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Abbott Laboratories today announced that it will split itself into two companies by spinning off its branded prescription drug business and creating a second company responsible for its medical implants, diagnostic tests and baby formula businesses.

The pharmaceutical company will exclusively sell its branded prescription drugs (including its blockbuster biologic Humira) and will be lead by Abbott’s Richard Gonzalez who currently head the company’s pharmaceutical business. Current Abbott CEO Miles White will lead the diversified medical products company. 

The reason for the split is to allow investors to value each of the companies on their distinct characteristic. Abbott’s decision to split the company is consistent with the prevailing notion that companies that sell both prescription drugs and consumer products don’t perform well. This led Bristol Myers Squibb to sell off its medical devices and consumer products divisions several years ago. Interestingly, prescription pharmaceuticals/consumer products/medical devices were de rigueur in the 1990s and early 2000s. Abbott’s decision leaves companies like Pfizer, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson as examples of the few remaining companies that still house pharmaceuticals, devices and consumer goods under one roof. Don’t be surprised if in the future these companies also decide to spin off or divest themselves of their consumer goods/medical devices divisions.

Finally, while the split may be good for investors, it may not be that great for Abbott employees. Usually, spin offs or divestitures

Until next time..

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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As you may know, BioJobBlogger was recently sued for defamation, invasion of privacy and punitive damages by Donna Roberts and Dawn Abrams two so called dog breeder.

To that end, a group of concerned dog advocates and friends have created a website called Stop Puppy Fraud to help to raise awareness about fraudulent dog breeders and to help raise money to defray legal expenses.

P.S. The dog in the pic is Moose-- a two to five year old mixed breed dog (misrepresented as a 9 month old Havanese purebred) rescued from Abrams and Roberts.

Thankfully, he is in much better shape today than in the pic (taken less than a week after we purchased him from Dawn Abrams) with bilateral ear infections, a fulminant urinary tract infection that prevented him from urinating and necrotic gums and rotting front teeth that were ultimately saved by a veterinary dental expert).

Until next time...

Good Luck and Help Save the Puppies!!!!!!

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Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare, already under Congressional investigation for selling allegedly tainted Tylenol, announced late Tuesday that it was recalling other products made in the Puerto Rico manufacturing facility in question.

According to an article in today’s New York Times, “McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the Johnson & Johnson unit, said that it was recalling four lots of certain Benadryl allergy tablets and one lot of Extra Strength Tylenol gel pills. McNeil did not respond to a reporter’s query about how many bottles those lots amounted to.”

Since last November, McNeil has recalled about 11.7 million bottles of various Motrin products and about 6.3 million bottles of Tylenol Arthritis Pain caplets made at the Puerto Rico plant in question. The company began the product recall after receiving numerous consumer complaints about a moldy odor emanating from some of its products.

Company representatives contend that the moldy smell was caused by contamination from a chemical byproduct of a substance used to treat wooden transport pallets. Further, McNeil suggested that the risk of serious medical problems was remote and people should not stop using the products (yeah right).

The current recall just adds to McNeil’s growing manufacturing problems. The company is already under scrutiny by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform over a recall last April of an estimated 136 million bottles of liquid pediatric Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec.

I suspect that more problems will be uncovered as the FDA and Congressional investigations continue. Serious manufacturing and quality problems can almost always be avoided or minimized when company executives and management makes a bona fide commitment to quality systems. Clearly, the heads of McNeil Consumer Healthcare might benefit from remedial current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) training.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company today announced it plans on slashing 4,000 jobs over the coming months. The bulk of the cuts will be in America and Europe, and are part of the company’s efforts to shift resources away from low-growth territories into parts of the world with greater scope to expand sales, most notably Asia. GSK’s currently employs 99,000 workers worldwide. The reduction in headcount will be combined with a drive to make the company’s research and development more cost-efficient. 

While the job losses will not be as severe as those announced last week by its rival Astra Zeneca, they will provide further depressing news for a sector that is fighting to contain costs as it reduces its reliance on big-selling blockbuster drugs, many of whose patents will expire in the next two to three years.

The pipeline of new drugs at GSK is much deeper than at many of its rivals, say industry analysts. The company’s roster of planned launches includes Menhibrix, a vaccine to combat meningitis, and Benlysta (belimumab), a novel, monoclonal antibody treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus that it is co-developing with Maryland-based, Human Genome Sciences. In total, the group has more than 30 products in the advanced stages of development and testing.

While GSK continues to develop new drugs, it has increasingly been turning to emerging markets to find and sustain corporate growth. This has meant that thousands of jobs have already been sacrificed in the West, although the company is adding staff elsewhere. For example, it recently cut 2,000 sales jobs in America but added 1,500 staff in China. Also, GSK’s vaccine division has suffered a few regulatory setbacks with its pneumococcal vaccine Synflorix and its cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix. The loss of market share in these areas has put additional financial pressure on the company.

