Astra Zeneca Jumps on the Generic Drug Bandwagon
Astra Zeneca announced today that it has agreed to market 18 of Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s branded generic drugs in 9 emerging markets, marking the U.K. drugmaker’s first generic-drug partnership.
Unlike some its competitors, Astra Zeneca is very vulnerable to generic competition as many of its best selling products such as Nexium for ulcers, the antipsychotic Seroquel and Crestor for cholesterol. are near patent expiry. Industry analysts expect the company to lose as much as 25% of its sales revenue to generic encroachment by 2014.
The company joins a growing list of big pharma companies including Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline that view generics as a viable replacement for revenues lost to generic competition for it top selling brands.
Last year, GlaxoSmithKline entered into joint ventures with the generic manufacturers Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (India) and Aspen Pharmacare Ltd (South Africa). Also, the company paid $246.5 million for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Pakistan and Egypt drug units and acquired UCB’s drug portfolio in Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America for $702 million; clearing signaling its intention to more aggressively pursue emerging global markets.
Likewise, Sanofi-Aventis bought Zentiva NV of the Czech Republic, Helvepharm AG of Switzerland, Medley SA of Brazil and Laboratorios Kendrick SA of Mexico to bolster its branded generics portfolio. The company also took control of the Indian vaccine and biologics manufacturer Shantha Biotechnics which suggest that Sanofi may be looking to biotech in the future.
Finally, Pfizer continues its pursuit of the financially-troubled German, generics giant Ratiopharm. Actavis of Iceland and the Israeli generics manufacturer Teva have also put in bids to purchase Ratiopharm. However, there are signs that Ratiopharm's board would prefer to be purchased by Pfizer rather than Teva or Actavis.
Look for other big pharma companies to enter into deals with or purchase branded or conventional generics manufacturers.
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!
Until recently, there was little or no mention of business activity within the emerging Chinese life sciences industry. However, as the Chinese middle class continues to grow, the need and demand for pharmaceutical and biotechnology drugs (including vaccines and other biologics continues) to grow at a frenetic pace. Further, a growing abundance of US-trained scientists has allowed the Chinese life science industry to develop much more quickly than anticipated. Also, many major pharmaceutical companies like Merck, Roche and Novartis have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in 
Mark Senak, author of the incisive 
Ed Silverman, who runs the 
Emily Johnston of 
For the past decade or more, small to mid-sized biotechnology companies had been outsourcing production of their preclinical and clinical protein-based products to Asian contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs). This was because manufacturing and labor costs were lower and product quality was consistent with Western standards and requirements. However, the recent economic down turn coupled with rising prices at Asian CMOs (mainly driven by increasing labor and project management costs) has .jpg)
American competitiveness in engineering, technology and science. Unfortunately, while American competitiveness and innovation in these areas continues to wane, little has been done (except talking) about it! 
Earlier this week, an
Mark Senak, social media enthusiast and author of the .jpg)
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Mary Canady author of the Comprendia Blog recently .jpg)
Billy Tauzin, a former Congressman and high profile lobbyist, unexpectedly resigned as President of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, (PhRMA), a pharmaceutical industry lobby and trade organization. According to a 
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A rare or orphan disease is defined in the US as one that affects fewer than 200,000 at any given time. It is estimated that there are 6000 to 8000 rare diseases in the world today. Because the number of patients afflicted with orphan diseases is so small, drug companies have historically been reluctant to invest money to discover and develop new treatments for them. The dearth of treatments for rare diseases induced Congress to pass the
It goes without saying that the competition for jobs in the life sciences industry is extremely fierce. This means that job candidates must use whatever means possible to differentiate themselves from the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others applying for the same job!.jpg)
The past couple of weeks have been awful for employees at 
, or 12 percent of its work force, by 2014 to cut costs as it reported disappointing fourth quarter earnings. The job cuts will be made across all regions and divisions and were necessary because some of the company’s major products including the child asthma medication Pulmicort, which made sales of $1.3 billion in 2009, and breast cancer treatment Arimidex, with $1.92 billion in sales will be losing patent protection in the near future.
