Prive breakfast του υπουργού υγείας με εκπροσώπους της φαρμακοβιομηχανίας

Τα φλέγοντα προβλήματα του φαρμακευτικού κλάδου είχε την ευκαιρία να συζητήσει νωρίς το πρωί ο υπουργός βιομηχανίας με εκπροσώπους του φαρμακευτικού κλάδου  σε ένα «Prive breakfast» πριν την έναρξη του συνεδρίου ATHENS HEALTH FORUM 2014-Rebuilding Health in Greece που γίνεται σήμερα στο συνεδριακό κέντρο της Εθνικής Ασφαλιστικής υπό την αιγίδα του Συνδέσμου Φαρμακευτικών Επιχειρήσεων Ελλάδος (ΣΦΕΕ) και της Πανελλήνιας Ένωσης Φαρμακοβιομηχανίας (ΠΕΦ).

Στη συνάντηση συμμετείχαν 15 εκπρόσωποι του φαρμακευτικού κλάδου μεταξύ των οποίων ήταν ο πρόεδρος του ΣΦΕΕ Κων. Φρουζής, ο πρόεδρος της ΠΕΦ Δημ. Δέμος, ο πρόεδρος της Pharmathen Βασ. Κάτσος, ο δ/της εταιρικών υποθέσεων της ELPEN Β. Πενταφράγκας, ο δ/νων σύμβουλος της Abbvie Π. Αποστολίδης κ.α.

Όπως πληροφορηθήκαμε στη συζήτηση επικράτησε κλίμα αμοιβαίας κατανόησης και διάθεση της πολιτικής ηγεσίας του υπουργείου υγείας να επανεξετάσει ορισμένα από τα προβλήματα που απασχολούν τον κλάδο.

Rebuilding Health in Greece

ATHENS HEALTH FORUM 2014-Rebuilding Health in Greece

Τρίτη 24 Ιουνίου

Συνεδριακό κέντρο της Εθνικής Ασφαλιστικής

(Λ. Συγγρού 103-105). Έναρξη 09:00 π.μ

Πληροφορίες: Κατερίνα Μαντζίνου, τηλ: 2103392321, mantzinou@palladian.gr

Δηλώσεις συμμετοχής στο conferences@palladian.gr

Δείτε εδώ το πρόγραμμα του συνεδρίου

http://palladianconferences.gr/health/agenda.php

Pharmathen: Διεισδύει σε μια αγορά $4 δισ. - Συνεργασία με την Actavis

Η Pharmathen ανακοίνωσε επισήμως την είσοδο της στο χώρο των ενέσιμων φαρμάκων με τεχνολογία LAI αλλά και τη συμφωνία με την αμερικανική φαρμακευτική εταιρεία Actavis, η οποία θα αναλάβει την αποκλειστική εμπορική εκμετάλλευση των δύο πρώτων φαρμακευτικών σκευασμάτων που αναπτύσσει η Pharmathen.

Ειδικότερα, η τεχνολογία ονομάζεται LAI (Long Acting Injectable – Ενέσιμα Παρατεταμένης Αποδέσμευσης) και αποτελεί παγκόσμια ερευνητική καινοτομία της Pharmathen. Η συμφωνία με την Actavis αφορά σε σκεύασμα για την σχιζοφρένεια και συγκεκριμένη ορμονική διαταραχή (ακρομεγαλία), τα οποία βρίσκονται στο τελικό στάδιο και εντός του 2015 αναμένεται να λάβουν τις σχετικές εγκρίσεις σε ΗΠΑ και Ε.Ε. Υπολογίζεται ότι η κυκλοφορία τους θα γίνει στα τέλη του 2016, ενώ το 2018 θα έχει λανσαριστεί σε όλες τις επιμέρους αγορές.

