Introduction
paid $6.5 billion for ImClone Systems. Major Astellas concluded a deal worth up to The repercussions will be with the industry
pharma companies have also continued to $760 million with the private US firm for some time to come. The oversight of
snap up smaller firms with promising products Comentis, which has a beta-secretase contract manufacture by end-users and
– Roche paid $175 million for the UK firm inhibiting compound, while Pfizer forged a regulatory authorities will be tightened, and
Piramed, Pfizer shelled out $195 million for $700 million agreement with Medivation to concerns about counterfeiting are likely to be
Encysive Pharmaceuticals, and Sanofi-Pasteur develop the latter’s lead product Dimebon for amplified. Existing initiatives such as the
has bought the UK vaccine firm Acambis. Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. WHO’s IMPACT are likely to be
BTG has said it will acquire Protherics for complemented by a proposed international
£218 million in an all-share offer, and a step- new executives treaty, the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement
by-step process is envisaged by Boehringer The road ahead is expected to be rocky, and (ACTA), and similar plans from the European
Ingelheim in its acquisition of Actimis for several major pharmaceutical companies have Commission.
around $515 million. GSK snapped up Sirtris appointed new executives to lead them Trust in the industry seems to be in short
Pharmaceuticals for $720 million in cash, to through these difficult times. supply at the moment, particularly when
gain access to products which may be of use Andrew Witty has been appointed GSK’s other events over the past 12 months are
in age-related diseases. CEO to succeed Dr Jean-Pierre Garnier, and considered. At the beginning of 2008, the
The Japanese industry has instigated a wave Sanofi-Aventis has appointed Chris Viehbacher European Commission kicked off a
of consolidation while at the same time CEO, replacing Dr Gerard Le Fur. pharmaceutical sector inquiry with a series of
targeting the acquisition of US firms – one of Mr Viebacher, who was president of GSK’s dawn raids at a number of pharma firms. The
the largest deals being Takeda’s $8.8 billion North American pharmaceutical operations, aim was to see whether potential anti-
cash takeover of Millennium Pharmaceuticals. missed out on the top slot at GSK when competitive behaviour was one of the reasons
Takeda also completed the buyout of Abbott Dr Garnier stepped down. In September, for the lack of new medicines and delays in
from TAP Pharmaceutical Products, creating a Dr Garnier was appointed general manager at the entry of generics. More raids have since
business which will be among the top 15 the French firm Pierre Fabre. followed.
pharma companies in the US. Johnson & Johnson has announced that Trust was an issue in the UK in March
During the year Eisai completed its Christine Poon, its worldwide chairman of when the regulator, the MHRA, condemned
acquisition of MGI Pharma for $3.9 billion in pharmaceuticals, is to step down in March GSK for not being quicker in the past with its
cash and Fujifilm bought Toyama Chemical for 2009, when she will be succeeded by Sheri side-effect reporting in children taking the
¥136 billion. Kirin Brewery completed its McCoy, who was leading the firm’s surgical antidepressant Seroxat (paroxetine). The
purchase of Kyowa Hakko in October and care group. Dr Robert Ruffolo has retired as company had not broken any laws, but the
Daiichi Sankyo paid €150 million for the president of Wyeth Research and as a senior agency believed it had abused its position of
private German firm U3 Pharma. In vice-president at the company. trust.
September, Shionogi said it would buy the US In February, James Cornelius, CEO of Adding to the negative sentiment are some
firm Sciele Pharma for $1.4 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb, was appointed to the rather large payments by companies to settle
In the generics sector, Daiichi Sankyo made additional position of chairman. Wyeth disputes in the US. Lilly said recently that it
a stunning move on the Indian firm Ranbaxy appointed Bernard Poussot chairman, was setting aside $1.4 billion to settle long-
valued finally at $4.5 billion, while Teva has said replacing Robert Essner, who has retired. standing federal and state investigations of its
it will buy the US generics firm Barr Over at Lilly, president and CEO Dr John marketing for its schizophrenia therapy
Pharmaceuticals for $7.5 billion. Teva also paid Lechleiter will become chairman on January Zyprexa (olanzapine). And Pfizer agreed to
$400 million for Cogenesys to make it a 1st, 2009, when Sidney Taurel retires from the pay $894 million to resolve most of the legal
leader in the biogenerics market and struck a company and the board. claims surrounding its COX-2 inhibitors,
joint venture deal with Kowa to move into Elsewhere, Dr Janet Woodcock has been Celebrex (celecoxib) and Bextra (valdecoxib).
the Japanese market. In April, Alpharma named director of the US FDA’s Center for
divested its API business to 3i for $395 million, Drug Evaluation and Research, and Dr Harvey new product cheer
and in November finally accepted a Bale stepped down as director-general of the But there was some good news on the new
$1.6 billion takeover bid from King International Federation of Pharmaceutical product front. Two novel oral anticoagulants
Pharmaceuticals. In turn, Sanofi-Aventis has Manufacturers and Associations, after 11 years were approved during the year: Boehringer
been bidding for the eastern European in the post. Ingelheim’s Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate) and
branded generics company Zentiva. Bayer Schering/Johnson & Johnson’s Xarelto
And the large transformational deal is not counterfeiting on the rise (rivaroxaban), which may, along with other
dead either. Regulus Therapeutics signed one Counterfeit medicines have been a source of new products, eventually replace the use of
potentially worth $600 million with GSK, to growing unease over the past few years, and intravenous heparin and oral warfarin.
develop microRNA therapeutics for immuno- the problem came into even sharper focus at Two new thrombopoietin agonists, Amgen’s
inflammatory diseases. Valeant entered into a the start of 2008 with the heparin scandal. Nplate (romiplostim) and GSK’s Promacta
$820 million deal with GSK to develop the At the beginning of February, Baxter in the (eltrombopag), were also approved, as were
anti-epilepsy drug retigabine, a first-in-class US suspended its heparin multidose vials after GSK/Adolor’s Entereg (alvimopan) for post-
neuronal potassium channel opener. GSK also an increasing number of reports of possible operative ileus, Wyeth/Progenics’ Relistor
struck a $840 million deal with Cellzome to allergic reactions. It later emerged, after (methylnaltrexone bromide) for opioid-
discover and develop novel kinase-targeted considerable detective work, that the product induced constipation, and Regeneron
therapeutics against inflammatory diseases, contained a contaminant, over-sulfated Pharmaceutical’s interleukin-1 inhibitor,
believed to be one of the largest preclinical chondroitin sulfate, thought to have been Arcalyst (rilonacept), for cryopyrin-associated
deals. Merck Serono signed up to a deal illicitly introduced during its contract periodic syndromes.
worth more than €300 million with Ablynx manufacture in China. Recalls of heparin and
involving the Belgian firm’s Nanobodies low-molecular-weight heparin products were
John Davis is the managing editor of Scrip World
technology. instituted throughout the world. Pharmaceutical News.
6
www.scripnews.com/supplements Scrip 100
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128