GSK, Sanofi, AstraZeneca ready to roll out premium-priced flu vaccines

 

Big drugmakers are seeking a boost from new four-in-one influenza vaccines that will be available for the first time this flu season.

Offering more protection to patients, the new quadrivalent vaccines provide a route to premium pricing that could improve margins and profits in a highly competitive market. 

Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca all have products ready to tap the new opportunity, while Novartis is lagging behind its rivals. Until now, seasonal flu vaccines have only protected against three strains of flu - two strains of influenza A, which usually causes more cases and more severe illness, and one of influenza B, which is less common but also circulates in multiple forms.

The new vaccines include protection against a second strain of influenza B, which experts expect will prevent the vast majority of type B infections. 

Sanofi chief says Genzyme purchase paid off

 

The Boston Globe | Robert Weisman  

 

CAMBRIDGE — Two and a half years after buying local biotech Genzyme Corp. for $20.1 billion, Sanofi SA’s chief executive said Wednesday that the deal has paid off handsomely for his company, sparking a business surge that has added $40 billion to the international pharmaceutical giant’s market value. 

Christopher A. Viehbacher, in town for Thursday’s opening of Sanofi’s global cancer research center at 640 Memorial Drive, said the Genzyme acquisition proved to be a “crystallizing moment” for the French drug maker. Genzyme has been among the fastest growing parts of Sanofi, with sales increasing 25.5 percent in the first half of 2013. 

With $29B in deals so far, 2013 shaping up as big M&A year

 

With Valeant Pharmaceuticals forking over $8.7 billion for eye-care giant Bausch + Lomb and Amgen's  $10.4 billion deal for Onyx Pharmaceuticals this could be a comeback year for pharma M&A, even as the drug approval rate remains healthy. 

According to a new half-year review from EvaluatePharma's EP Vantage, there was $29 billion worth of deals in the first half of 2013. Author Lisa Urquhart points to the Valeant deal and Actavis'  $8.5 billion acquisition of Warner Chilcott  as the key deals of the 6-month period. If the pace continues, she says, 2013 could have its best year since 2010, although a far cry from 2009, when there were 170 deals worth $152 billion. There actually have been more deals by number each year since 2009, but values have been far less. There were 183 deals announced last year, but they were worth only $43 billion, the report points out.

What do doctors want to hear from pharma?

 

Simon Grime, managing director of

communications for Doctors.net.uk,

explores how pharma can develop a

new relationship with doctors

 Pharma is becoming increasingly reliant on digital marketing channels, according to recent research from Cegedim Strategic Data, which showed a 40% increase in digital spend in the industry worldwide in 2012. However, as pharma relies more and more heavily on the internet to gain access to doctors, what are the barriers to engaging with them in this way and how can they be overcome? 

A survey conducted for Doctors.net.uk shows that while doctors would like to access the wealth of knowledge, data and evidence that pharma companies hold, trust and transparency is still a major stumbling block. Only 3% of doctors surveyed by medeConnect think online pharma resources are credible and 42% never visit pharma websites. 

So why is this the case and how can pharma develop more trusting relationships with doctors? 

GlaxoSmithKline 'to pick Royal Bank of Scotland boss'

 

Britain’s biggest drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline could dip into Royal Bank of Scotland’s reserves to name Sir Philip Hampton as its new chairman.

GSK’s current chair, former Vodafone boss Sir Christopher Gent, is expected to stand down next year after nine years in the role, and veteran chairman Sir Philip is the name in the frame to replace him. Sir Philip has been at RBS for almost five years, most recently installing incoming chief executive Ross McEwan as Stephen Hester’s successor. 

A source at RBS said Sir Philip, who has also chaired supermarket J Sainsbury, would be unlikely to leave imminently, with McEwan only starting his post in October. However, that would not rule out a potential departure announcement next spring at RBS’s AGM.

