Glaxo's £500m investment to create 1,000 manufacturing jobs for pharmaceutical industry

Britain's £10billion pharmaceutical industry was given a welcome boost yesterday as drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline announced plans to create 1,000 jobs.

The company, which employs 15,000 UK workers, confirmed it is pumping £500million into its manufacturing sites. This includes building a new factory at Ulverston, Cumbria – the firm’s first in 40 years.

GSK’s move was influenced by tax cuts in the Budget on money invested in research and development. Sir Andrew Witty, GSK’s chief executive, said the introduction of a ‘patent box’, which cuts corporation tax rates on profits from UK innovations, fuelled the decision.

As well as building the new factory, it will inject £100million into Scottish sites at Irvine and Montrose, and £80million at its site in Ware, Hertfordshire, to boost capacity for inhalers and at Barnard Castle, County Durham, for skin-care products.

It could double investment in the Ulverston site if there is more improvement in what it calls ‘environment for innovation’. Construction is due to begin in 2014/15.

Sir Andrew, who is part of the Prime Minister’s business advisory group, said: ‘The patent box has transformed the way in which we view the UK as a location for new investments.’ 

David Cameron said: ‘It shows why we are right to cut business tax.’

Dr Tim Bradshaw, of the CBI said: ‘It is excellent news that such a key player in the pharmaceuticals industry is choosing to invest and create jobs in the UK.’

Πηγή: Daily Mail 

AbbVie: Το όνομα της νέας ανεξάρτητης φαρμακευτικής εταιρείας μετά τον διαχωρισμό από την Abbott

Η Abbott ανακοίνωσε ότι AbbVie θα είναι το όνομα της νέας, ανεξάρτητης φαρμακευτικής εταιρείας που θα δραστηριοποιείται στην έρευνα και αναμένεται να ξεκινήσει τη λειτουργίας της από το τέλος του 2012. Η ονομασία της νέας εταιρείας αποτελεί το πιο πρόσφατο ορόσημο στη διαδικασία που ξεκίνησε τον Οκτώβριο του 2011, όταν η Abbott ανακοίνωσε ότι θα διαχωριστεί σε δύο εισηγμένες στο χρηματιστήριο εταιρείες. 

Η AbbVie, η φαρμακευτική εταιρεία που θα δραστηριοποιείται στον χώρο της έρευνας, θα περιλαμβάνει το τρέχον χαρτοφυλάκιο της Abbott με τα πρωτοποριακά φαρμακευτικά προϊόντα και τους βιολογικούς παράγοντες. Η εταιρεία που θα διατηρήσει την επωνυμία Abbott θα έχει στο portfolio της  τα φαρμακευτικά προϊόντα, τα διαγνωστικά μηχανήματα και προϊόντα, τα διαβητολογικά και τα προϊόντα διατροφής και τα επώνυμα γενόσημα. Και οι δύο εταιρείες θα είναι παγκόσμιοι ηγέτες στους αντίστοιχους τομείς τους.

Η νέα επωνυμία AbbVie προέρχεται από το συνδυασμό της Abbott και της λέξης "vie",  που αναφέρεται στη λατινική ρίζα «vi» που σημαίνει ζωή. Το λογότυπο AbbVie και η εταιρική ταυτότητα θα παρουσιαστούν με την έναρξη της λειτουργίας της νέας εταιρείας.

New drug promises relief from aspirin-related ulcers

Reuters

Millions of aspirin users may soon be able to pop the wonder pill without worrying about stomach ulcers, a nasty side-effect that could come with regular use of the drug.

Pozen Inc, a U.S. pharmaceutical company, on Thursday said its experimental therapy helped significantly reduce stomach ulcers in long-term aspirin users, like those with heart problems.

In use for more than two centuries now, aspirin has become synonymous with pain relief. It is also used to reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and some other potentially fatal ailments.

The drug, however, has many side-effects such as gastric or stomach ulcers, a painful condition that often causes heartburn and indigestion.

Pharma execs expect to increase use of doctor-focused social media

Pharmaceutical executives in Europe and the US expect to spend more of their future budgets on digital marketing channels like mobile, e-detailing and SEO, according to a new survey.

Booz & Co questioned more than 150 senior industry executives and found that while enthusiasm for product and disease websites, long a mainstay of pharma’s digital marketing efforts, remained high, newer channels were likely to be more popular.

