Pharma Marketletter articles from November 2008

Pharma Marketletter archives from November 2008

Solvay's 9-month profit down 34% on Fortis.
November 10, 2008... Belgian drugs and chemicals firm Solvay says that sales in the first nine months of 2008 totaled 7.22 billion euros ($8.99 billion), flat on the comparable period the year before, while net income declined 34% to 426.0 million euros due to a...

Sales of main products boosts Sanofi-Aventis' profit 1.9% to 1.89B euros.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... Sanofi-Aventis' third-quarter 2008 profit, adjusted for merger-related costs, rose 1.9% year-on-year to 1.89 billion euros ($2.35 billion), thanks to higher sales of its top drugs. In light of these strong results, the French drug giant raised...

AstraZeneca cheers investors, with 29% 3rd-qtr profits rise and increased target.
November 10, 2008... Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca saw its share price jump 5.2% on October 30, after the firm posted third-quarter 2008 results that beat expectations, helped by currency factors but despite a downturn in the sales of blockbuster...

3rd-qtr new product sales deliver for Shire, but the firm posts earnings drop on charges.(Shire Pharmaceuticals Group PLC revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... Shire, the UK's third-largest drugmaker, saw its third-quarter 2008 GAAP earnings per American Depository Receipt slump 62% to $0.07 because of charges taken in the period, but witnessed a 31% surge in product sales to $713.0 million, boosted...

Biopure to appeal rejection of Hemopure by South Africa's MCC; sues US NIH official.
November 10, 2008... The Medicines Control Council of South Africa has decided to discontinue the registration of US firm Biopure's Hemopure [hemoglobin glutamer-250 (bovine)], an intravenously-delivered oxygen therapeutic for human use. Biopure intends to...

Neurosearch obesity drug fares well in Ph II.(Clinical report)
November 10, 2008... Danish drug developer Neurosearch says that its drug candidate tesofensine can produce twice the weight loss of currently-approved obesity treatments, according to data due to be published The Lancet. In the randomized, placebo-controlled,...

UK cancer groups turn against Celgene over NICE refusal.
November 10, 2008... Three UK cancer campaign groups have called on US drugmaker Celgene, the manufacturer of bone marrow oncology product Revlimid (lenalidomide), to cut its price. Leukaemia CARE, Myeloma UK and the Macmillan Cancer Support are putting pressure on...

The Lancet calls for health R&D G8.(research and development)
November 10, 2008... Existing R&D efforts to fight diseases are not enough to ensure improvements to health care in developing countries, according to an editorial in The Lancet. Often this is because there are gaps in measuring the effectiveness of major...

EFPIA "regrets" delay in EC pharma proposals.
November 10, 2008... The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations has expressed regret over the delay to the European Commission's "Pharmaceutical Package," which was announced in Strasbourg by the Industry Commissioner, Gunter Verheugen,...

Novo Nordisk profit up 22% in 3rd qtr 2008.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk's profit for the third quarter of 2008 was up 22% on the same period of 2007 as sales increased 7%. The firm's net income for the quarter was 2.66 billion kroner ($444.5 million) versus 2.18 billion kroner...

Elan's loss narrows further on Tysabri sales.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... Irish biotechnology company Elan's third-quarter loss narrowed 4%, compared with the same period of last year, as revenue increased 53% on rocketing sales of its Tysabri (natalizumab), now indicated both for multiple sclerosis and Crohn's...

MorphoSys reports 96% increase in income.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... Munich, Germany-based synthetic antibody specialist MorphoSys reported a 96% increase in profit for the third quarter of the year, compared to the like period of the year before, on a 26% rise in sales. The firm posted turnover of 20.0...

Genmab loss doubles despite sales increase.
November 10, 2008... Copenhagen, Denmark-based biotechnology company Genmab doubled its loss in the first nine months of 2008, compared to the same period of 2007, despite an 87% rise in revenue, due to increased spending on its pipeline. Total revenue was...

Origenis/Alcon alliance extended once again.
November 10, 2008... Origenis, a privately-owned biotechnology company headquartered in Munich, Germany, has further expanded its drug discovery research alliance with US eye-care specialist Alcon. Under the terms of the agreement, Alcon will retain the rights...

Journal notes effect of Aileron compound.(Aileron Therapeutics)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... The USA's Aileron Therapeutics says that one of its stapled peptide compounds, BIM-SAHB, was shown to uniquely target a new and fundamental activation mechanism of the programmed cell death or apoptotic pathway, according to an article...

Vitae regains rights to renin inhibitor program.
November 10, 2008... Vitae Pharmaceuticals, an emerging US pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative small-molecule medicines, has reacquired full rights to its renin inhibitor program from GlaxoSmithKline. "We are excited...

