa China plant for L-methionine.
February 3, 2003... German firm Degussa's Fine Chemical business unit has begun construction of a new plant for the pharmaceutical amino acid L-methionine in Wuming, China. Planned to start in the first quarter of 2004, the plant will have an annual capacity of...

Biotech shows high growth potential for investors, says expert.
February 3, 2003... Even though the entire biotechnology sector was down nearly 50% in the last year, investors should not assume that if they "buy the market" they are guaranteed to benefit from the sector's turnaround, says Libbe Englander, Fund Co-Manager at...

Intrinsic Therapeutics raises $25 million.
February 3, 2003... Intrinsic Therapeutics, a privately-held US company, says that it has completed a Series C financing of $25 million to support the clinical development and commercialization of its platform intervertebral disc repair technologies. Sprout Group...

API to offer expertise to drugmakers.
February 3, 2003... API Corp, an Osaka, Japan-based chemical maker funded by Mitsubishi Chemical Corp and Mitsubishi Pharma, will begin providing know-how on compound production to pharmaceutical companies, reports the Nikkei Business Daily. By assisting...

Novartis' CEO salary revealed at 20M SwFr.
February 3, 2003... Under the rules of Swiss corporate governance, which became effective last year, Novartis has, for the first time, revealed the remuneration package of its chief executive, Daniel Vasella. Mr Vasella earned a total 20 million Swiss francs...

Novartis grows stake in Roche, but merger still looks a long way off.
February 3, 2003... Europe's third-largest pharmaceuticals company, Novartis, has upped its stake in fellow Swiss firm Roche to 32.7%, a move which pushes the former company very close to holding a blocking minority stake in the latter, while giving it real sway...

Sigma-Tau increases SciClone equity.
February 3, 2003... Italy-headquartered Sigma-Tau says that it has grown its ownership position in USA-based SciClone to almost 10% following the purchase of around 505,000 shares of common stock for a consideration of some $1.8 million. Under the terms of...

AstraZeneca to issue earnings warning?
February 3, 2003... A poll of 14 analysts conducted by Reuters has suggested that Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca will likely issue an earnings warning when it posts its annual results for 2002 on January 30. According to the poll, guidance figures are...

Lynx culls staff in USA and Germany.
February 3, 2003... Lynx Therapeutics has cut its workforce by approximately 25%, leaving the company with a head count of 90 people. The groups affected by the move include those involved in R&D based in Heidelberg, Germany, as well as members of the proteomics...

Japan's Nippon Kayaku profits fall 12%.
February 3, 2003... Japanese drugmaker Nippon Kayaku says that group pretax profits fell 12% to 3.80 billion yen ($32.2 million) for the interim period ended November 31, 2002. Sales were up 4% to 59.8 billion yen, while its pharmaceutical franchise...

Pharmacia grants access to HIV drug.
February 3, 2003... Pharmacia has reached an agreement with a non-profit group based in the Netherlands which could allow the manufacture of cheaper, generic versions of its HIV drug Rescriptor (delavirdine mesylate) in developing countries. The deal gives the...

GSK halts Serevent trial; FDA backs product.
February 3, 2003... GlaxoSmithKline has halted a clinical trial of its big-selling asthma drug Serevent (salmeterol xinafoate), after an interim analysis of a large safety study of the product suggested that it may be associated with an increased risk of...

ICON buys UK's Medeval.
February 3, 2003... Ireland-based global clinical research organization ICON has announced the acquisition of Medeval Group, a UK clinical pharmacology group providing Phase I and bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. ...

Farmacijos increases Panfarma stake.
February 3, 2003... Pharmaceutical wholesaler Farmacijos Projektai has increased its total stake in fellow Lithuanian retail company Panfarma to just under 80%, after issuing a buyout offer to the latter's shareholders last December, according to the LETA news...

Genetics Co acquires CallistoGen assets.
February 3, 2003... Swiss privately-held drug discovery and development firm Genetics Co has acquired a set of core assets of Germany's CallistoGen, notably its portfolio of potent small-molecule lead candidates against Alzheimer's disease and its proprietary...

SynGenix buys Dallas Burston.
February 3, 2003... SynGenix, a company engaged in the development and delivery of targeted medications for diseases of the nervous system, has announced the acquisition of fellow UK firm Dallas Burston, which is developing pharmaceutical products and delivery...