Doctor-focused social media was highlighted by the largest group of respondents, nearly 60 per cent, as an area where projected budget allocations would increase. There were similarly dramatic trends for spending on mobile technologies (which 55 per cent of respondents expect to increase); e-detailing (52 per cent); and search engine optimisation (49 per cent), followed by product and disease websites (48 per cent). At the same time nearly 40 per cent of the executives questioned said they planned to cut back on print advertising.

Φαρμακευτικο Μαρκετινγκ: Θεωρια, Πρακτικη, Δεοντολογια

The ultimate guide for Pharma Marketing Champions

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Watson close to $7 billion Actavis drug deal

By Ben Hirschler and Frank Siebelt

(Reuters) - Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc (WPI.N) is close to buying Swiss-based Actavis for around $7 billion, marking the latest deal between generics companies racing to achieve economies of scale, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The deal would involve U.S.-based Watson, already among the world's five largest generic drugmakers, paying between 5.0 billion and 5.5 billion euros ($6.6-7.3 billion) for Actavis, a business not much smaller than its own, the sources said.

After rapid expansion in the early 2000s, Actavis underwent a leveraged buyout in 2007 by Icelandic tycoon Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, which ultimately left Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) holding billions of euros of its debt.

It has since been seen as a target for either an eventual initial public offering or a trade sale. Its strong presence in central and eastern Europe fits with Watson's desire to expand in these particular emerging markets.

Spokesmen at Watson, Actavis and Deutsche Bank declined to comment on Wednesday.

Targeting Actavis is a bold move for Watson, whose previous acquisitions include the $1.75 billion purchase of Arrow Group in 2009, which established a foothold for the company in Europe, and the $1.9 billion purchase of Andrx Corp in 2006.

The purchase of Actavis would be far larger but could be made to work since there would be scope for significant synergies, including the possible closure of some manufacturing capacity in the United States.

The generics sector has seen a wave of M&A in recent years because Western governments are putting pressure on the industry to provide drugs at the lowest possible price, which favors large players who can produce at low costs.

Watson further expanded its European presence last year when it bought Greece-based Specifar Pharmaceuticals for $562 million.

Τhe pharma revolution will be digital, with new targets

Medical Marketing & Media | Deborah Weinstein

There have been multiple promises by pharma to change its sales and marketing approach. Booz & Co. partner Danielle Rollmann says the time for promises is over, and action needs to happen, particularly in the digital space. Now.

“We are beyond the point of hand-wringing over the issue,” she told MM&M, as part of a discussion of a survey her company conducted with National Analysts Worldwide of 156 US and EU-based executives. For those who read the survey's initial results MM&M reported in February, the latest news is how execs say they will put money behind their promises to change.

Among the 69% of execs who said the current marketing model needs to change:
• 58% said they were increasing their budgets for social media that targets doctors over the next two years
• 55% said they were increasing their investments in mobile tech
• 52% said they were increasing their use of e-details, and
• 51% said they were going to amp up their budgets for physician media channels.

Less enthusiastically embraced: journal ads, which only 19% said they were planning to put more dollars behind over the next two years.

Study shows prescription gender gap

Women are simultaneously given more drugs then men and undertreated, according to a study Medco and the Society of Women's Health Research.

The report found that these seemingly contradictory trends are part of an overall gap in understanding how the health of women and men differs from the point of physician interaction through compliance.

“I think physicians need to know this and need to know there may be unconscious biases against managing women the same as managing men, or there might be a lack of knowledge about the gender differences in management,” Dr. Chris Carter, vice president of scientific affairs at the Society for Women's Health Research, told MM&M.

Among the study's findings, based on 30 million prescription records from January through December 2010: doctors prescribed cholesterol-lowering medications for 59% of women compared with 71.5% of men, and beta-blockers were only prescribed for 63% of female heart attack patients, compared with 69% of men.

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Ποινή ισοβίων αντιμετωπίζει το πρώην αφεντικό της Alapis

O οικονομικός εισαγγελέας κ. Γρηγόρης Πεπόνης, άσκησε ποινικές διώξεις για έξι κακουργήματα εναντίον του επιχειρηματία Λαυρέντη Λαυρεντιάδη και άλλων 27 προσώπων.

Τα κακουργήματα για τα οποία κατηγορούνται ο Λαυρέντης Λαυρεντιάδης και οι συνεργάτες του είναι: