On Your Radar > Lifecycle management

Email this page News by email Send a press-release

Lifecycle management

As R&D productivity declines and the age of blockbuster medicines reaches an end, the pharmaceutical industry is looking at ways to extend the profitable life of its products up to and beyond patent expiry.

GSK may move for Botox maker Allergan

25-Mar-2009 - The pharmaceutical rumour mill is still spinning with the latest speculation that UK drug major GSK is interested in Botox manufacturer Allergan causing the US firm’s share price to leap 13 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pharma mega mergers a boon for Patheon's restructuring service, says CEO

25-Mar-2009 - The global economic downturn, impending blockbuster patent expiries and the wave of consolidation sweeping the pharmaceutical industry will drive demand for Patheon’s restructuring service according to CEO Wesley Wheeler.

Skin care firm Stiefel considers $4bn sale

23-Mar-2009 - Dermatology drug specialist Stiefel Laboratories may be looking for a Big Pharma buyer according to various media reports.

Actavis moves towards Japanese generics market

17-Mar-2009 - Actavis’ JV with Japan’s Aska Pharmaceuticals opens up the non-branded sector of the world’s second largest drug market

Merck moves for Schering in $41bn mega-merger

10-Mar-2009 - The year of the mega-merger continues with Merck & Co’s move to buy Schering-Plough for $41.1bn, with the intention of boosting its pipeline, entering new markets and creating a “powerful biologics presence”.

US approvals provide some respite for Ranbaxy

09-Mar-2009 - Two approvals in a week for drugs made at Ranbaxy’s New Jersey OHM Laboratories subsidiary have eased the generics firm’s North American regulatory woes and strengthened its position in the expanding US market.

Piramal won’t “dilute ownership,” or comment on Sanofi rumours

04-Mar-2009 - Indian generics firm Piramal Healthcare says it "has no intention to dilute current ownership levels," but has not commented on rumours that it is in talks with French firm Sanofi Aventis.

Pfizer pulls plug on two Ph III drugs

25-Feb-2009 - Pfizer’s primary care business unit has dropped two Phase III candidates, further reducing the drug giant’s product pipeline and raising more questions about its R&D decisions.

SAFC's Q4 hit by lack of visibility in drug sector

16-Feb-2009 - SAFC’s fourth quarter performance was hurt by dip in demand from big pharma in the US and Europe combined with lower sales to the chemical industry, according to parent company Sigma Aldrich.

King feels pain of Skelaxin defeat and Remoxy delays

05-Feb-2009 - King Pharmaceuticals has unveiled plans to reduce its workforce by 22 per cent in a bid to further reduce costs after the US District Court decision to invalidate patents protecting its lead product, the muscle relaxant Skelaxin (Metaxalone).

Adventrx cuts its workforce again

13-Jan-2009 - US drugmaker Adventrx Pharmaceuticals is reducing its workforce to just 14 employees in a bid to preserve cash and refocus efforts on bioequivalence programmes for its lead candidates.

Orion tightens its belt with 205 job cuts

08-Jan-2009 - Finnish drugmaker Orion is to follow through on plans to cut its R&D workforce and shed 205 employees to sure up operations as generic pressure mounts on its leading Parkinson’s disease drugs.

Santa not the only person with the sack this Christmas

17-Dec-2008 - Festive cheer is a scarce commodity in the drug industry this December as B-MS, Jazz and Arpida cut jobs, falling into step with Pfizer and Elan which each announced a round of redundancies in the last few days.

GSK to cut 200 jobs ahead of generic Zofran

03-Dec-2008 - UK drug giant GSK is to shed 200 jobs at its manufacturing plant in Barnard Castle, County Durham to cut costs ahead of generic competition for products made at the facility, which include the anti-emetic Zofran (ondansentron).

JAMA study reignites branded versus generic debate

03-Dec-2008 - A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) claiming there is no evidence that brandname cardiovascular drugs are superior to their generic counterparts, despite claims to the contrary.

Big Pharma’s generic delaying tactics costs patients €3bn, says EC

01-Dec-2008 - Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said that some drugmakers operating in the EU are deliberately stalling the introduction of generics, costing European patients around €3bn ($3.87bn) a year more to buy medicines.

New software to ease regulatory document burden

01-Oct-2008 - Good Products and Adlib Software have teamed up to create a streamlined and compliant regulatory document management system for the pharmaceutical industry.

Drugmakers within EC's REACH, says SAFC

08-Sep-2008 - Despite a decade-long build up, drugmakers are yet to wake up to the “no data, no market” mantra of the EC’s REACH legislation, according to SAFC’s marketing director Amanda Halford.

Conformia’s platform combined with IBM system

19-Aug-2008 - Conformia says that the integration of its SOA data platform into IBM’s system will provide drugmakers with robust management architecture for the entire lifecycle of a product.

Pfizer to lose top spot by 2014

12-Aug-2008 - A new report predicts that current global sales leader Pfizer will relinquish its position by 2014 leaving European pharmaceutical producers like Roche and Sanofi-Aventis free to vie for the top spot.

ISPE says quality programme starts to bear fruit

02-Jun-2008 - The International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers has reported the first findings of a five-year new programme aimed at working tackling one of the toughest problems in pharma manufacturing at present - how to implement the new quality systems model laid out by the International Conference on Harmonization.