Newron completes Ph II AD trial.(Clinical report)
November 10, 2008... Italian drug developer Newron Pharmaceuticals has completed a Phase II safety and tolerability study with its HF0220 in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. The 28-day, multinational, randomized, double-blind,...

US court fines three drug firms $7.3M for overcharging Medicaid.
November 10, 2008... Three pharmaceutical firms have been ordered to pay at least $7.3 million to the midwestern US state of Missouri, after being found guilty of overcharging the state's Medicaid program for prescription drugs. As with several other similar cases...

China Sky One gets two product approvals.
November 10, 2008... China Sky One Medical, a fully-integrated pharmaceutical company producing over-the-counter drugs in the People's Republic of China, says that it recently obtained production approval from the State Food and Drug Administration for two of its...

B-MS awards grants to help hepatitis C awareness.
November 10, 2008... Bristol-Myers Squibb and the B-MS Foundation have announced plans to award $1.4 million in grants focused on hepatitis C prevention and education and the mitigation of the disease in four Asian countries. The grants are part of Delivering Hope,...

Bayhill partners with diabetes foundation.
November 10, 2008... California, USA-based Bayhill Therapeutics, a developer of therapies for autoimmune diseases, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the world's leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research, have announced a partnership to...

FDA accepts B-MS/ImClone's Erbitux sBLA.
November 10, 2008... US biotechnology firm ImClone Systems and drug major and Bristol-Myers Squibb say that the Food and Drug Administration has accepted for filing and review the companies' supplemental Biologics License Application to broaden the indication for...

Global pharma sales growth for 2009 to stay at 2008 levels, says IMS Health.
November 10, 2008... The global pharmaceutical market is expected to grow 4.5%-5.5% next year, a pace similar to 2008, according to the IMS Global Pharmaceutical and Therapy Forecast from IMS Health. The report predicts global pharmaceutical sales will surpass...

India's pharma market worth $9.77B in 2008.
November 10, 2008... The Indian pharmaceutical industry grew at a rate of 13% during 2003-2007, driven by rising consumption levels domestically and strong demand from export markets. In 2006-07, the Indian market for medicines reached $8.16 billion and is...

Kenya's missing AIDS funds probed.
November 10, 2008... In Kenya, two ministries responsible for health have come under scrutiny over their failure to account for some 13.0 billion shillings ($108.4 million) of the total 40.0 billion shillings given to the country since 2003 by the Global Fund to...

CII plans PR to help drug industry image.
November 10, 2008... The Confederation of Indian Industry plans to initiate a pharmaceutical media campaign and public relations exercise in order to improve the industry's image, reports Pharmabiz.com in India. It has appointed a panel, comprising drug industry...

Ipsen's nine-month sales increase 7%.
November 10, 2008... French drugmaker Ipsen says that consolidated group sales reached 735.1 million euros ($915.6 million ) for the first nine months of 2008, up 7.0% year-on-year. Excluding income from Ginkor Fort, which was divested in January, and at constant...

BioAlliance's 3rd-qtr income grows to $1.9M.
November 10, 2008... French drugmaker BioAlliance Pharma says that third-quarter 2008 sales of its first marketed product, the antifungal Loramyc (miconazole), amounted to 282,000 euros ($351,123), versus 259,000 euros in the comparable period the year before,...

Recordati's 9-month profit rises 19.6%.(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... Italian drugmaker Recordati says that net income for the first nine months of 2008 totaled 76.6 million euros ($95.4 million), an increase of 19.6% and more than the rise in operating income thanks to a lower tax rate. Consolidated revenue...

Zeltia's 3rd-qtr sales jump 24% on Yondelis.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... The Spanish Zeltia group says net sales in the third quarter of 2008 expanded 24% year-on-year to 82.7 million euros ($103.0 million), as earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortization improved 30.3%, reflecting the higher turnover...

AZ presents SHINE/SUN data at CHEST 2008.
November 10, 2008... Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca presented data from the pivotal SHINE and SUN trials of its asthma treatment Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the CHEST 2008...

Wyeth welcomes NICE review of Torisel.
November 10, 2008... Wyeth has welcomed news that the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is reconsidering its position regarding the US drug major's Torisel (temsirolimus) for the treatment of kidney cancer. The NICE issued...

Side effects may be good in breast cancer.
November 10, 2008... Women who experience side effects, such as hot flushes, night sweats and joint pain, when taking the breast cancer treatments tamoxifen or Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca's Arimidex (anastrozole), are less likely to have a recurrence of...

