Top 10 best-selling cancer drugs of 2013

When it comes to selling big, cancer drugs have a lot going for them. Their targets--deadly diseases that in many cases can kill quickly--put them in high demand, even as they continue to redefine "premium pricing." Some newer drugs can be targeted at patient groups who have the best chances of benefiting, helping justify those high costs. And biologics, for now, don't face the same generic onslaughts that pummel pharma sales come patent expiration time.

That's not to say they don't face roadblocks. Plenty of cancer heavyweights have run into failed label expansions, governmental cost critics, patent woes and biosimilar threats. But even so, the top 10 managed to rake in worldwide sales between $1.7 billion and $7.8 billion each, according to EvaluatePharma data.

Lilly invests in early-stage UK life sciences fund

World News | Kevin Grogan 

Eli Lilly has made its first investment in a UK venture fund, managed by Epidarex Capital, which will focus on backing early-stage projects.

The US major is making “a significant capital commitment” to the fund which has raised over £47.5 million, while King’s College London has also invested in the final closing. Other participants include the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, as well as the European Investment Fund, Scottish Enterprise and Strathclyde Pension Fund.

Elaine Sullivan, head of global external R&D at Lilly, said the firm’s “commitment to this pioneering Epidarex fund will increase collaboration across industry and academia to help speed the delivery of new treatments”. She added that the investment “reflects Lilly’s strong belief in the excellence of life science R&D in the UK” and will complement its own  research and existing academic partnerships.

Chris Mottershead, head of research and innovation, at King’s College London, said funds like the Epidarex one “involving major international partners recognise the untapped potential” at UK universities. These funds “provide the much-needed capital to carry translational research from the laboratory to the commercial market, and should attract more investor interest in the world-class research carried out across the UK”.

Epidarex said the fund’s portfolio companies will benefit from its investment team’s considerable experience as well as its international network, including the USA and Asia.

New sales models are trendy in Big Pharma

FiercePharma | By Tracy Staton 

Actually, they're de rigueur: With thousands fewer drug reps on the street these days, and many doctors turning reps away, companies have had to turn to new ways of promoting their products. Plus, all those pesky Department of Justice settlements make the old hard sell seem sketchy.

What's Eli Lilly's version? According to an interview with Alex Azar, president of the Indianapolis-based company's U.S. business, it's problem-solving.

As InsuranceNewsNet reports, Lilly  sends its 2,000-plus U.S. reps into doctors' offices to "broker" solutions to patients' problems.

Οι ιδιωτικές κλινικές "φέρνουν" στην Αθήνα τον επίτροπο Ταγιάνι για τις ληξιπρόθεσμες οφειλές

Reporter.gr | Δέσποινα Καραγιαννοπούλου

Στην Αθήνα αναμένεται στις 27 Ιουνίου ο Ευρωπαίος Επίτροπος Αντόνιο Ταγιάνι, προκειμένου να εξετάσει την καταγγελία που δέχθηκε εγγράφως από την Πανελλήνια Ένωση Ιδιωτικών Κλινικών, αναφορικά με τις ληξιπρόθεσμες οφειλές προς τα μέλη της. Στην επιστολή της Ένωσης, που ήδη έχει σταλεί στον Υπουργό Υγείας, κ. Α. Γεωργιάδη, αλλά και στον πρόεδρο του ΕΟΠΥΥ, κ. Δ. Κοντό, γίνεται εκτενή αναφορά στις ληξιπρόθεσμες οφειλές των ασφαλιστικών ταμείων προς τις ιδιωτικές κλινικές.

Επιβεβαιώνοντας τα παραπάνω, ο πρόεδρος της Πανελλήνιας Ενωσης Ιδιωτικών Κλινικών, κ. Γ. Σαραφιανός, τόνισε στο "R" ότι πρέπει "εδώ και τώρα να λυθεί η θηλιά στο λαιμό των ιδιωτικών κλινικών που λέγεται ληξιπρόθεσμες οφειλές". Σύμφωνα με τον ίδιο οι οφειλές αυτές ξεκινούν από το 2007 και φθάνουν μέχρι σήμερα.

Pharma MBAs — From Mini Courses to the Full Monty

Pharmaceutical Executive | John Ansell

Over the past decade there has been a marked increase in the variety of specialist pharma MBA courses on offer. These courses last from one week in the case of most mini MBAs, up to a year’s full-time study or equivalent. And so the depth of learning provided by these different types of course varies enormously. Both the public and private sector offer courses — sometimes they are provided by alliances of both.

