Pharma M&A activity rebounds in 2013

For an industry often characterized by its mega mergers of the late 2000s, it's no surprise that biopharma aggregate total M&A spend was in a six-year slump that reached a low point in 2012, according to figures released by Deloitte last year.

And in 2012, PriceWaterhouseCooper found deal spend was essentially flat (+1%). Now, a new PwC report shows that the downturn in spend may have been reversed in 2013.

According to data provided to PwC by Thomson Reuters, the pharmaceutical life science (PLS) industries (biotech, pharma, devices and diagnostics) saw deal value increase by $45 billion in 2013—a 45.8% increase from 2012.

The jump was helped by first-quarter deals like AbbVie's IPO and Pfizer's spin-off of its animal health segment, Zoetis. Pharma and life science IPOs overall were on the rise, too, with value up 11% and volume up 4% compared to 2012.

Two highlights from last year also propelled deal value:

Pharma Sales Forces Shift to Key Account Management

To respond to recent regulations and changes to the healthcare marketplace drug companies are implementing key account management (KAM) strategies to adapt their sales forces to the new challenges.

Formularies — especially in European countries but increasingly so in the US as well — have begun playing a larger role in determining which drugs end up in patients’ hands. Pharma companies therefore need to find a way to reach the administrators nurses and others involved with the process for deciding which treatments end up on the formulary.

Cutting Edge Information’s latest study “Pharmaceutical Sales Management: Sharpening Customer-Centric Strategies to Restore Access and Strengthen Relationships” found that for many companies key account managers fulfill this need.

Απολογισμός 9oυ Συνεδρίου Ελληνικής Εταιρείας Φαρμακευτικού Μarketing

Επιμόρφωση – Αναμόρφωση - Μεταμόρφωση και άλλα ουσιαστικά συμπεράσματα, κρίσιμα για την πορεία του φαρμακευτικού κλάδου είχαν την ευκαιρία να παρακολουθήσουν οι 800 και πλέον σύνεδροι του 9^ου Συνεδρίου Φαρμακευτικού Μάρκετινγκ που διοργάνωσε η Ελληνική Εταιρεία Φαρμακευτικού Μάρκετινγκ (Ε.Ε.Φα.Μ.).  

Ανάμεσα στους Έλληνες και ξένους εισηγητές ήταν οι Sarah Rickwood, Director IMS Europe Thought Leadership Team, Emiliano Gummati, Vice President Digital Engagement Solutions Cegedim Group, Carole De Bruyn, ICF Executive Certified Coach, Managing Director C Ways Group, Νίκος Μανιαδάκης, Αναπληρωτής Κοσμήτορας, Καθηγητής & Διευθυντής Τομέα Αρχών Οργάνωσης & Διοίκησης Υπηρεσιών Υγείας, Εθνική Σχολή Δημόσιας Υγείας, Δημήτρης Μπουραντάς, Καθηγητής Μάνατζμεντ, Οικονομικό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, Παναγιώτης Πατεράκης, Φαρμακοποιός ΕΟΠΥΥ, Τμήμα Φαρμακευτικής Πολιτικής, Διεύθυνση Φαρμάκου αλλά και διακεκριμένα στελέχη από την φαρμακευτική βιομηχανία όπως οι δύο Πρόεδροι του 9^ου Συνεδρίου Κωνσταντίνος Φρουζής Πρόεδρος ΣΦΕΕ, Αντιπρόεδρος και Γενικός Διευθυντής Novartis και Γεώργιος Βασιλόπουλος,Γενικός Διευθυντής Galenica, αλλά και ο Δημήτριος Δέμος, Πρόεδρος ΠΕΦ & Αντιπρόεδρος DEMO και άλλοι.

Germany may publicize its drug discounts, putting fear into Big Pharma's heart

Germany isn't the most popular market among drugmakers these days, thanks to strict pricing policies that have put a hurt on sales. Now, a proposed law could see the country fall further out of pharma's favor--and compromise the industry's international pricing power.

Germany is considering legislation this week that would force drugmakers to report the reduced prices they negotiate with insurers, potentially pressuring prices lower elsewhere in Europe.

