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SKY’S THE LIMIT FOR CHANTIX
FORTY-THOUSAND FEET OVER Kapuskasing is not where you want to discover that the pilot of the aircraft you happen to be riding in is taking a drug associated with “suicidal thoughts and aggressive and erratic behavior.” With that thought in mind, the US Federal Aviation Administration last week reversed a 10-month-old policy which allowed flyboys to use smoking cessation Tx varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer.) A spokesman for the agency tells Reuters news: “It’s prudent to deem the drug no longer acceptable for use.” Pilots on a Chantix regimen were instructed to discontinue use of the Rx and not to operate an aircraft for 72 hours. Earlier, the US Institute for Safe Medication Practices said nearly 1,000 adverse psychiatric events associated with Chantix were filed with the FDA during Q4 of last year, an extraordinarily high number. Pfizer says the company already urges Chantix users not to operate heavy equipment. A company spokesman says some of the adverse events may be a consequence of nicotine withdrawal not necessarily caused by the Rx: “When you’ve got the nicotine withdrawal along with Chantix, it’s just very difficult to tell what is causing it.”
NEXT: PHARMA’S BEST-DRESSED LIST
IT WAS A BIG WEEK for drugbiz big-wigs, with two separate organizations issuing lists of the industry’s top movers and shakers. The UK group World Pharmaceutical Frontiers presented its list of the 40 most influential people in pharma, while a US website offered a ranking of the industry’s 17 highest-paid CEOs. Perhaps it isn’t surprising that there’s little co-relation between the two lists. For example, Schering-Plough boss Fred Hassan finished in the show position in the paycheque sweepstakes with an impressive $30.1 million take-home package, but was a distant 32nd in the influence ratings. GlaxoSmithKline’s just-retired Jean-Pierre Garnier’s $6 million compensation was only good enough for 14th place in the run for the riches, but he came in a respectable 22nd in the influence category (well behind his successor, Andrew Witty, who finished 6th.) Stuck near the bottom of the Fabulous Forty, in 38th spot is Merck kingpin Richard T. Clark, but Mr. Clark’s $14.5 million package lands him in 7th place among earners, just behind Novartis supremo Daniel Vasella’s $15.5 million. Surprisingly, Vas failed to make it to the ranks of most influential. Also finishing absent from the status rankings, but high atop the money pile were three of Big Pharma’s top four wage-earners for 2007: Abbott’s Miles White ($33.4 million), Johnson & Johnson’s Bill Weldon ($24.1 million), and Wyeth’s Bob Essner ($24.1 million.) Best value for money: Sanofi-Aventis helmer Jean-François Dehecq, in 28th place on the roll of the powerful, and dead last among his high-paid peers, taking home a scant $3.27 million. As a sign of the times, a US politician placed 7th among the Top Forty: Sen. Charles E. Grassley, chair of the Senate Finance Committee. His pay this year will total $169,300.
GARN, BUT NOT FORGOTTON
JEAN-PIERRE GARNIER’s last week as GlaxoSmithKline CEO was something less than valedictory, according to British newspaper reports. Mr. Garnier, who has endured five years of shareholder criticism over his level of compensation (see previous item) and the company’s lagging share price, bade farewell to investors at the company’s annual general meeting. Attendees of the meeting were not inclined toward nostalgia at the end of Mr. Garnier’s rule, with one shareholder admonishing directors: “This board is a continuing failure. You are not a philanthropic organization; you are here to deliver positive shareholder returns.” Other investors loudly groussed over a $5 million bonus package offered to Chris Viehbacher, boss of the company’s North American Rx unit. Mr. V., who was not selected as Mr. G.’s successor when the top job went to Andrew Witty, was offered the five mil as a retention bonus. u Not content with merely irritating shareholders in his own company, Mr. Garnier took the occasion of the AGM to also provoke AstraZeneca. Asked if he envisioned GSK mounting a takeover bid for their cross-town rivals, he responded: “There would be tremendous destruction of value if we pursued this transaction as we speak now… Why would you trade down?” u Just prior to the AGM, Mr. Garnier stormed away in the middle of an interview on BBC radio, when his interrogator began grilling him about the side-effects of antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil.) Prior to ankling, Mr. Garnier said, “I’m not interested in answering this question. We’ve dealt with this subject.” The Times of London notes the GSK boss may have been goaded when the program’s host introduced him as “Jean-Paul” Garnier.
MERGERS-A-POPPIN’
DAIICHI SANKYO, the Japanese drugmaker, last week bought German oncology outfit U3 Pharma for around $235 million. U3’s pipeline includes programs focusing on human antibodies as Tx candidates for breast, lung and colorectal Cas. Said Daiichi prexy Takashi Shoda: “One of our goals for Daiichi Sankyo is to increase our presence in novel therapeutics in the oncology arena.”
GOOGLE’S HEALTH STRATEGY
THE NEWEST BIG REMUDA in healthcare galloped into town last week: Google, the search engine company. Unveiling its highly anticipated “Google Health” service, the company will allow visitors to its website to store and retrieve their health records online, as well as providing the capacity to receive Dx results, refill Rxs, and schedule medical appointments. The site also provides access to medical information services. Google’s founding partners in the venture include the Cleveland Clinic, major national retail pharmacies and health insurers. Microsoft and a company headed by the founder of AOL are developing similar products. These rapidly deployed private sector initiatives stand in stark contrast to the Canada Health Infoway, a ludicrous federal boondoggle which has so far spent seven years burning through public funds in an attempt to provide 50 per cent of Canadians with electronic health records by the end of 2009. Taxpayers have thus far picked up the $1.6 billion tab, in Ottawa’s effort to demonstrate that bureaucracies move more slowly and uncertainly than does the private sector.
PRODUCT PALS
PROCTER & GAMBLE last week inked a pact with New Jersey skincare house Barrier Therapeutics, to market Xolegel Duo, a kit consisting of P&G’s Head & Shoulders shampoo and Barrier’s antifungal ketoconazole (Xolegel.)
IT WAS A BAD WEEK FOR…
HIRED PENS. In settling litigation with 29 states over the marketing of analgesic rofecoxib (Vioxx), Merck last week agreed to avoid the practice of paying professional writers to produce quasi-promotional clinical articles, which are then labeled as having been written by academic physicians and submitted to peer-review journals. Merck, which denies wrongdoing, also agreed to pay plaintiffs $58 million.
IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR…
BRITISH ACTRESS JULIA MALLAM, who signed on to represent the face of chlamydia in a new UK public awareness campaign. Says Ms. Mallam, a star of the popular Brit-soap Emmerdale: “I’d urge people to go and get a test; they’re being offered in regular clinics and in places like bars and pubs, so there’s no excuse not to.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“THIS IS AN IMPORTANT and positive result for Biovail and its shareholders, as the agreement eliminates the significant exposure to the corporation related to this matter and should immediately reduce our ongoing legal expenses.”—Biovail CEO Bill Wells, trying to find a glass of lemonade somewhere in a bushel of lemons, in admitting wrongdoing in the company’s marketing of diltiazem (Cardizem LA.) Biovail agreed to pay a $24.6 million fine to the US courts.
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