Pfizer Waging Battle Over Ranbaxy??

 
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I was on a plane all day, headed to the BIO-LES seminar and didn’t get a chance to read the wire, so there is really no need to throw in my two cents at this point but the WSJ reported that Pfizer may be interested in topping the Daichii bid for Ranbaxy.  
Though [...]

Jazz Pharmaceuticals in Trouble… Still

 
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I always felt a company marketing a date rape drug (GHB) and an antidote for antifreeze (ethylene glycol) poisoning was in for a world of hurt. 
The stock is down 62.5% ($6.75 from $18) from the IPO almost a year ago and today the company filed an S3 with the SEC allowing the sale of [...]

TEVA Gets Taste of Own Medicine

The Israeli generic drug maker, known for its aggressive tactics is getting a taste of its own medicine if Pittsburgh based, Mylan has anything to say about it (I can’t get enough of the: “taste of its own medicine line”).
TEVA markets a proprietary, branded drug for MS called glatiramer acetate (COPAXONE), sold $1.7B worth of [...]

Big Pharma Tries to Shake Things Up

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

GSK to shake-up research strategies (Financial Times)
UCSF, Pfizer sign collaborative research deal (San Fransisco Chronicle )
Both Via Pharmalot
It’s no secret that big pharma players have some work to do on their late-state pipeline and that they are collectively grasping at straws trying to bring in revenue.
Clearly, deciding to reorganize your [...]

Ipsen Buys Into North America

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So how much does it cost for an EU pharmaceutical company to break into the North American market?  
Ipsen can answer that question in three deals and ~$450M.
First, Ipsen acquired the shares of Tercica they didn’t own.
 Second, they bought the US subsidiary of the UK based Vernalis and the rights to Apokyn (apomorphine)and [...]

So You Wanna Be CEO?

New research reveals the most popular routes into the executive suite
Hat tip to Dealbreaker, via The Economist.

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Enzon Shareholders Revolt…. kind of.

A while back, I wrote a post detailing my confused wonder at a proposed spin-off from Enzon of a biotech with all of the discovery engine. It turns out, I wasn’t the only one that was confused. In a letter, key Enzon shareholders wrote a letter demanding Enzon, “explore all setrategic alternatives for [...]

Icahn Steals The Future of Enzon Pharmaceuticals

Enzon Pharmaceuticals, on the reported urging of uber-investor Carl Icahn, will spin off a NewCo along with the majority of the company’s core technology (PEGylation), their entire published preclinical pipeline (i.e.; their RNA antagonist oncology portfolio) and $150m of funding from Enzon. Not a bad way to start a company, right?
Maybe I’m way off [...]

Bristol-Myers Squibb To Be Acquired By… [Insert Name Here]??

In a previous post, I speculated on reasons for shedding of non-core pharmaceutical assets by BMS. Don’t read it. I was grasping at straws and missed the real connection, I think BMS is divesting non-biopharm assets because it will soon be acquired. The company’s stock is down 11% from this January [...]

BMS Sheds ConvaTec for $4.1 billion

A few hours after I had written this post about the Pfizer/Esperion spin-off signaling a changing of the times in big pharma, I see I this story about Bristol-Myers Squibb divesting ConvaTec to some private equity groups (Nordic Capital VII and Avista Capital Partners) for $4.1 billion dollars. This press release jogged my memory and [...]

Does the Esperion Spin-Off Signal the Start of New R&D Era?

What a difference time makes.  Pfizer acquired Esperion roughly 4 years ago at a 53% premium and a price tag of $1.3 billion dollars.  Yesterday, Esperion was spun off from Pfizer and raised ~$23m from VCs to continue operation, with no other financial terms disclosed.  Esperion had been operating as a separate research division inside [...]

Kindler Talks to Mike Huckman About Pfizer Woes

Good article, great interview. Kindler answers tough questions candidly with quality answers.
Check out the video and blog post here.

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Pharma Layoffs: And so it begins

(Source: WSJHealthBlog)
And so it begins. Wyeth announced yesterday that it is laying off 1,200 members of its sales and marketing force, mostly from the Protonix ranks. The drug has been hit hard lately by generic competition.
I think ‘08 will be a banner year for pharma layoffs in particular, though it will be hard [...]

Gilead Now #2 in Market Cap

Hat tip to seekingalpha
As far as market cap is concerned, Gilead (GILD) at least
fleetingly topped Amgen (AMGN) as the world’s second highest valued
biotech company. Amgen has taken some hits recently over their anemia
drug franchise and yesterday were overtaken in market capitalization
by a company with a third their revenue.
I made a long Amgen call nearly a [...]