Like many of its competitors, GSK is looking to other divisions of the company to cover projected losses in the pharmaceutical sector. Recently, GSK has shifted a lot of its attention to its consumer products division, which owns brands such as Lucozade and Ribena soft drinks, Aquafresh and Sensodyne toothpaste, and over-the-counter medicines such as Panadol painkillers and Alli, a weight-loss pill. Analysts predict the division will have raised its annual sales 18% to £4.7 billion. A deal signed last year to increase sales of Lucozade in China has provided the blueprint for how the company would like to develop the consumer healthcare side of its business.

Similarly, last week, Sanofi-Aventis, a French rival, announced a joint venture with Minsheng Pharmaceutical Group, a Chinese company, to sell vitamin pills and nutritional supplements. Also, Pfizer recently announced it would bid for the possibility of purchasing the financially-troubled German generics manufacturer Ratiopharm; signaling the possibility that the world's largest branded pharmaceutical manager may be toying with the idea of getting into the generics business.

Late last year I predicted that more pharmaceutical company employees would loss their jobs. Sadly, this prediction has come true. That said, I am surprised at the scope and size of the layoffs that have already taken place in 2010. I suspect that more layoffs are likely in the near future if the economy doesn’t turn around anytime soon.

Hat tip to Ed at the Pharmalot blog!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try medical devices or biotech)!!!!!!!!

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How many of you read the printed ingredients and nutrition fact boxes found on packaged foods to help you decide which of two similar products you ought to buy? What if the same concept was applied to direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug ads? Do you think that it would be easier to determine which of two similar medications may be best for you? Well, researchers at Dartmouth Medical School think so! And, they are urging the US Food and Drug administration to adopt a similar concept for all DTC advertising.

Based on results from two randomized, clinical studies, the Dartmouth team proposed that numerical tables that quantify the benefits of a drug (compared with placebo) and also the odds of developing certain side effects should be included on DTC advertisements including television, print and web-based ads. In those studies, patients were shown drug ads that did and did not include a fact box. Participants looked at ads (with and without fact boxes) for two similar prescription heartburn medications and two widely prescribed cardiovascular drugs. The trial using the heartburn medications was designed to evaluate consumer decision-making about drugs that are used to treat symptoms whereas the cardiovascular medications trial was used to evaluate decision-making about the use of preventative medications that reduce the risk of future events, e.g., heartache or stroke.

Overall, the researchers said, the addition of facts boxes to prescription drug ads allowed consumers to make better decisions about the choices of drugs for their symptoms and were better informed about the benefits of drugs that could be used for prevention. For example, when asked which drug they would choose for heartburn 68 percent of those who had seen ads with facts boxes picked what the researchers referred to as "the superior drug," as compared with 31 percent of those who had seen ads without facts boxes. Also, about 80 percent of the facts-box group, as compared with 38 percent from the non-fact-box group, knew that both drugs had similar side effects. After looking at cardiovascular drug ads with or without fact-boxes, 72 percent of those who saw ads with facts boxes correctly described the risk reduction associated with both drugs whereas only 9% of non-fact-box participants were able to do this.

DTC advertising is big business—last year the pharmaceutical industry spent approximately $4.8 billion on television and print ads alone. While DTC advertising is known to influence prescription drug sales, it is also somewhat controversial suggested Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine "Direct-to-consumer drug advertising is controversial in medical circles, largely out of concern that drug companies will talk patients into preferences not in their best interest, "But I often encounter the opposite problem in my patients. After hearing the litany of potential side effects of a drug, they absolutely refuse to take it," Katz said. Nevertheless, he and the Dartmouth researchers agree that better-informed patients make better drug choices.

Drs. Woloshin and Schwartz, leaders of the Dartmouth team, are scheduled to present their findings tomorrow to an FDA advisory panel on “risk communication.” The panel is tasked with examining how best to provide consumers with data about prescription drugs using printed matter. 

Adding fact-boxes to print, television or web-based ads won’t substantially increase the cost of creating and producing them. Also, rather than hurt prescription drug sales—what most pharmaceutical companies are worried about—the new approach may be good for the industry. According to Robert Ehrlich, who heads DTC Perspectives, a company that specializes in pharmaceutical marketing, “If there is high benefit and low risk, doctors will prescribe more of the drugs. If there is low benefit and high risks than the drug should probably not be on the market,” said Ehrlich.

Stay tuned for updates.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!

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Late yesterday, drug maker and consumer healthcare giant Johnson and Johnson announced that it was buying Mentor, a Santa Barbara, CA maker of skin care products, liposuction equipment and MemoryGel breast implants. According to industry analyst the $1.07 billion that J&J will spend to purchase the company “represents a giant premium for Mentor.” Mentor will become a stand-alone unit of J&J’s Ethicon a leading supplier of sutures, mesh and other surgical products. The cosmetic surgery and anti-aging markets are huge and are expected t to grow as the baby boomer generation continues to age.

J&J is on something of a buying spree and will continue to buy specialty companies to to offset possible losses that may from a weak drug pipeline of its pharmaceutical division. In November, the company purchased Omrix for $438 million, a biopharmaceutical that develops biosurgical and passive immunity products. The deal is expected to close this month.

Unlike most other pharmaceutical companies, J&J has been able to successfully run a diversified conglomerate company that specializes in both pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare products. It is a cash rich company that has a reputation for treating its employees very well! Who said that “beauty is only skin deep?”

Until next time

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!

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