Who takes the courses?

As a trainer and tutor who has been involved with five different MBA courses, I see a tremendous variety in the background of participants.

All of my courses have been for organizers based in Europe; I see participants from right across the continent but also from other regions — particularly the Middle East. Course participants are mostly in middle or senior management positions. Most are working in the pharmaceutical industry or for companies serving the industry but who lack commercial background. Most commonly participants have an R&D background.

Three launches this year just the beginning of Teva turnaround, CEO says

FiercePharma | By Carly Helfand 

Three new drug launches in 2014 won't save Teva's  sales if generics attack Copaxone later this week. But they certainly will help.

Those launches are just what the Israeli company has on the way, CEO Erez Vigodman told a conference Friday, according to Reuters. And that trio--comprising migraine patch Zecuity, Symbicort generic DuoResp Spiromax, and Adasuve, an inhalation powder to treat agitation in schizophrenia patients--will ultimately combine for peak sales of $1 billion, estimates say.

Of course, that's just one piece of the Israeli drugmaker's plan to get back on track after patent woes, restructuring plans, labor protests, management changes and shareholder unrest rocked the company in the past several months. Vigodman said earlier this month that Teva wants to refocus on its generics business and plunge into the biosimilars race. M&A isn't out of the question, either, and rumors listed Teva as a suitor for India's Cipla just a couple weeks ago.

The Rise Of The Pharmaceutical Un-Sales Force

Forbes | Cory L. Andrews   

In a variation on the old saying “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” a number of states have initiated programs where purportedly independent clinicians, pharmacists and other medical personnel pay visits to physicians as a way of countering the information delivered to health care providers by drug company sales people (who are known as “detailers”).  States such as Pennsylvania and South Carolina are funding this “academic detailing” as a tool to reduce those governments’ prescription drug-related health care expenses.  Counter-detailers reportedly inform doctors that older drugs or less expensive generics can be as or more effective in treating some conditions than newer, patented products.  Thanks to the 2009 federal stimulus bill and the ObamaCare law, the federal government is now looking to get into the academic detailing business.

European Parliament Elections: Rebuilding European Pharma's Competitive Agenda

For European business, the perils of the immediate past are being replaced by the promise of the future, as the financial crisis appears to recede, and the prospect beckons of new opportunities under a new European Parliament and a new European Commission. The European Parliament elections this month will bring many fresh faces to Brussels, and every lobby group in town is already planning how to win their attention and hopefully their favour. Of even more significance, a new European Commission is due to take office in November, replacing the timid and tired ten-year administration of José Manuel Barroso with — it is hoped — a team bursting with renewed dynamism and energy, and with a readiness to listen to well-formed policy pitches.

What next for Pfizer? Perhaps a return to the popular breakup idea

Bloomberg| Drew Armstrong 

With prospects for an AstraZeneca Plc deal falling apart, Pfizer Inc.  Chief Executive Officer Ian Read is facing a new question from investors: What now?

There aren’t other ripe targets offering the triple benefits of a lower tax rate in the U.K., cost savings and new cancer drugs, analysts say. Without AstraZeneca’s promise of new growth, Read, 60, will likely return to an earlier plan to further break up what was once the world’s biggest drugmaker.

Read has split Pfizer into at least two units internally, with the idea they may one day be spun off on their own, potentially giving investors a choice between one business stocked with brand-name drugs and a second with older products.

While Read may have failed with AstraZeneca, he’s gained a reputation for doing what’s needed to please investors. Pfizer’s shares have gained 75 percent since he took over as CEO in December 2010. “He’ll do anything to get the stock price up,” said Jeff Jonas, an investor with Gabelli & Co. in Rye, New York. “As long as he continues to have that view, he’ll be fine.”

Prepping for $25B merger, Actavis taps Forest CEO Saunders to lead combined company

When Actavis CEO Paul Bisaro announced his big buyout of Forest Laboratories, he sketched a picture of a brand-plus-generic powerhouse with lower costs and bigger revenue prospects. Now, it will be Forest CEO Brent Saunders who colors in those lines as chief executive of the merged company.

That doesn't mean Bisaro won't have significant power; he'll be executive chairman, a newly created post. Saunders, who joined Forest in September after selling Bausch & Lomb to Valeant Pharmaceuticals , is set to take the day-to-day reins as CEO and president. Actavis and Forest vets alike will fill out the executive team.

That team will have a big job ahead in integrating Actavis and Forest, one a generics leader, the other a mid-sized brand player with lots of generic competition and several new meds to pump up to size.