Σύμφωνα με τον κ. Βασίλη Κάτσο, πρόεδρο της ελληνικής φαρμακοβιομηχανίας, η Pharmathen βάζει στην ελληνική καινοτομία στον παγκόσμιο χάρτη, και οδηγεί την εταιρία σε μια «άλλη πίστα» όσον αφορά τη διείσδυση της στη διεθνή φαρμακευτική αγορά. Σύμφωνα με τον ίδιο, η παγκόσμια αγορά LAI υπολογίζεται σήμερα σε 4 δισ. δολαρίων, ενώ η πρόγνωση εκτιμά ότι θα ανέλθει στα 20 δισ. δολάρια σε την προσεχή πενταετία.

Sanofi CEO: No deals? No problem

FiercePharma | By Carly Helfand

Pharma is riding an M&A deal wave like none the industry has ever seen, with companies looking to shed noncore businesses and bulk up in areas they want to focus on. But Sanofi? Not interested, CEO Chris Viehbacher says.

"Unlike everybody else, we feel we've got critical mass in all of our businesses," he told Bloomberg in an interview.

With Big Pharma peers Novartis ($NVS), GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), Eli Lilly ($LLY), Bayer and Merck ($MRK) racking up a record $139 billion in deals so far this quarter--not to mention the failed $117 billion play Pfizer ($PFE) made for AstraZeneca ($AZN)--Sanofi's ($SNY) name has come up more than once in the melee. But despite reports that it's had its eye on up-for-grabs assets, Viehbacher insists the French company is happy where it is.

As the news service points out, Sanofi this year forecast its first annual profit increase in four years after generics took down high-flyers like blood thinner Plavix. The company expects to ride back to growth on the backs of new multiple sclerosis treatments Aubagio and Lemtrada, and it has a portfolio of rare-disease candidates waiting in the wings thanks to its $20.1 billion Genzyme pickup in 2011.

The top 10 best-selling diabetes drugs of 2013

FiercePharma | Eric Palmer

Everybody knows that diabetes is an epidemic in this country that is costing lives and money. New stats from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) peg at 29.1 million the number of people in the U.S. who have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, with roughly 9 million of those undiagnosed. Most have Type 2 diabetes, which is more prevalent among minorities. On the other hand, a study found that non-Hispanic white children are diagnosed more often with Type 1 diabetes than other groups. And that is just in the U.S. The rest of the world also is developing diabetes at what many see as alarming rates.

Pharma, seeing opportunity, has responded. There are pills as well as injected drugs. Many are incretin mimetics. There are now 12 classes of drugs, including the GLP-1 class drugs like AstraZeneca's  Byetta and Novo Nordisk's  blockbuster Victoza, and DPP-4 inhibitors like Merck's  Januvia, Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim's Tradjenta/Trajenta and AstraZeneca's Onglyza.

Amazon for medicines?

Pharmaphorum | Paul Stuart-Kregor

Pharma should stop saying the Amazon model is 'not for us', argues Paul Stuart-Kregor, but should instead consider where an integrated digital channel/supply channel model could bring benefits to healthcare systems, patients and the industry alike.

Given its ubiquity on the web, it is hard to believe that Amazon doesn't celebrate its 20th birthday until next year. And yet when it first went online in 1995, many gave the concept of an online retailer little chance of success; certainly few envisaged the company becoming the behemoth it is today.

At first glance, Amazon is simply a mail-order company, taking its orders online, but fulfilling them much as many mail-order retailers had done before (by post; it will probably be the Amazon model which is the saviour of our universal postal service, but that is another story).

Of course, although it was, and still is, highly innovative, Amazon is about dealing direct with the consumer. This is why the pharmaceutical industry, whilst it loves to look at innovations in other sectors, has tended to think that the Amazon model is not applicable.

Pharma optimistic about future, worried about reputation

Pharma Times | Kevin Grogan

A major global survey, “testing the health of the pharmaceutical industry”, has revealed that a sizeable majority of executives polled believe the sector is in good shape but are concerned its reputation.

