QDIS Blog

A recent Reuters article point out what I have been talking about for quite a while. The merger and activities in the pharmaceutical/bitech are getting bigger in some cases reaching a 100% premium! As far as I’m concerned, this is definitely signs that, the M&A activity has gone beyond intelligent moves and into the area of “I’m doing it because everyone else is doing it”.

Big pharma cash keeps biotech on a roll | Reuters Recommends | Reuters.com

I really don’t think this will help the big pharma companies improve their overall ability to produce medicines in the long run. I personally think that as big corporate company gobbles up smaller companies, they take away the culture that leads to the productivity. I have seen this happen and many times, some of the ket people responsible for the success of the small company end up leaving soon after.

I would much rather see big pharma do partnerships and other deals with smaller biotech. Although even here , if there is only one successful product, it is cheaper for the big pharma company to purchase their smaller partner then to continue paying them royalties or payments. You need look no further than the Eli Lilly Icos merger recently for evidence of this.

Technorati Tags: AstraZeneca, pharma M&A, pharmaceutical deals, Shire Pharmaceuticals

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Seems the FDA won’t be getting a commissioner any time soon and that is really to bad. Rather than exhibiting bipartisanship, everyone seems to have a different agenda and wants to hold up th nomination until their specific point is decided.

Another Republican blocks Bush pick to lead US FDA - washingtonpost.com

It is too bad and in my opinion does more harm than good to see this occur. The FDA now needs a strong leader to put a rudder on an organization that has been without a true course for far too long.

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Pharmion, a company that focuses on the treatment of hematology and oncology will purchase Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals (formerly Conforma Therapeutics) for $59 million in cash. The main product acquired is Amrubicin, an anthracyclin which is used for the treatment of lung cancers. If the product is approved there are other payments involved.

PharmaLive: Pharmion Acquires Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals, Gains Rights to Amrubicin for North America
and the European Union

This merger makes sense on the surface and is one of substance which makes sense for Pharmion. I don’t think they are just going along with the mergers are good mentality. This leads me to believe that the merging activity will continue for the foreseeable future.

Technorati Tags: Cabrellis, Pharmion

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he vaccine company Acambis may be a takeover target after losing one third of its value due to the fact that it is no longer in consideration for a US government contract for small pox vaccine.

Predators circle Acambis after drug maker’s shares slump

The real issue here is whether or not Acambis’s vaccine technology is worthwhile. Any company thinking of purchasing them needs to be very careful in their due diligence of the technology they have developed. Baxter is a partner and a likely candidate if they believe the technology is truly worthwhile.

I have always said that better vaccine technology needs to be developed and more efficient methods developed to produce vaccines. The current problems with bird flu makes this even more important since most vaccines are produced in chicken eggs. If the bird flu continues in the bird population and puts pressure on the ability to produce chicken eggs for vaccine production, it could be disastrous. I think the biggest impact of bird flu on humanity could be the lack of chicken eggs for producing vaccines of all kinds. I personally think this is much more likely than bird flu directly killing humans in large numbers. The lack of vaccines for a wide variety of diseased caused by the lack of chicken eggs to produce them could have a devastating impact on humanity.

Technorati Tags: Acambis, avian flu, bird flu, pharmaceutical deals, vaccine

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A recent report from UPI seems to suggest that contract research organizations (CROs) will prosper under the new democratically controlled congress.

United Press International - Health Business - Analysis: CROs may prosper under Democrats:

Their reasoning confuses me. James Kumpel, an analyst with Friedman, Billings and Ramsey states that these organizations will thrive since safety is likely to be a focus. They then mention three companies; PPDI, Covance and eResearchTechnology. What I fail to understand is how using a 3rd party contractor makes the drug development process inherently safer? I understand that if electronic filing of clinical data is required that some companies may benefit but I don’t see how safety is improved. The reasoning is vague at best in this article and it may be that these investment firms have a interest in seeing these companies do well.

I’ll have another post later on my general ideas of how the new congress may effect the pharmaceutical industry.

Technorati Tags: Congress, drug safety

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Even the worlds largest pharmaceutical company can’t stay away from the recent mergers and acquisitions.

Pfizer to buy Embrex for $155 million

Pfizer is mainly interested in their Inovoject drug delivery system. Not much else here, but what is unsaid may be more interesting. I’m not sure why Pfizer is getting into the vaccination of chickens but I am sure they have their eyes on others uses for this drug delivery system, like manufacturing vaccines using chicken eggs.

Technorati Tags: Pfizer, pharma M&A, pharmaceutical deals

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I just want to let regular readers know that I am still posting. I had been out of the office for a few days last week and had posts that were suppose to be automatically posted. That didn’t happen and a have now posted them. I had added them as drafts instead of publishing them as posts. Sorry for the problems.

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Tamiflu is back in the news.

FDA Posts New Tamiflu Warning

WLBZ2.com - Prescription Flu Drug Can Trigger Bizarre Behavior

Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) Information page (FDA page)

IMPORTANT PRESCRIBING INFORMATION (pdf)

There are reports that use of Tamiflu MAY, and I emphasize MAY, be associated with some side effects such as delirium. There have been 103 reports with 95 of those came from Japan, 3 from the US and 6 from other countries. It should be noted this is primarily in Japan and it is well known that the Japanese population can have some difference in how they respond to drugs that differ from other ethnic groups or geographic areas.

One of the problems is it is almost impossible to determine if the cause is Tamiflu. It is also rare having only 105 cases out of 24.5 million prescriptions in Japan and 6.5 million in the US. So the rate for US and Japan is 98 out of 31 million or 0.00025%.

I personally think this is the media getting out of hand. I looked though many reports and very few even mention how few cases there are given the number of prescriptions that have been filled. Remember that it is the odd or bizarre that attracts attention in the media gets written about. THe commonplace is considered boring.

Other Resources

• Yahoo! News Search Results for new tamiflu
• tamiflu - Google News

Technorati Tags: oseltamivir phosphate, Roche, Tamiflu

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Seems Merck is in the news a lot recently. Now, the FDA has sent an Approvable letter to them for Arcoxia. This means that although the FDA thinks the compound could be approved, they need mor information before they can make that determination.

PharmaLive: Merck Responds to FDA-Issued Approvable Letters for Arcoxia (etoricoxib)

Results mixed on Merck’s new painkiller - Yahoo! News

Results of this study were published in The Lancet (DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69666-9) recently and many experts have reservations. While I think there is indeed a need for pain relief for those suffering from arthritis, the similarity to Vioxx needs to be taken into account and hopefully, the FDA will indeed insist that the proper trials are carried out and no shortcuts are taken.

Currently Celebrex from Pfizer is the only Cox-2 inhibitor still on the market.

Technorati Tags: Arcoxia, etoricoxib, Merck

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As if Merck needed more controversy. It seems that they now have a potential tax problem with the US and Canada for $5.58 billion dollars.

Merck has tax disputes in U.S. and Canada with $5.58 billion potential liabilities - iht,business,US Merck Tax Disputes - Business - International Herald Tribune

While I’m not a tax expert at all, I find this interesting since GlaxoSmithKline also has had some tax problems. I’m not sure why these are coming to the fore now but they seem to have to do with how revenues are recognized.

Merck’s CEO seems totally unconcerned by this and said he doesn’t lose any sleep over it. While, I’m not saying he should lose sleep, I think it should be at least somewhat seriously. Underestimating anyone is a common problem in warfare and in business.

Technorati Tags: Merck, tax problem

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