Glaxo to Bring Doctors In-House as Educational Speakers

 Bloomberg | Makiko Kitamura

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) plans to hire doctors to educate their peers about its drugs instead of paying external speakers, a further change to its marketing practices following a record fraud settlement in the U.S.

The drugmaker is also investing in improving its multichannel marketing strategy through media such as online streaming of educational content, Deirdre Connelly, head of Glaxo’s U.S. pharmaceuticals business, said in an interview in Philadelphia. The changes come at a time when London-based Glaxo is introducing products recently approved to treat skin cancer, HIV and respiratory diseases.

Glaxo has been reforming marketing practices to improve its reputation. In 2012, the company agreed to pay $3 billion to settle allegations that it illegally promoted its Paxil and Wellbutrin anti-depressants and failed to report safety data on the Avandia diabetes drug. Hiring doctors and medical experts to speak as in-house representatives of Glaxo will provide more transparency, Connelly said.

“We’ll continue to disseminate this very important information on drug benefits and risks, but we’re just not going to do that by hiring external speakers,” she said. “We want to ensure that no one even perceives us to be doing anything wrong.”

The Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Lives to Fight Another Day

 The Wall Street Journal | Ed Silverman

The pharmaceutical industry has shed thousands of sales representatives over the past decade, but drug makers continue to invest in hiring and training, albeit at rates that are only slightly higher than what was seen several years ago. The upshot is that the demise of these marketing stalwarts may have been exaggerated.

Among U.S. drug makers, the annual cost per primary care rep ranges from $125,000 to $200,000, although most companies allocate roughly $160,000, which is up from $150,000 back in 2005. The modest increase reflects less travel, fewer extravagant meetings and lower costs for laptops and tablets, according to a recent report by Cutting Edge Information, a market research firm.

The same factors helped temper cost for reps who call on specialist physicians and hospitals, although the averages were, not surprisingly, higher than for primary care reps. The average cost for a specialty rep was $228,000, while the average annual cost for hospital reps was $243,000, according to the report, which queried 61 drug and seven device makers late last year.

What Do Pharma's "High Performers" Have in Common?

Anne O’Riordan *

A new study of high-performing pharma companies reveals science-based innovation strategies and patient-outcome-based commercial models are now the key drivers of growth. 

A select group of high performing pharma companies are significantly breaking away from the pack in terms of high performance in profitability, growth, future value, consistency and longevity, according to recent biopharmaceutical high performance business research. These high performing pharma companies are able to achieve this by focusing on innovation-driven growth strategies that are substantiated by patient- outcome-focused commercial models.

The research looked at the long-term performance of pure play pharma companies — those that have more than 75 per cent of their revenue derived from pharma products.

In contrast to similar research published last year, the new study found that while good product pipeline and penetration in emerging markets is still driving market growth, investor sentiment has shifted and science-based innovation strategies and patient-outcome-based commercial models are now the key drivers of growth.

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Pfizer's billion-dollar Celebrex patent loss has Mylan, Actavis revving up generics

One of Pfizer's  top-selling products is suddenly vulnerable to generic competition 18 months earlier than expected. A U.S. court nixed a key Celebrex patent, putting the pain drug up for a sales fight in May. And generics makers Mylan and Actavis  are promising to launch their versions as soon as Pfizer's monopoly expires.

Pfizer will appeal, but barring success in a higher court, the company stands to lose billions in sales; Celebrex (celecoxib) brought in $2.9 billion in net sales last year, $1.9 billion in the U.S. Morningstar analyst Damien Conover says the ruling could cost Pfizer $1 billion this year and $2 billion next. And Mark Schoenebaum, an ISI Group analyst, figures Celebrex generics could lop 12 cents off Pfizer's 2014 earnings per share, if they make their debut in May.

Roche and Bayer expand their partnership into multiple projects

Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (Ventana), a member of the Roche Group, announced that it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Bayer Pharma AG (Bayer) to develop companion diagnostics, with a focus on immunohistochemistry (IHC), across Bayer's portfolio of targeted therapy projects. This new agreement extends an already existing collaboration and focuses on the development of diagnostic tests for Bayer's biomarker targeted therapeutics from early discovery through commercialization.

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.” Patents on roughly $34 billion-worth of branded drug sales are set to expire during the year - accounting for approximately 3.6% of global market sales - compared to $28 billion this year and $55 billion in 2012.

Marketer of the Year Awards

Shire and Lundbeck have claimed the top title of marketing companies of the year in the prestigious PharmaTimes Marketer of the Year competition, the results of which were announced in London.

Lundbeck was named UK Marketing Company of the Year and Shire, International Marketing Company of the Year. This is the third year in a row that Shire has won the company title. Shire was also successful in other categories, scooping Marketing Team of the Year (Martin Smith, Lindsay Burbidge, Craig Dimblebee, Richard Knight and Louise Finke), while Eva Panarese was named International Marketer of the Year. Meanwhile, Lundbeck took home other wins – New Marketer of the Year went to Andrew Jackson, and Lance Boyd-Clark was awarded Aspiring Marketing Manager of the Year.

TOUGH TIME FOR BIG PHARMA

Global pharmaceutical industry is facing an unprecedented crisis in terms of sales growth, profitability and discovery of new drugs for the last some years now. With increasing rate of patent expiry of several blockbusters and reduced spending on research, top multinational drug companies are facing a rather gloomy future in the years to come. The Pharmabiz study of financial performances of 15 top international pharmaceutical companies during 2013 has revealed this prospects somewhat clearly.

The study shows that net sales of these 15 companies from the pharmaceutical segment including vaccines and generics during 2013, remained flat at $431 billion as against $430 billion reported in the previous year.

The top 10 pharma companies by 2013 revenue

FiercePharma | Eric Palmer

 

The earnings reports for the biggest of Big Pharma are all in. Bayer reported last week, making it possible to see how they stacked up as they came into the new year. There are no big surprises. Pfizer ($PFE) and Merck & Co. ($MRK), with ongoing patent issues and reorganizations, saw their positions fall a couple of notches, and AbbVie ($ABBV), having been spun off from Abbott Laboratories ($ABT) at the beginning of the year, didn't quite make the top 10. Its disappearance allowed Eli Lilly & Co. ($LLY) to make the list. It also helped Bayer HealthCare move up a couple of notches.