ChronicleMONDAY
From the publishers of THE CHRONICLE OF CANCER THERAPY, THE CHRONICLE OF CARDIOVASCULAR & INTERNAL MEDICINE, THE CHRONICLE OF NEUROLOGY & PSYCHIATY, THE CHRONICLE OF SKIN & ALLERGY, THE CHRONICLE OF UROLOGY & SEXUAL MEDICINE, PHYSICIANS’ CHRONICLE, THE CHRONICLE OF HEALTHCARE MARKETING, LINACRE’S BOOKS, and chronicl*e group
GOOD-BYE, HELLO
HERE’S A TIP FROM A FAMOUS management textbook: If the objective is to drive your 4,300 employees nuts, simply announce that your company is for sale, wait a couple of months, and then explain that you were only joshing. Biogen Idec ran that time-honored play last week, revealing that the For Sale sign the company posted on Oct. 12 had attracted—not too many offers. Very few offers. Okay, zero offers. In light of such apathy, Biogen revealed the executive decision that they’ll “continue on [the] present course as an independent company.” Must have been a tough call. Suffering from this miscalculation were investors who theorized that Big Pharma would pay scads-o-cash for any entity with the letters B, I and O in its name. So much for that theory. Biogen’s stock reached a peak of $84.75 shortly after the announcement that a buyer was being sought, and fell to $55 following word of the company’s change of plan. That represents an instant loss of capital totalling nearly $6 billion. Summarized BMO’s Jason Zhang: “We are discouraged by the lack of a bidder for Biogen because it reflects the industry’s negative view of the company’s business, in our view.” Biogen’s Naomi Aoki urged employees to stop polishing their CVs, and mosey down to the atruim, where cupcakes were on the house, courtesy of the corner-office. Said she: “Going through a pro-cess like this is stressful. People now seem genuinely happy and relieved that the uncertainty is over.”
NOVARTIS GETS SMALLER
MERE DAYS AFTER NOVARTIS HELMER Daniel Vasella confessed to the Wall Street Journal that he might consider reducing his company’s headcount, down came the axe. Nov plans to pink-slip 2,500 workers, in an effort to save $1.6 billion in annual costs. The cuts, part of a corporate program given the Orwellian name “Forward”, represent 2.5 per cent of the company’s workforce. Forty thousand job eliminations have been announced throughout the drugbiz this year, with Bristol-Myers Squibb eliminating 10 per cent of its workforce only last week (see ChroMo #485.) Nov cited generic competition as a factor in the decision, which is odd in light of the success of its Sandoz unit, a leading supplier of generics. Some analysts speculate that Nov may now divest its consumer health and opthalmic divisions, moves that would appear contrary to other drug-makers’ recent attempts to diversify. Meanwhile, industry watchers wonder which company will be next to cull the herd. Says analyst Denise Anderson: “Given the number and size of patent expiries over the next five years, we certainly expect more cost-cutting measures from the Industry.” A report from Deutsche Bank suggests it could be Sanofi-Aventis, where supremo Gerard Le Fur has promised tighter controls on expenses next year.
SETBACKS AT MERCK
MERCK absorbed two bits of bad news last week, be-ginning with the decision of a US FDA panel to reject the company’s attempt to switch antilipemic lovastatin (Mevacor) to OTC status. Committee members didn’t like the prospect of patients taking the Rx without physician monitoring. Said one: “I think [Mevacor] is safe and effective, but I don’t think it’s an over-the-counter drug.” The FDA refused a similar application from Merck two years ago. Said the company’s reg affairs vee-pee Edwin Hem-wall: “We are disappointed in today’s outcome.” Meanwhile, the antilipemic combo Tx ezetimibe-simvastatin, marketed by a joint venture of Merck and Schering-Plough, came under the scrutiny of the US legislature last week, as two congressmen began a new investigation into clinical trials of the Rx. Hearings will examine data from the Enhance trials, which concluded 20 months ago. The companies say the data wasn’t scheduled for release until the ACC scientific sessions in Chicago next spring.
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE DEPT.
THAT INTERESTING IDEA out of Washington, D.C.’s city council, that the activities of pharmaceutical reps should be monitored by municipal bureaucrats, passed its first hurdle last week. Councillors narrowly voted to proceed with a local law that would ban the use by detailers of doctors’ prescribing data and prohibit gifts from reps to physicians. The law, which would be a North American first, would require bag-carriers to follow an ethical code established by the city and to have minimum educational requirements of a baccalaureate degree. Among the solons opposed to the law is Marion Barry, a former mayor of the city. Says he: “It’s a waste of time to try to do this…. It does nothing to protect patients or enhance their quality of life.” Mr. Barry’s expertise on this subject apparently does not stem entirely from his famous 1990 conviction for possession of a non-prescription stimulant, crack cocaine.
AVANDIA UNDER THE GUN
CLINICAL EVIDENCE CONTINUES to pile up associating Type 2 diabetes Rx rosiglitazone (Avan-dia, GlaxoSmithKline) with CV side-effects. A study based on data from the Ontario Drug Benefit database published in last week’s Journal of the American Medical Association found a 60 per cent higher incidence of heart failure among geriatric patients taking Avandia compared with other Rxs. Says principal author Dr. Lorraine L. Lipscombe of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences: “Our study suggests that at least in this high-risk population, the harms of the drug may outweigh the benefits.” The findings are consistent with a report published six months ago in the New England Journal of Medicine. GSK questioned the conclusions of the ICES study. Avandia, which had annual revenues of $3.4 billion before the NEJM article was published, now carries a black-box warning stateside, and is prohibited by Health Canada for use by some patients.
WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THEY COME 4-U
REGULATORS FROM BEIJING to Austin were forced to postpone their coffee breaks last week in pursuit of rogue drugmakers. China’s State Food and Drug Administration yanked the business permits from Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical on Tuesday (12/11) after reports the company was distributing contaminated leukemia Rxs, reports Xinhua news agency. Hundreds of patients received the drugs. Says Mr. Yan Jiangying of the SFDA: “Relevant responsible people of the company has been detain-ed by police.” Now over to the Lone Star State, where Attorney-General Greg Abbott is all riled up at Apothecure, a Dallas-based maker of gout Tx colchicine. Mr. Abbott says the outfit failed to assure potency of the Rx, and marketed products that were three-and-a-half times higher than permitted dos-ages. Says the state’s top cop: “Texas pharmacies and drug manufacturers must comply with the law. We will continue working with authorities to protect the health and safety of all Texans.”
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