GlaxoSmithKline, which began the hunt for a successor to Sir Christopher last October, is facing a tumultuous time at the centre of allegations of a three billion yuan (£312 million) bribery scandal in China, and a new chair of its board could help chief executive Sir Andrew Witty steer the drugmaker through the crisis. 

Sir Philip was part of a business delegation that travelled with David Cameron to China in 2010. He also has extensive experience with fire-fighting, having guided RBS through scandals including the bank’s £390 million settlement for Libor rate fixing and a £1.1 billion loss from mis-selling. 

Spokesmen for GSK and RBS declined to comment.

AstraZeneca and Merck enter licence agreement for investigational oral WEE1 kinase inhibitor therapy for cancer

AstraZeneca announced that MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Amplimmune, a privately-held, Maryland, US-based biologics company focused on developing novel therapeutics in cancer immunology. 

WEE1 helps to regulate the cell-division cycle. The WEE1 inhibitor MK-1775 is designed to cause certain tumour cells to divide without undergoing the normal DNA repair processes, ultimately leading to cell death. Preclinical evidence suggests that the combination of MK-1775 and DNA damage-inducing chemotherapy agents can enhance anti-tumor properties, in comparison to chemotherapy alone. 

Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay Merck a $50 million upfront fee.

EFPIA Response to EMA Consultation on the Publication and Access to Clinical-Trial Data

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, EFPIA, finalised its comments on the European Medicines Agency’s draft policy on publication and access to clinical-trial data.

Representing the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Europe, EFPIA and its member companies welcome efforts towards greater transparency of clinical trials data. However EFPIA has serious concerns about the EMA draft policy (Policy 0070 on publication and access to clinical trial data), which carries negative implications for public health in its failure to adequately protect the interests of patients and the research they benefit from. In the interests of sharing its concerns with all relevant stakeholders as well as the general public who will be impacted by these measures.

Οικονομικά αποτελέσματα Φαρμακευτικών εταιριών & Ιδιωτικών νοσοκομείων

Μείωση τζίρου 7% στις φαρμακευτικές επιχειρήσεις, ερωτήματα για τις φαρμακαποθήκες αλλά και ζημιές ρεκόρ 205 εκατ. ευρώ για τις υπηρεσίες υγείας αναφέρει η μελέτη του Med & Health Business 2013. 

Στη μελέτη επισημαίνεται ότι οι φαρμακευτικές επηρεάζονται και από τη μείωση πωλήσεων αλλά και από τα χρέη του Δημοσίου (ΕΟΠΥΥ) από 1/1/2010 έως 31/5/2013.

H εγχώρια αγορά φαρμάκου εδώ και τρία χρόνια βρίσκεται σε πτωτική πορεία κυρίως λόγω των περικοπών της φαρμακευτικής δαπάνης και τα μέτρα των μνημονίων.

Συνεχίστηκε λοιπόν και το 2012 η κάμψη των πωλήσεων των φαρμακευτικών εταιρειών στην ελληνική αγορά και επέφερε κάμψη στα μεικτά κέρδη παρά την εμφάνιση κερδών προ φόρων (τα οποία είναι κυρίως λογιστικά και όχι λειτουργικά). Σύμφωνα με τον ομαδοποιημένο ισολογισμό των 40 μεγαλύτερων επιχειρήσεων του κλάδου, προκύπτει ότι πέρυσι ο συνολικός κύκλος εργασιών των εταιρειών παρουσίασε μείωση που έφτασε στο 7% σε σχέση με το 2011 και ανάλογη είναι και η κάμψη που σημειώθηκε στα μεικτά κέρδη τους.

Ειδικότερα, το σύνολο των πωλήσεων του δείγματος των εταιρειών διαμορφώθηκε το 2012 στα 4,373 δισ. ευρώ από 4,699 δισ. ευρώ το 2011, σημειώνοντας κάμψη 6,94%. Η μείωση του κύκλου εργασιών οφείλεται κυρίως στην πτώση των τιμών των φαρμάκων που έγινε με τις σχετικές υπουργικές αποφάσεις.

