QDIS Blog

It is reported today that LIlly is settling even more lawsuits related to Zyprexa. They are settling over 8,000 claims for $700 million which comes to $87,500 per claim. THere are an additional 1,200 claims that Lilly will fight in court. No reasons were given for this other than the reasons were varied.

Eli Lilly settling more Zyprexa suits - Yahoo! News

What is interesting is this quote from LIlly CEO, Sidney Taurel.

“While we remain confident that these claims are without merit, we took this difficult step because we believe it is in the best interest of the company, the patients who depend on this medication, and their physicians.”

This sort of phraseology is used some commonly in circumstances where companies have been irresponsible that it basically translates to “We know we did something wrong, we’ve paid off those affected, but we refuse to take responsibility and say we were wrong.”

It would be interesting to see how often these words or ones very similar have been uttered. I’m betting it could be found in company statements from many product liability lawsuits such as the tobacco industry, the asbestos lawsuits, the Ford Pinto cars and I’m sure many more. It is disconcerting to me to see this sort of attitude be so prevalent in American companies today especially in companies with such an impact on peoples life such as the pharmaceutical industry.

Technorati Tags: Eli Lilly, olanzapine, Zyprexa

Email Ed Vawter

Bookmark it with: | del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | Simpy | Spurl | My Yahoo! |

Reducing cholesterol with the use of statin drugs is a goal that the medical community has agreed can have a major impact on health. Now, with Zocor coming off patent, there are more choices and the cost should drop significantly.

Regulators Clear 6 More Companies to Sell Generic Zocor - New York Times:

Although Teva and Ranbaxy were approved in June of 2006, they had six months exclusivity which meant that they were selling the drug for only 8% less then Merck was selling Zocor. Now there are six more companies and the prices will likely drop significantly; perhaps by 50% or more.

Current generic approvals

In June
Teva Pharmaceuticals
Ranbaxy Laboratories

This month
Cobalt Pharmaceuticals of Ontario
Aurobindo Pharma
Zydus Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories of India
Sandoz unit of the Swiss drug maker Novartis
Perrigo Company of Allegan, Mich

This could have an impact on other brand name statin drugs particularly Lipitor from Pfizer, the best selling of all the statin class of drugs. Many health insurance companies are certainly going to recommend that their patients ask their doctor about switching to simvastatin as a means for not only controlling cholesterol but also controlling cost. It will be interesting to see how much of an impact it does have on the sales of LIpitor. Pfizer will certainly fight this in any way they can since Lipitor is a $10 billion per year product and the patent will not expire until March of 201 and June of 2011 (depending on the crystalline form). It will definitely be interesting to see how this develops in the coming years. I don’t look for Lipitor to reach $10 billiob in sales this year.

Other Resources
FDA Approves First Generic Simvastatin

simvastatin - Yahoo! Search Results
simvastatin - Google Search
Google Blog Search: simvastatin

Technorati Tags: simvastatin, Zocor

Email Ed Vawter

Bookmark it with: | del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | Simpy | Spurl | My Yahoo! |

The mergers continue in this new year. Now Biogen Idec is acquiring Syntonix Pharmaceuticals for $40 million upfront and another $80 million based on meeting development milestones.

Biogen Idec to Acquire Syntonix: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Syntonix concentrates on discovering and developing long-acting therapeutic products to improve treatment regimens for chronic diseases. Their lead compound, FIX:Fc is a long acting factor IX used for treatment of hemophilia B. Being a long-acting product, it allows for a reduced number of injections. Syntonix is hopeful of filing an NDA for FIX:Fc this year.

One of the needs for biotech companies is to develop improved methods of delivery. Most biotech product are injectable drugs and therefore anything that can increase the lifetime of the drug will thereby reduce the number of injections the patient has to take. Being the spouse of a diabetic, I can tell you that patients look forward to technologies that either eliminate or greatly reduce the number of times each day that they must stick themselves with a needle.

You can find more information on their SynFusion technology on their site. I think this is likely a good acquisition for Biogen Idec and in light of costs of other deals, it seems reasonably priced. I am hopeful again that the incorporation of a small company into a larger one does not stifle innovation and allows the continued use of the technology for a wide range of products.

In interest of full disclosure I own a few shares of Biogen Idec.

Technorati Tags: Biogen Idec, pharma M&A, pharmaceutical deals, Syntonix

Email Ed Vawter

Bookmark it with: | del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | Simpy | Spurl | My Yahoo! |