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
HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
ORGANIZERS OF THE Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame today began accepting nominations for 2008 induction. Since the founding of the program in 2001, 48 honored Members have been inducted, along with six product teams. A nomination form is included with this edition of CHRONICLEMONDAY. For the first time, the individual Awards will be categorized, based on overall career achievement, and achievement of particular merit. Nominations are also being sought for the second Phil Diamond Award for humanitarian or community service, and the IMS Health Awards for Team Excellence in Pharmaceutical Marketing. Deadline for nominations is July 8th.
SALUTATIONS, SEPRACOR; ADIEU, ORYX
ORYX PHARMACEUTICALS, the Mississauga, Ont.-based Rx distributor, was sold last week to Sepracor, the Massachusetts drugmaker best known for insomnia blockbuster eszopiclone (Lunesta.) Price-tag: up to $70 million, if milestones are achieved. Oryx will peddle around $20 million worth of 14 in-licensed Rxs this year, while Sep’s top line last year was $1.2 billion. Says Sep supremo Adrian Adams: “The acquisition of Oryx fulfills a long-standing corporate objective of developing a commercial footprint in the strategically important Canadian pharmaceutical market… [G]iven the growth in our research and development pipeline and the planned submissions of products such as Lunesta, Brovana and eslicarbazepine for marketing approval in Canada.” Mr. Adams was previously helmer at SmithKline Beecham. Adds Oryx prexy Doug Reynolds: “We are very excited to become part of such a growing and dynamic company as Sepracor.” Meanwhile, Sep inked a separate deal with Oryx’s European parent Arrow International, in-licensing technology to potentially use in developing ciclesonide, an inhalable corticosteroid. That transaction is worth up to $40 million.
MERCK GETS PUNK’D BY FDA
IT’S NOT STRICTLY TRUE that if you rearrange the letters in Merck, you can form the words “Kick me.” However, there was little point explaining that to the US FDA last week, as the regulator first turned thumbs down on an application that was widely assumed would gain quick approval, and then warned the company about problems in its principal vaccine facility. The feds rejected antilipemic Tx Cordaptive, a stunning decision given that the active compound is vitamin B-3, or niacin, combined with an ingredient to prevent facial flushing. Comparable products are currently sold OTC, while a prescription version is marketed under the Niaspan brand by Abbott in the US, and Oryx in Canada (see previous item.) No reason was cited for the “not approvable” verdict. The EU recommended approval of Cordaptive earlier last week, which led some analysts to predict eventual revenues of $1.3 billion annually from the product. Merck is also in Phase III trials of a combo Tx incorporating Cordaptive and simvastatin (Zocor.) Investors expressed their disappointment over the verdict, which was merely the latest in a lengthy string of setbacks for Merck, by eviscerating $8.5 billion or so from the company’s market capitalization. Said Merck kingpin Dick Clark: “We support the product and believe from a safety and efficacy standpoint that it is a good product.” Meanwhile, the stateside G-men penned a nine-page letter to Mr. Clark, describing “significant objectionable conditions” it found during recent inspections at the company’s Pennsylvania vaccine plant, which makes cervical Ca vaccine Gardasil. Among the failures found by inspectors were “visual inspection for critical defects.” Merck has 15 days to offer a corrective plan. Word of the latest developments broke while Mr. Clark was on a media tour to counter the publicity negative concerning the ezetimibe/simvastatin (Vytorin) matter (see CHROMO passim.) He confessed to the Wall Street Journal: “We need to do a better job as a company and as an industry. Having been at Merck for 35 years, we take way too much for granted…. There’s a trust deficit around us as an industry, and somewhat as a company. I’ve become much more sensitive to issues around trust and what we can do to improve trust globally.”
YOU’LL WONDER WHERE THE BILLION WENT
SOMETIMES PHARMACEUTICAL ECONOMICS can be the slightest bit arcane. Take this example: Less than five years ago, Pfizer bought Esperion Therapeutics, then a five-year-old Michigan developer of CV Txs, for $1.3 billion. Last week, the world’s biggest drugmaker divested Esperion, and the only transaction sum mentioned was a $23 million investment from some venture capitalists. Pfizer will retain a presumably small stake, along with many of Esp’s original intellectual properties. Giggling uncontrollably over these occurrences is Roger Newton, the Esp founder who pocketed a good portion of the acquisition dough, hung in as CEO through the brief Pfizer ownership, and now gets to run the once-again independent company.
PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW
DURING THE ONGOING TUSSLE between the drugbiz and the British government, Shire, the third largest UK drugmaker, last week announced a plan to relocate its HQ to Ireland, while the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry issued new warnings about the consequences of government policies. The National Health Service earlier said it wants to renegotiate Rx prices in the middle of a five-year agreement which saw prices rolled back and frozen. Said ABPI prexy Nigel Brooksby, who heads Sanofi-Aventis’ UK unit: “The reaction from our global head offices moved the matter beyond the UK, as they began to question the integrity of the UK investment environment.” AstraZeneca, Britain’s number two pharma, is also rumored to be mulling over a move of its corporate HQ. Elsewhere, Eisai and Pfizer won a court challenge against a UK agency that determines whether Rxs offer cost-effective treatment. The Orwellian-sounding National Institute for Clinical Excellence (commonly known by its equally Orwellian acronym, NICE) ruled that the NHS shouldn’t fund donepezil (Aricept) for early-stage Alzheimer’s. An appeals court found that NICE withholds its mechanism for determining cost-efficiency from drugmakers, which the court called “procedurally unfair.” An Alzheimer’s Society spokesman greeted the verdict as a “damning indictment of a fundamentally flawed process.”
LET THE TINKERING BEGIN
GLAXOSMITHKLINE’s CEO-designate doesn’t start work until the 22nd of this month, but couldn’t wait to redraw the org chart. Last week Andrew Witty placed GSK’s Canadian operations into a North American entity under prexy Chris Viehbacher, and realigned other business units. Says Mr. Witty: “Emerging markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Middle East, are significant growth drivers of the future. They are already contributing close to 25 per cent of today’s market growth and are forecast to grow even faster in the future, around triple the rate of western countries. It is essential that we have an operating structure that is dynamic and responsive to the opportunities in these markets.”
IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR…
TASTEFUL FLORIDIANS. Demonstrating that the phrase isn’t always an oxymoron, Sunshine State officials attempted to enact a ban on an anatomical accessory designed to be attached beneath the bumpers of vehicles, meant to resemble swaying bull testicles. The proposed fine for displaying so-called “Truck Nutz” is $60, roughly the cost of four cases of Bud and a big plug of Red Man, down at the Piggly Wiggly.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“YOUR CHALLENGE, DICK, is to do more than sound contrite. What’s your next move?” —Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger reporter Ed Silverman on Merck CEO Richard Clark’s media tour
(c) 2008 Chronicle Information Resources Ltd. Not for redistribution.
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