Πτώση κερδών

Ανάλογη είναι και η πτώση στα μεικτά κέρδη, από τα 1,508 δισ. ευρώ το 2011 στα 1,407 δισ. ευρώ το 2012. Τα κέρδη προ φόρων για το 2012 ανήλθαν σχεδόν στα 300 εκατ. ευρώ έναντι ζημιών προ φόρων 137 εκατ. ευρώ το αντίστοιχο διάστημα του 2011. Σε 1,4 δισ. ευρώ ανέρχονται τα χρέη του ΕΟΠΥΥ και των δημόσιων νοσοκομείων προς τις φαρμακευτικές επιχειρήσεις για τιμολόγια που εκδόθηκαν από τον Ιανουάριο του 2010 έως και τον Μάιο του 2013. Σύμφωνα με τη σύνταξη του ομαδοποιημένου ισολογισμού των εταιρειών του κλάδου των φαρμακαποθηκών -χρησιμοποιήθηκε δείγμα 40 εταιρειών- σημειώθηκε οριακή μείωση 1% στις συνολικές πωλήσεις και ταυτόχρονη αύξηση κερδών προ φόρων.

Συγκεκριμένα, οι πωλήσεις για το 2012 ανήλθαν στα 2,182 δισ. ευρώ και τα συνολικά κέρδη προ φόρων στα 23,4 εκατ. ευρώ. Να σημειωθεί πως η εικόνα του κλάδου μπορεί να επηρεαστεί, καθώς δεν είχαν δημοσιεύσει ισολογισμούς έως τις 10/07/2013 σημαντικές και μεγάλες εταιρείες και συνεταιρισμοί που δραστηριοποιούνται στον χώρο. Η κατάσταση του κλάδου ήταν πάρα πολύ δύσκολη το 2012 και παρά την αύξηση στο συνολικό κύκλο εργασιών των εταιρειών κατά 9,50% σε σχέση με το 2011, οι εταιρείες κατέγραψαν συνολικές ζημίες προ φόρων - ρεκόρ, που ανήλθαν στα 205 εκατ. ευρώ.

Οι οφειλές του Δημοσίου προς τις επιχειρήσεις του κλάδου απειλούν τη βιωσιμότητα αρκετών εταιρειών, που αδυνατούν να ανταποκριθούν στις υποχρεώσεις τους προς τις τράπεζες και τους προμηθευτές για την αγορά υλικών και με αρκετές εξ αυτών να βρίσκονται σε δεινή οικονομική θέση. 

Winners revealed in pharma salesforce competition

 

Thirty-six companies participated in the new PharmaTimes Sales Awards, which encompass PharmaTimes Sales Representative of the Year and PharmaTimes Business Manager of the Year competitions, with the winners announced at a presentation ceremony in London.

Top wins went to Roche with Andy Simpson named specialist care representative of the year and LEO Pharma’s Hena Manna-Rahman named primary care representative of the year. A full list of winners can be found here for the sales managers and here for the sales representatives.

The sales representative competition in the PharmaTimes Sales Awards is the only customer-mediated salesforce effectiveness exercise where doctors are the key determinants of success. Physician portals, Doctors.net.uk and Binley’s facilitated more than 1,200 doctor nominations for the best representatives in primary and secondary care with finalists participating in a customer assessment exercise organised by PI Partnership through its network of trained NHS physician assessors.

European Pharma Gears Up for Horizon 2020

The ink is not yet dry on the European Union’s Horizon 2020 agreement to invest some €70 billion ($92 bn) in research over the next seven years, and already contenders for funding are jostling for attention. Europe’s biggest drug industry association EFPIA scored something of a coup by having breakfast with the president of the European Commission on the very day that the program proposal was agreed in mid-July. EFPIA has won support from the commission (and possibly €1.5 bn) for a new and improved version of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), its public-private partnership with the EU on early-stage collaborative research.