Actelion's Tracleer ahead of forecasts.
February 3, 2003... Swiss biopharmaceutical firm Actelion says that sales of its lead product, the pulmonary arterial hypertension drug Tracleer (bosentan), reached 121.8 million Swiss francs ($89.1 million) for 2002, a rise from the previous year's turnover of...

Altana AG sees 2002 sales grow 13%.
February 3, 2003... Germany's fast-growing drugmaker Altana AG saw further expansion for 2002, with sales rising 13% to 2.60 billion euros ($2.78 billion). Adjusted for exchange rates and acquisition effects, operating turnover was up 16%. The company will report...

Update - GSK shares hit as Serevent safety trial is halted.
February 3, 2003... GlaxoSmithKline has halted a clinical trial of its big-selling asthma drug Serevent (salmeterol xinafoate), after an interim analysis of a large safety study of the product suggested that it may be associated with an increased risk of...

Aventis gets another approvable letter for Ketek from FDA.
February 3, 2003... Aventis has been sent another approvable letter by the US Food and Drug Administration requesting additional analyses and information before the agency will grant full clearance to Ketek (telithromycin), the company's new ketolide antibiotic....

Pharmacia, Pfizer merger provides ED windfall for Nastech.
February 3, 2003... Nastech Pharmaceutical of the USA has regained development rights to an experimental treatment for erectile dysfunction and female sexual dysfunction from Pharmacia in a negotiated settlement that brings in $13.5 million in a cash windfall....

Cambridge Antibody/Oxford GlycoSciences merger "positive".
February 3, 2003... The announced merger between UK firms Cambridge Antibody Technology and Oxford GlycoSciences (Marketletter January 27) "is a positive and logical strategic move for both," according to analysts at Morgan Stanley, who note that CAT is set to...

Japanese drugmakers increase drug side effect monitoring.
February 3, 2003... In the wake of significant adverse drug reactions reported with AstraZeneca's novel lung cancer drug Iressa (gefitinib; Marketletters passim), Japanese pharmaceutical companies are reportedly stepping-up their efforts on ADR event collection...

Debiopharm provides funding for Tulane Univ cancer research.
February 3, 2003... Switzerland's Debiopharm SA has announced a collaboration with the New Orleans, USA-based Tulane University, to which it will provide funding over the next three years to establish the Mauvernay Research Excellence Fund, for the discovery of...

J&J ordered to pay Amgen's costs in Procrit case.
February 3, 2003... US biotechnology major Amgen says that an arbitrator has determined that the firm was the prevailing party in the recent arbitration with Johnson & Johnson and ordered the latter to pay Amgen's costs and reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by...

Magnum seeks to buy Apotheka.
February 3, 2003... Estonia's Magnum Medical drug wholesaler is seeking government permission to take over the Apotheka drug store, the largest in the country, operating over 60 outlets nationwide, according to the LETA news agency. Magnum has 2002 sales of 1.1...

Novartis in line with expectations for 2002, pharma growth holding strong.
February 3, 2003... Swiss drugmaker Novartis, formed through a merger of equals between Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy in 1996, is currently the third largest pharmaceutical company in Europe. 2002 has been a significant year for the firm, which has consolidated its...

US FDA race, ethnicity guide for clinical trials.
February 3, 2003... The US Food and Drug Administration has published a draft Guidance for Industry to recommend categories for collecting effectiveness and safety data during clinical trials for ethnic and racial demographic groups. FDA regulations require...

US Supreme Court starts Maine Rx probe.
February 3, 2003... The US Supreme Court has begun its deliberations into a case brought by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, claiming that the state of Maine's prescription drug discount program, Maine Rx, is an illegal extension of the...

Bush plans $13M FDA boost for generics.
February 3, 2003... To improve prescription drug access, US President George W Bush will propose a $13 million increase in the Food and Drug Administration's fiscal 2004 budget. The money would be used to hire about 40 new experts in the FDA's generic drugs...

Philippines "no" to EU drug access plan.
February 3, 2003... The Philippines feels strongly that countries should determine on their own what constitutes a public health crisis, without the approval of other countries or international organizations, says the country's Trade Secretary, Manuel Roxas. The...

Pharmacia pilots plan for Rescriptor in LDCs.
February 3, 2003... Pharmacia has announced the launch of a pilot program under which it will grant non-exclusive licenses for its non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor Rescriptor (delavirdine mesylate) to generic drug firms that agree to manufacture and...

Vietnam drug output value up 7%.
February 3, 2003... Vietnam's Pharmaceuticals Management Department says that the production value of the national drug industry rose 7% in 2002, and that domestically-made products had a 43% market share, reports the Vietnamese News Agency. The new Strategy for...

Baxter achieves solid growth in 2002.
February 3, 2003... USA-based Baxter International says that, for the fourth-quarter ended December 31, 2002, it recorded sales worth $2.26 billion compared with $2.06 billion in the like, year-earlier period. For the full year, the company reported turnover...

Barr's earnings edge up in 2nd fiscal quarter.
February 3, 2003... The USA's Barr Laboratories has posted net income of $42.7 million, or $0.94 per share, for the second quarter of fiscal year 2003, ended December 31, 2002. This compares with net income of $42.1 million, or $0.91 per share, during the like,...

Claritin switch hits S-P, sales down 4% in 2002.
February 3, 2003... USA-based Schering-Plough says that, for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2002, it tripled its net income from $143 million in the like, year-earlier period to $428 million, despite plummeting US sales on the back of a switch to...

UK pharma/govt deal to speed clinical trials.
February 3, 2003... A new system of working has been agreed between the UK Department of Health and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry which, according to both sides, will lead to faster commencement of clinical trials being conducted with the...

Polish pharma market growth in 2002.
February 3, 2003... Azyx Polska's review of Poland's pharmaceuticals market says that it was worth 10.84 billion zlotys ($2.23 billion) in 2002, compared with 9.96 billion zlotys the previous year, reports the Interfax news agency.

Italian health care prices in December 2002.
February 3, 2003... The consumer price of health care in Italy in December 2002 was 0.1% higher than in November and up 2.3% on December 2001, the National Statistics Institute reports. In comparison, the monthly and annual rises in December's consumer price...

Reimbursable drug prices rise in Hungary.
February 3, 2003... The average 4.5% price increase for more than 5,200 reimbursable drugs in Hungary scheduled to be implemented by the national health fund organization, the OEP, on February 1 (Marketletter January 20), has come too late, according to...

Bulgarian health insurance drug funding.
February 3, 2003... Bulgaria's government has adopted an ordinance allocating 731 million leva ($365 million) to the National Medical Insurance Fund this year, compared with 549 million leva in 2002, reports the Bulgarian Telegraphic Agency.

Connetics sees 4th-qtr product revenues rise 50%.
February 3, 2003... Connetics Corp, a specialty US firm focused exclusively on the development and commercialization of medicinal dermatology products, says that fourth-quarter 2002 product revenues rose 50% to $13.6 million. Excluding one-time, non-recurring...

Edelman launches new health policy unit.
February 3, 2003... UK public relations firm Edelman has this month launched a new Health Policy & Public Affairs unit at its London office, as a joint venture between its health care team and its corporate and PR practice. It will provide specialist advice on...

Class action filed against TKT.
February 3, 2003... USA-based Transkaryotic Therapies says that a purported class action suit has been brought against the company and its chief executive in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The complaint alleges securities fraud...

Aventis and Andrx to pay $80M in Cardizem settlement.
February 3, 2003... Andrx Corp has announced that, together with Aventis Pharmaceuticals, it has entered into a settlement agreement in the Cardizem (diltiazem) CD antitrust litigation with the indirect purchaser class of plaintiffs, as well as the state...

Looming Claritin rivals cut S-P shares 7%.
February 3, 2003... The news that two generics companies have joined forces to launch a generic version of Schering-Plough's recently-switched over-the-counter variant of the antihistamine Claritin (loratadine) in the USA exerted pressure on S-P's share price on...

Onyx drops lead drug and cuts workforce.
February 3, 2003... Onyx has halted the clinical development of ONYX-015 for head and neck cancer and will cut its workforce by 25%, refocusing its efforts on a small-molecule anticancer drug partnered with Bayer AG. The company said the decision was driven by a...

Earnings up at Wyeth, HRT drugs sluggish.
February 3, 2003... US drug major Wyeth has reported a significant increase in earnings for both the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2002, on the back of a $1.45 billion gain from the sale of the bulk of its stake in biotechnology firm Amgen. ...

No Roche/Novartis merger, says ex-chairman Gerber.
February 3, 2003... Fritz Gerber, spokesman for the shareholders on Roche's supervisory board and a former chairman of the Swiss drug major, has clashed publicly with Daniel Vasella, chief executive of Novartis, rejecting his claims that both Basel (the home of...