BI publishes female sexual disorder survey.(Survey)
November 10, 2008... Germany's Boehringer Ingleheim has published results from the PRESIDE survey of more than 31,000 women, showing that hypoactive sexual desire disorder is the most commonly-reported sexual problem in adult women, in the journal Obstetrics &...

China-Japan-S Korea H5N1 pandemic pact.
November 10, 2008... The governments of China, Japan and South Korea have signed a cooperation agreement to prepare against an avian influenza pandemic, which includes the appointment of a dedicated agency to communicate between the three east Asian nations. Chen...

Fake drugs in Iraq boosts alternatives.
November 10, 2008... Iraq's Ministry of Health has launched a campaign to drive counterfeit drugs out of the country's street markets and pharmacies, following years of chaos. Some of the problems of supplying medicines date from before the overthrow of the...

US Part D Rx drug cost lower than forecast.
November 10, 2008... The US Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit for seniors has once again come under budget, according to figures released by the federal government for the year ending September 30. Spending fell 12% to about $44.0 billion in the 12-month...

52% of telaprevir patients achieve SVR12.
November 10, 2008... New clinical data from four Phase II studies of the investigational hepatitis C protease inhibitor telaprevir (VX-950) support a broad profile for the agent in the treatment of chronic genotype 1 hepatitis C virus infection, according to its...

Viread suppresses HBV through 96 weeks.
November 10, 2008... USA-based Gilead Sciences presented positive data at the 59th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, in San Francisco, from two Phase III pivotal trials, Studies 102 and 103, evaluating the safety and...

Strong histology data for B-MS' Baraclude.
November 10, 2008... US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb says that data from two separate cohort evaluations show that long-term treatment with Baraclude (entecavir) was associated with improved liver histology, including improvement in fibrosis, in chronic...

S-P's boceprevir doubles SVR24 in Ph II study.(Clinical report)
November 10, 2008... US drug major Schering-Plough says that data from a planned interim analysis of a Phase II study showed that boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, in combination with Pegintron (peginterferon alfa-2b) and Rebetol...

Nearly 90% of patients on Tibotec's HCV drug see undetectable viral load.
November 10, 2008... Irish drugmaker Tibotec Pharmaceuticals presented strong findings on its protease inhibitor TMC435 from a Phase IIa trial in hepatitis C patients at the 59th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, in San...

Bayer/Onyx' Nexavar boosts OS 44% in HCC.
November 10, 2008... Patients who took the liver cancer drug Nexavar (sorafenib) saw a large improvement in overall survival compared to those on placebo, according to data presented at the 59th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver...

Targanta presents more oritavancin data at ICAAC.(Targanta Therapeutics)(Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... US privately-held biopharmaceutical company Targanta Therapeutics presented key findings from two Phase III clinical studies, in which its novel semi-synthetic lipoglycopeptide antibiotic drug candidate, oritavancin, met its primary endpoints,...

Generex says Oral-Lyn fits ADA/EASD guidance.
November 10, 2008... The USA's Generex has suggested its Oral-Lyn oral insulin spray may address suggestions made in the consensus algorithm for type 2 diabetes treatment published by the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of...

SmartCells enters $1M partnership with JDRF.
November 10, 2008... US firm SmartCells, a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has entered into a $1.0-million partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to advance SmartInsulin, SmartCells' once-a-day, glucose-regulated...

Inspire presents additional Tiger-1 data.
November 10, 2008... The USA's Inspire Pharmaceuticals presented additional data from its TIGER-1 Phase III trial of denufosol tetrasodium for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference in Orlando, Florida. The new data...

Santhera's US Ph III FA drug trial completes recruitment.(Clinical report)
November 10, 2008... The USA's Santhera Pharmaceuticals has completed recruitment for its six-month pivotal Phase III trial with SNT-MC17 (idebenone) in Friedreich's Ataxia in the USA. The two study centers have enrolled a total of 70 patients. Strong support from...

Onyvax finds potential cancer vacc efficacy test.
November 10, 2008... Onyvax, a UK biotechnology company, has discovered an immunological profile that could be used to predict whether a patient will respond to cancer vaccine therapy. This profile, which was discovered as part of a collaboration with the John...

Noscira's Ph II trial of AD drug gets go-head in Austria.
November 10, 2008... Noscira, a subsidiary of Spain's Zetia group devoted to the development of drugs for diseases of the nervous system, has received the approval of the Austrian health authorities and the Ethics Committee for the initiation of the first Phase II...

