PharmaDeals Review Business Commentaries
Dr Fintan Walton, PharmaVentures’ CEO, provides monthly comment on topical biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry issues. Includes access to Fintan’s commentaries broadcast on PharmaTelevision.
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BMS Enters the Biologics Acquisition Game
From issue 89 of the PharmaDeals Review (2007-11-01)
The increasing focus on biologics that has gripped big pharma was recently demonstrated in the US$430 M acquisition of Adnexus Therapeutics by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). For a small biotech that has been in operation for only 5 years this acquisition is certainly a lucrative opportunity, and is wholly due to the company's innovative PROfusion™ technology, and the pipeline of Adnectins™ that Adnexus has derived using it. This feature takes a look at Adnexus' history and technology, and at BMS' biologics deals and products, including its acquisitions record, speculation that it is a takeover target. It also discusses the current place that BMS has in the biologics field.
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Inverness' Spree Continues
From issue 89 of the PharmaDeals Review (2007-11-01)
Inverness Medical Innovations has historically been seen as a somewhat disjointed business in need of greater focus and cohesion, and recently the company has been filling gaps via the acquisition and integration of different companies. Most of the acquisitions have been small and have gone largely unnoticed - until the big and very public acquisition of Biosite, followed by that of Cholestech. Since the acquisition of Cholestech, Inverness has made seven further deals, four in October 2007: the acquisitions of Bio-Stat Healthcare, PanBio, interrelated financing and licensing deals with StatSure Diagnostic Systems, and an agreement to acquire Alere Medical. This article discusses the possible reasoning behind these deals, and the direction that the company is taking.
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Royalty Rates in Pharmaceutical Licensing Deals
From issue 89 of the PharmaDeals Review (2007-11-01)
This article is based on Chapter 4 from PharmaVentures' recently published A Guide to Royalty Rates in Pharmaceutical Licensing Deals, which, as well as being completely updated, benefits from the inclusion of valuable data from a recent survey on licensing and the associated royalty rates undertaken with industry professionals. Information is also included from interviews with seasoned licensing executives who, together, have negotiated over 120 deals, and the report provides access to a subset of deals containing a royalty component from PharmaDeals® Agreements. Chapter 4 describes some of the key factors affecting royalty rates in pharmaceutical alliances, and, from this chapter, this feature focuses on overall considerations, and the effects on royalty rates of market potential, product development stage, competition and indication, and combination products.
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Therapy Focus: Insomnia
From issue 89 of the PharmaDeals Review (2007-11-01)
We look here at the current market for insomnia drugs, and at how it is changing in terms of putative therapeutic types. The article moves from GABAA receptor antagonists, as exemplified by sanofi-aventis' zolpidem and Sepracor's eszopiclone, which dominate the current market, to 5-HT2A receptor inverse agonists, along with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma's selective 5HT1A agonist MN 305, and the new approach that is offered by Neurim Pharmaceuticals' melatonin product, Circadin®. On the way we touch on the ongoing approval delays with Neurocrine Bioscience's non-benzodiazepine GABAA antagonist indiplon, and the announcement made in March 2007 that Merck & Co. and H. Lundbeck were discontinuing the development of gaboxadol. Products acting on melatonin receptors and the serotonin antagonists look set to have a significant impact on the insomnia market, and may well reduce the current dominance of GABAA receptor antagonists in the market.
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POZEN and AstraZeneca Amend Terms of Collaboration for Pain/Inflammation Combination Product
From issue 88 of the PharmaDeals Review (2007-10-01)
Just over 13 months after the original deal was made, in August 2006, POZEN and AstraZeneca have mutually agreed to amend certain terms of their collaboration and licence agreement for the development and commercialisation of PN 400, a fixed dose combination of the proton pump inhibitor esomeprazole magnesium with the NSAID, naproxen, in a single tablet. The product is indicated for the management of pain and inflammation associated with conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis in patients who are at risk for developing NSAID-associated gastric ulcers. The value of the changed deal terms to both POZEN and AstraZeneca is discussed, and other comparable deal amendments are outlined.
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