Warning over Russian pharmacy chain shares.
February 3, 2003... Analysts from leading Moscow-based investment houses are reported to have assessed the 36.6 pharmacy chain as a "costly and risky" operation after a presentation by the firm ahead of a placement of 20% of its shares on the Moscow Interbank...

Actilyse gets stroke indication in EU.
February 3, 2003... Boehringer Ingelheim's tissue plasminogen activator Actilyse (alteplase) has become the first drug to be approved in the European Union as a treatment for acute ischemic stroke. The drug has been cleared for use in stroke patients in the USA,...

UK first country for Cialis launch?
February 3, 2003... Eli Lilly has confirmed that the UK is likely to be the first country where its oral drug for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, Cialis (tadalafil), will be introduced, with launches in Australia and New Zealand also imminent. The debut of...

Sankyo to help GSK sell Avandia in Japan.
February 3, 2003... GlaxoSmithKline has teamed up with Sankyo for the co-promotion of Avandia (rosiglitazone), GSK's insulin sensitizer drug for type 2 diabetes, in Japan. The collaboration revisits a former alliance between the firms on Romozin (troglitazone), a...

Alizyme aims to raise L16.1M in placing.
February 3, 2003... UK drug discovery and development group Alizyme says it is planning to raise L16.1 million ($26.3 million) with the placing of 57,542,499 new shares at 28 pence, in a placing and open offer fully underwritten jointly by Nomura and Canacord....

Acambis gives positive trading statement.
February 3, 2003... UK-based Acambis has announced that the level of revenue it anticipates recording from the second (ACAM2000) smallpox contract with the US government would be in the range of $70-$90 million for the 12 months ended December 31, 2002. This is...

Richter Gedeon ups Polish market share.
February 3, 2003... Hungarian drugmaker Richter Gedeon has said it hopes its takeover of the Polish drug enterprise Polfa GZF will increase its share of Poland's $2.5 billion pharmaceutical market to about 3%. Richter earlier estimated its share at 2% including...

Berna Biotech vaccine sales rise 44%.
February 3, 2003... Although Switzerland's Berna Biotech reported a 33% slump in gross revenues for 2002 at 202.8 billion Swiss francs ($149.9 million), which includes the business of Rhein Biotech acquired last year (Marketletters June 25 and July 1, 2002),...

ReNeuron considering sale or buy-out?
February 3, 2003... Following news that UK-based ReNeuron's key drug candidate ReN1869 had failed in a Phase II trial (Marketletter January 27), the firm's share price collapsed from its November 2002 level of 10.5 pence to just 3.5 pence on January 24. As a...

Forthcoming conferences and meetings.
February 3, 2003... - Management Forum's 15th annual Pharmacovigilance conference will be held in London, UK, March 24-25. Details from: www.management-forum.co.uk, or phone: +44 (0) 1483 536424; - The fifth annual Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Marketing...

German health reform: politicians stress the need for solidarity.
February 3, 2003... The modernization of Germany's health care system will require patients to take on more responsibility, and this in turn means health information and education needs to be promoted to them, according to Marlies Volkmer, a member of the ruling...

Endovasc starts Liprostin pilot study.
February 3, 2003... Texas, USA-based Endovasc has been given the go-ahead to start a Phase II pilot study of Liprostin (liposomal prostaglandin-E1) in patients with peripheral occlusive vascular disease, which can often lead to limb amputation or major...

Pharmexa cuts back R&D projects, workforce.
February 3, 2003... Denmark's Pharmexa has trimmed back its R&D activities and laid off 30% of its workforce in order to maintain its focus on its most advanced products, HER-2 DNA AutoVac (Phase II) and HER-2 Protein AutoVac (preclinical) for breast cancer and...

Roche's Tamiflu launched in UK.
February 3, 2003... Roche's Tamiflu (oseltamivir), an oral neuraminidase inhibitor used for the treatment of influenza in adults and children aged one year or more and for the prevention of influenza in adults and adolescents, is now available in the UK. The drug...

GeoVax HIV vaccine heads for trials.
February 3, 2003... A vaccine against HIV, developed at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University, the Emory Vaccine Center and the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the USA, will...

B-MS extends injectable acetaminophen deal.
February 3, 2003... Bristol-Myers Squibb has signed a licensing agreement for the development, manufacture and sale of an injectable acetaminophen formulation in North America with Pharmatop of France, extending an earlier agreement covering Europe and certain...