Allergan licenses Polyphor's PEM drugs in $61M deal.
November 10, 2008... Privately-held Swiss firm Polyphor has licensed the rights to develop Protein Epitope Mimetics cytokine inhibitors for conditions and diseases of the eye to US drugmaker Allergan. Under the terms of the deal, the firms will conduct a...

Allergan/Spectrum in $345M apaziquone deal.
November 10, 2008... US firms Allergan and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals have signed an exclusive collaboration for the development and commercialization of apaziquone, an anti-neoplastic agent currently being investigated for the treatment of non-muscle invasive...

Daiichi acquires Merck Serono Turkish staff.
November 10, 2008... The Turkish subsidiary of Japan's second-largest drugmaker, Daiichi Sankyo, has acquired 20 members of the cardio-metabolism sales force at Merck IL, a subsidiary of Merck Serono in Turkey. The agreement also includes the transfer of...

Actavis opens R&D laboratory in Florida.
November 10, 2008... Iceland-headquartered generic drugs major Actavis has opened a new analytical and R&D laboratory in Florida, USA, through its local subsidiary Actavis South Atlantic, in order to expand its capabiliaties in controlled-release and other...

Replidyne and Cardio Systems to merge.(Cardiovascular Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... Replidyne, a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and in-licensing innovative anti-infective products, and fellow USA-based medical device firm Cardiovascular Systems have entered into a definitive merger agreement in an...

US FDA approves Pfizer's Toviaz.
November 10, 2008... Global drug giant Pfizer's overactive bladder drug Toviaz (fesoterodine fumarate) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. New York-based Pfizer acquired rights to the agent from German drugmaker Schwarz Pharma AG two...

S-P's sugammadex produces rapid recovery.
November 10, 2008... US drug major Schering-Plough says that a study published in the November issue of Anesthesiology shows that sugammadex produced a significantly more rapid recovery from profound rocuronium-induced muscle relaxation than the conventional...

Paliperidone ER helps schizoaffective disorder.
November 10, 2008... Patients with schizoaffective disorder receiving Johnson & Johnson's paliperidone extended-release tablets for six weeks showed a significant improvement in their symptoms, according to a new study presented at the US Psychiatric and Mental...

Almirall to co-market sitagliptin in Spain.
November 10, 2008... Leading Spanish drugmaker Almirall has licensed the domestic marketing rights to type 2 diabetes drug sitagliptin. The first-in-class dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor will be sold together with the local unit of US drug major Merck & Co under...

Sun Pharma's fiscal 2nd-qtr profit soars 135%.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... Indian generic drugmaker Sun Pharma says that its profit in the quarter ending September 30, 2008, totaled 5.13 billion rupees ($107.4 million), a 135% increase on the comparable period the year before, as net sales soared 76% to 11.78 billion...

Takeda's recurring profit down 70%.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... Japanese drug giant Takeda says that profit before tax and exceptional items in the six months ended September 30, 2008, fell 69.7% year-on-year to 100.98 billion yen ($1.02 billion) on the back of expenses related to its $8.8 billion takeover...

Global financial crisis could hurt biotech research investment, ESRC Prof warns.
November 10, 2008... The stark warning from a major international conference is that the global financial crisis could seriously delay the discovery and production of many new life-saving medicines. Investment into research for novel drugs - which globally runs...

Poland sets deadline for CB auction.
November 10, 2008... The five bidders shortlisted for the privatization of the Polish state-owned drug wholesaler Cefarm Bialystok must submit binding bids by the deadline of November 28, Maciej Wewior, a Treasury spokesman, has said. He added that the Treasury...

Schering-Plough to appeal Medicaid case.
November 10, 2008... US drug major Schering-Plough is to appeal against a Missouri jury's finding that the firm, along with two of its subsidiaries, Warrick Pharmaceuticals and Schering Corp, overcharged the state's Medicaid program for prescription drugs. The firm...

New Rx drug war with CVS' $9 scheme.
November 10, 2008... CVS, one of the USA's major drug store chains, has announced the launch in early November of a new price war for prescription drugs, which has previously seen some antibiotics or influenza vaccines given away, while the cost of some generics...

FDA pre-emption case: "verdict in 2009".(Food and Drug Administration)(Levine)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... The US Supreme Court has heard arguments in the long-awaited case of Wyeth versus Levine, which could settle whether the Food and Drug Administration's labeling rules pre-empt individual states' tort law. A verdict is not expected before the...

Mylan sales triple on recent acquisitions.(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... US generics giant Mylan's sales almost tripled in the three months ending September 30. 2008, compared with the same period of the year before, on revenue generated by recent acquisitions. On the day of the announcement, October 30, Mylan's...

