QDIS Blog

The vaccine maker Acambis ousted their CEO and a financial director after they failed to get a $1 billion smallpox contract with the US government.

Acambis ousts CEO and finance director

Stockholder had wanted a change in direction and it looks like they will now get it. Acambis had been concentrating on vaccines related to bio-defense.

The new CEO is Ian Garland who was head of Arrow Therapeutics when the deal was put together to be acquired by AstraZeneca. This has fueled rumors that Acambis may try to put itself on the market.

It is likely not the last of layoffs as the company has stated they will shed 20% of their workforce which amounts to about 40 jobs. It will be interesting to keep an eye on what happens to them in the next couple of years.

Technorati Tags: Acambis, down-sizing, layoffs

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Back in Feb an AP story stated that if there were such a thing as generic version of major biologics that it could save over $71 billion over ten years.

Generic Biotech Drugs Could Save $71B

The study evidently assumes a 25% decrease in price off brand name biologics. This figured is based on the price of the human growth hormone now available as a generic in Europe. I’m not sure how well this particular instance is representative of all the other classes of biologicals that would be eligible . The study was sponsored by Express SCripts and they claim it is conservative because it only includes insulin, erythropoietins, growth hormones, and treatments for multiple sclerosis.

While it is interesting to speculate, I personally don’t think this would be representative of how the biogenerics might shake out. It is just too uncertain especially considering there is no pathway for approvals of biogenerics, although there is legislation before the US Congress regarding this. Until there is more information in the regulatory arenas I think it is too soon to speculate on the potential savings.

Technorati Tags: biogenerics

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