Pharmaceutical companies would have to report rebated prices, instead of their original list prices, to databases such as IMS Health, said Ina Klaus, a Health Ministry spokeswoman in Berlin. The revised law will make it clear that the list price isn’t what’s paid in Germany, she said. German prices are influential because other countries use them as a reference.

Novartis aims for super-speed with strategic review, CEO tells analysts

Want the latest on Novartis' should-we-or-shouldn't-we asset review? Leerink Partners analysts met with CEO Joe Jimenez recently, so they can deliver that and more, including some hints at cost-cutting targets.

As you know, Novartis is analyzing four of its smaller units, with an eye to either: a., dispose of them in a shareholder-friendly way; or b., somehow build them into bigger contributors to the bottom line. Those units would be animal health, vaccines, consumer healthcare and diagnostics.

Έκλεισε με επιτυχία η πρώτη μέρα του 9ου Συνεδρίου Φαρμακευτικού Μάρκετινγκ

Αθρόα υπήρξε η προσέλευση των στελεχών στο Συνέδριο σηματοδοτώντας ότι πράγματι αποτελεί κορυφαίο γεγονός για τα στελέχη του φαρμακευτικού μάρκετινγκ και επιστημονικής ενημέρωσης.

Τα μηνύματα που εξέπεμψε το Συνέδριο κατά την πρώτη μέρα ήταν ότι η πολιτεία επιβάλλεται να διαμορφώσει ένα πιο προβλέψιμο περιβάλλον. Αυτό θα ενίσχυε τις επενδύσεις τις κλινικές μελέτες την καινοτομία την παραγωγή τις εξαγωγές και τελικά την απασχόληση.

Branded pharma revenues to rise 2%-3% in 2014, says Fitch

Revenues for brand-name drugmakers will rise just 2%-3% in 2014, forecasts ratings agency Fitch, but it adds that global pharmaceuticals is still one of its highest-rated industries, and that the sector outlook remains “stable.”  

Moderate pressure from patent expiries, cost-containment policies in the European Union (EU) and weak employment in the US will be only partly offset by uptake of new products and strong growth in emerging markets, it says in a new report, which expects no significant divergence in the trend in profitability between US and EU-based drugmakers next year.

Fitch also believes that industry will find patent expiry levels in 2014 to be “manageable.”

Novartis slashing thousands more jobs in global reorganization

Novartis' 500 Swiss job cuts announced earlier this month are just the tip of a global iceberg. The company plans to cut or shuffle up to 4,000 jobs in its pharma business, with many of the positions moving to a new operations center in Hyderabad, India, a Swiss newspaper reports.

The news comes two weeks after CEO Joe Jimenez pronounced his dissatisfaction with the company's operating margins, and days after two back-to-back job-cutting announcements. And Novartis is in the midst of a worldwide strategic review. "I am not satisfied with operating margins," Jimenez said at an investor conference (as quoted by the NZZ am Sonntag). "We intend to increase these margins over time, and we begin now." 

Soon after, the company announced its Swiss layoffs and rehires.

The top 10 largest pharma layoffs in 2013

Layoffs are always big news in pharma, as they are seen as an indicator of the health of the industry. Companies don't like to have to announce them, but when they decide to, getting plenty of attention becomes important. That is to impress upon investors that their CEOs are making the hard decisions needed to keep costs in line. Of course employees are interested. They know from the inside what is about to happen, and having lived through the awful anticipation, they want to see what the carnage is really going to be.

The patent cliff is often the big culprit. One might think that a one-to-one relationship could be graphed between what is happening with the patent cliff and layoffs, but that is not the case. Pharma analysis company EvaluatePharma has forecast that there

Pharma's Agenda for 2014 by J.P. Morgan

Presenters at the 32^nd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference talked up value-based pricing, emerging market strategies, complex generics and new technology, from bedside devices and genetic sequencers to first-in-class mechanisms of action. Company executives honed in on their chosen therapeutic areas and made the case for aggressive spending in R&D to bring the next generation of products to market.

Hundreds of pharma, biotech, med device/equipment and insurance providers took one of the conferences’ half dozen stages or microphones to discuss last year’s successes and failures, and likely successes in 2014.