FDA backs AstraZeneca steroid in pregnancy.
February 3, 2003... The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a pregnancy-rating label change for AstraZeneca's inhaled asthma drug, Pulmicort Respules (budesonide), which indicates that it is considered safe for use in pregnancy. It joins AstraZeneca's...

IVAX gets US OK for generic Relafen.
February 3, 2003... IVAX Corp has received US approval for nabumetone tablets in 500mg and 750mg strengths, a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Relafen. IVAX said it will immediately launch the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, used in the treatment of...

Watson launches Mestinon generic in USA.
February 3, 2003... Watson Pharmaceuticals has launched a generic version of ICN Pharmaceuticals' Mestinon (pyridostigmine bromide tablets), used in the treatment of myasthenia gravis, in the USA.

Amgen's mucositis drug clears Phase III trial.
February 3, 2003... Amgen's recombinant human keratinocte growth factor has been found to decrease both the duration and incidence of severe oral mucositis in a Phase III study involving patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation treatment for hematologic...

Genetech names Ian Clark senior VP, bio-oncology.
February 3, 2003... Ian Clark has joined Genentech as senior vice president and general manager, BioOncology. Mr Clark was previously president of Novartis Canada.

KRKA to build Moscow plant.
February 3, 2003... Slovenia's KRKA pharmaceutical producer is to open a new $30 million factory in Istra in the Moscow region of Russia in September this year, according to the Interfax news agency. The plant will be built on an eight-hectare site by...

Karo Bio reorganizes R&D posts.
February 3, 2003... Karo Bio has promoted Anders Berkenstam, director R&D Sweden, to vice president R&D Sweden, and Paul Hamilton, director R&D USA, to vice president R&D USA. They will report to the firm's chief executive, Bjorn Nilsson, and become members of...

Fabre rejoins industry body LEEM.
February 3, 2003... Independent French drugmaker Pierre Fabre, which in 1998 resigned from the drug industry association SNIP, has rejoined the revamped industry body, now called LEEM, which represents all pharmaceutical companies in France. Fabre's return is a...

Lonza expands microbial fermenation capacity.
February 3, 2003... Switzerland's Lonza Group is investing 12 million Swiss francs ($8.9 million) in its Lonza Biotec unit, whose existing plant at Kourim will be expanded for the custom manufacturing of highly-potent active ingredients based on microbial...

Schering-Plough KK appoints Hiroshi Mabuchi.
February 3, 2003... Schering-Plough KK in Japan has appointed Hiroshi Mabuchi as senior managing director of its Primary Care Business unit.

New company, Auriga Medical, established.
February 3, 2003... The setting-up of a new company, Auriga Medical, which designs, manufactures and delivers radioactive products used in brachytherapy, cancer treatment and medical research, has been announced. Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, it will aim...

Inspire names Joseph Schachle VP, marketing and sales.
February 3, 2003... US drug discovery firm Inspire Pharmaceuticals has appointed Joseph Schachle, most recently with MedImmune, as vice president, marketing and sales.

Promotions at AEterna.
February 3, 2003... Canada's AEterna Laboratories has promoted president and chief operating officer Gilles Gagnon to president and chief executive, and Jurgen Engel, currently CEO of its German subsidiary Zentaris AG, to executive vice president, global R&D and...

Dietmar Gundel joins Genetics as VP, corporate business development.
February 3, 2003... Following the acquisition of CallistoGen by fellow German firm the Genetics Company, the former's acting chief executive Dietmar Gundel will join Genetics as vice president of corporate and business development.

US HIV/AIDS group continues its court pursuit of GSK in South Africa.
February 3, 2003... The US-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation has filed a complaint with the Competition Commission of South Africa against GlaxoSmithKline, claiming that the firm's "excessive" pricing for its HIV/AIDS drug treatments is creating barriers to access...

First Chinese HIV/AIDS drugs delivered.
February 3, 2003... Privately-owned Chinese drugmaker Desano Shanghai began delivering its versions of the HIV drugs didanosine and stavudine on January 28. The first shipments were made to the central Chinese province of Henan, which is currently reported to be...

South Korean doctor to head WHO.
February 3, 2003... The Executive Board of the World Health Organization has nominated Jong Wook Lee of South Korea as the WHO's new Director General, replacing Gro Harlem Brundtland. His nomination will be submitted for approval to the 56th World Health...