Some 971 executives have responded to a survey from eyeforpharma which has compiled an ‘industry healthcheck’. It shows that 22% think the industry’s reputation is not improving amongst the general public, though 46% think they know what the industry needs to do to improve it. However, Pierre Morgon, chief marketing officer at Cegedim, is not so sure, claiming that “the industry keeps looking at some of its members misbehaving, without taking any action”, with the exception of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

TEVA will close half of its manufacturing facilities over the next 5 years

Teva CFO Eyal Desheh says the generic giant was built in bits and pieces, picking up a bunch of manufacturing plants in the process that it no longer needs. So the company will close half of its manufacturing facilities over the next 5 years as part of its plan to get more focused and more efficient.

"The company was created by a series of mergers and acquisitions. We managed to accumulate 75 manufacturing facilities.We can reduce this number to half of what we have today, and the remaining facilities will be efficient, productive and of course of the highest quality, which is very important," Desheh said Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Healthcare Conference, according to a transcript of his remarks from SeekingAlpha.

With Teva's workhorse product, the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone, going off patent, the company has been scrambling to reduce expenses and to find new revenue. The drug, which lost patent protection last month, makes up half of the drugmaker's revenue. So far, a planned generic by Mylan has yet to hit the market but it is just a matter of time.

The company for a couple of years has been working on ways to cut costs and build revenue. After a court ruling last year put Copaxone in jeopardy a year earlier than expected, Jeremy Levin laid out an aggressive plan to about 5,000 employees--10% of its workforce--by the end of this year and bank $2 billion in savings before the end of 2017.

Erez Vigodman was named CEO in January after Levin left because of board disagreements. He has talked a lot about plans to boost the top line, but has been short on details about the cost-cutting, much of which Levin said would come from slimming the manufacturing network. Vigodman gave some indication in a May conference call with analysts about how the plan was developing. He said the company had identified 11 plants for closure and was evaluating 16 others, although specific targets have never been identified. Now Desheh is suggesting the number could be 38 or so plants.

The drugmaker is doing other things to make its way through this patent cliff dive. It has been convincing doctors to move patients to a new longer-acting version of Copaxone, a move analysts say will take some of the sting out. "Generics will be approved at some point, but it's no longer going to be devastating," John Park, co-manager of Jackson Park Capital's Oakseed Opportunity Fund, told Bloomberg last month.

Vigodman also told a conference in May that a trio of drugs is launching that will also offset some of the loss. Estimates have put about $1 billion in peak sales to the three drugs, migraine patch Zecuity, Symbicort generic DuoResp Spiromax, and Adasuve, an inhalation powder to treat agitation in schizophrenia patients. The CEO has also said it is looking to invest in some smaller acquisitions and to to build its biosimilars program.

6,000 new jobs in Novo Nordisk

 

Up to 2022, Novo Nordisk expects to hire 6,000 new employees in Denmark, half of whom will work within research and development. The new jobs will have the derived effect of boosting employment by more than 15,000 jobs nationally.

This is revealed by a new analysis to be presented by Novo Nordisk today at the ‘Invitation to growth – a road to job creation’ conference. The analysis homes in on the value created in the interaction between growth businesses and public-sector research and education, as well as the challenges that must be solved so that research-based businesses can continue to grow in Denmark.

"With the expectation of creating 6,000 new jobs in Denmark over the coming years, it will be crucial for Novo Nordisk that Denmark educates world-class graduates but also focuses far more intently on attracting international talent," says Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen.

The analysis presents new forecasts for the future availability of university graduates and PhDs and questions whether Denmark is investing sufficiently in the frameworks that are necessary for providing strong research-based degree programmes.

The conference is being hosted today by Novo Nordisk from 12.30 to 16.30 at the company’s headquarters in Bagsværd. The debaters will include Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science Sofie Carsten Nielsen; Chair of the Government’s Expert Committee on Quality in Higher Education Jørgen Søndergaard; Rector of the University of Copenhagen Ralf Hemmingsen; and the political spokespersons for the Liberal Party of Denmark and the Danish Social Democrats.