Forest Labs' profit up 8% on AD drug sales.(Financial report)
November 10, 2008... The USA's Forest Laboratories posted an 8% increase in profit for the fiscal second quarter ending September 30, 2008, compared to the same period of the year before, due to increased sales and cut-back R&D costs. Net income was $244.1...

Allergan may be facing cloud with silver-lining.
November 10, 2008... US drugmaker Allergan's diluted earnings per share were up 10% for the third quarter of 2008, compared to the like period of the year before, reaching $0.55. Revenue, on the other hand, was up 11% to $1.08 billion. Mainly reliant on...

Watson's net income doubles on distribution.
November 10, 2008... US generic and branded drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals' profit doubled during the third quarter of 2008, compared to the same period of 2007, mainly due to a rise in distribution revenue. The firm's net income jumped to $71.1 million, or...

Japan stock market week to Nov 3, 2008.
November 10, 2008... Tokyo rebounded in the week ended November 3 (four trading days because November 3 was a national holiday in Japan). The Nikkei 225 leapt 19.7%, regaining the 8,500 level at the close, while the Topix index advanced 16.2%. To some extent, the...

Pegasys/Copegus effective in non-responders.
November 10, 2008... Pegasys/Copegus effective in non-responders Cure rates for certain groups of difficult-to-treat hepatitis C patients can be improved significantly by extending the treatment period with Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a (40KD)) and Copegus...

UPDATE: 52% of unresponsive HCV patients achieve SVR12 with telaprevir.
November 10, 2008... Telaprevir was once again the star of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. At this year's conference, held in San Francisco, the protease inhibitor originated by Vertex Pharmaceuticals achieved...

NsGene fully enrolled in AD implant trial.
November 10, 2008... Danish biotechnology company NsGene says that its encapsulated cell biodelivery product NsG0202 has now been successfully implanted in a total of six patients with Alzheimer's disease as part of an ongoing Phase Ib clinical trial. NsG0202...

Synosia begins Ph II post-traumatic stress trial.
November 10, 2008... Swiss firm Synosia Therapeutics has started a Phase IIa clinical trial with its dopamine b-hydroxylase inhibitor nepicastat (SYN-117) for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. The study is funded by the US Department of Defense...

Chelsea reports new Ph III droxidopa data.(Clinical report)
November 10, 2008... US drug developer Chelsea Therapeutics presented data from the open-label titration portion of a Phase III trial demonstrating patients treated with droxidopa, a synthetic precursor to norepinephrine, showed a robust reduction in the severity...

UK govt adopts two-tier NHS for Rx drugs.
November 10, 2008... The UK government's controversial ban on patients "topping-up" their National Health Service care by paying for prescription drugs which are considered too expensive has been amended, so that a two-tier system could be in force from next year....

Kyowa Kirin hopes to become a biotech major.
November 10, 2008... Early-stage Japanese drugmaker Kyowa Hakko Kirin aims to become a fully-integrated biotechnology major, according to company president Yuzuru Matsuda. Speaking at a recent financial results conference in Tokyo, Dr Matsuda said that the...

Osiris signs up to $1.68B deal with Genzyme.(Osiris Therapeutics)(Brief article)
November 10, 2008... Shares in Osiris Therapeutics jumped 26% after the firm said it had entered a partnership with US biotechnology major Genzyme to develop two late-stage stem cell agents. The stock rose to a 19-month high of $19.48 when the deal, which is...

Sirtris drug blocks weight gain in mice.
November 10, 2008... A drug that targets the SIRT1 protein enhanced endurance in mice and protected them against weight gain and insulin resistance, even when they ate a high-fat diet, according to data reported in the November issue of Cell Metabolism. ...

GSK decides not to license Exelixis' XL184.
November 10, 2008... UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline says it will not exercise its option to license Exelixis' XL184 nor any of the earlier compounds in the series, ending their six-year alliance. If the world's number two drugmaker had selected the small-molecule...

Pharma industry facing a lot of challenges, but there are opportunities, says Novo exec.
November 10, 2008... The opportunities and challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry in Europe were the subject of a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with the Marketletter by Viggo Birch, managing director and vice president Europe, at Danish insulin giant...

Insight into registering pharma products in China from URCH.
November 10, 2008... A major study covering the ever-expanding Chinese pharmaceutical market, Drug Registration in China: a comprehensive overview of procedures, has been launched by independent business information publisher URCH. This offers a detailed analysis...

Cases of new diabetes diagnoses in USA nearly doubles in 10 years.
November 10, 2008... The rate of new cases of diagnosed diabetes rose by more than 90% among American adults over the last 10 years, according to a new study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data, published in the CDC's Morbidity and...