There is no question that job opportunities for recent life sciences undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are becoming increasingly difficult to find. While this is troubling, older, mid-career bioprofessionals who may be looking for new jobs and challenges are having a rougher go of it. This is because older employees generally cost more to hire and many employers mistakenly believe that seasoned employees make lack the drive and technological skills as compared with younger, less experienced jobseekers.(1).jpg)
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It is getting difficult to keep track of the job cuts that are happening almost daily at Pfizer. A quick perusal of the job cuts to date indicate that the company has eliminated about 1200 jobs in the past week;.png)
Mark Senak, author of the 
Jonathan Richman, author of the Dose of Digital Blog, got it exactly right in today’s post entitled “(2).jpg)
Earlier this week, Mark Senak who writes the EyeonFDA blog, offered his i
I was chatting with a fellow medical writing colleague the other day and the topic of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising came up. I suggested that DTC advertising is largely ineffectual but my colleague suggested otherwise. To prove his point, he sent me a fascinating article entitled “Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: An Attitude Survey of Psychiatric Physicians (.jpg)
Mark Senak who writes the EyeonFDA blog has 
Pfizer was the first to bring us ED (erectile dysfunction) and now two companies—one large (Johnson and Johnson) and one small (Sciele Pharma)—are daring to boldly go where no MAN has gone before: to conquer PE aka premature ejaculation!
I realize that I have been blogging about adverse events for the past couple of day but, let’s face it; the pharmaceutical industry lives or dies by the number of adverse events (AEs) that are reported for approved and marketed drugs. In any event, I came upon an interesting post in a Pharmaceutical Processing e-blast about the results of a .jpg)
In a previous 
today reports that spending on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising came bounding back in the third quarter —rising 15 percent to $1.16 billion, according to 
Losing a job or getting laid off is without a doubt one of the more emotionally devastating events that most people face. Unfortunately, in these troubling financial times, many more people are likely to face this likelihood than any other time in recent history.
Mark Senak, social media advocate and author of the EyeonFDA blog, has been spot on with his commentary on the recent public hearings held by FDA to unravel the social media conundrum facing the life sciences industry. Despite its good intentions, the agency is intent on applying an anachronistic method of developing guidance (designed for processes that undergo incremental changes) for a technology that changes rapidly and is ill-defined. In other words, they are trying to force a square peg into a round hole—it simply won't work!.jpg)
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In today’s edition of the incisive EyeonFDA blog, Mark Senak, provides a 
Employees of Pfizer/Wyeth were notified earlier today of impending changes and consolidation that will be taking place at the newly combined company. According to internal sources, Cambridge, MA, Groton, CT and Pearl River, NY will be the main centers of the combined company’s East Coast operations and San Francisco and La Jolla/San Diego CA will represent West Coast operations. In Europe, the research facility in Sandwich, England will be the main R&D center with a network of smaller sites, in locations such as Montreal, Ottawa, Cambridge UK, Aberdeen UK, and Dusseldorf, Germany providing expertise in vaccine production and biomanufacturing. The company’s China R&D Center in Shanghai will remain the focal point of operations in Asia,
I am attending the 
It is amazing the things you learn if you pay attention from time to time. While attending a meeting on e-healthcare last week in Philadelphia I learned that according to the American public the pharmaceutical industry is less popular than the banking industry. This was startling to me given that the recent financial collapse was caused almost entirely by the banking industry. That the pharmaceutical industry is more reviled than the banking industry suggests that life sciences company have a bit of PR work to do. But, not to worry, people still hate the oil industry more than the pharmaceutical industry.(1).png)
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An annual survey conducted by Science magazine and the American Association has identified the .gif)
NextLevel Pharma 
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Lisa Roner, blogger and editor for EyeforPharma, recommends a podcast on social media that was created by Dr. Andree Bates, CEO at Eularis, a company that applies analytics to determine the sales impact of specific marketing programs.
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Berci Meskó author of the .png)
During my recent trip to Vermont and Woodstock, NY I had several conversations about Twitter. Surprisingly, I was being asked to explain Twitter to my nephews, both of whom are in their early 20s and to family friends who are in their late 40s and beyond. Also, at several recent science career fairs that I attended many graduate students and postdocs had never heard of Twitter or it they had, they don’t use it. Initially, this was puzzling but after considering the most recent Twitterverse demographics –I think the average age of Twitter users is around 35 to 40—it made more sense to me.
Like it or not, writing a carefully-constructed resume or curriculum vitae (as resumes are known in scientific circles) is a vital part of any successful job search. Inexperienced job seekers tend to hastily craft resumes without paying much attention to format, style or content and then wonder why they can’t land job interviews. The best way to approach resume writing is to think of a resume as a work of art–something that requires a lot of thought, creativity and attention to detail. As one well-known professional recruiter and job search expert put it”Trying to find a job without a smart, well-crafted resume is like showing up for dinner at a fancy restaurant in a T-shirt and cutoffs. They won’t let you in.” 
While the economy is showing signs of a possible recovery, the unemployment numbers continue to rise. For this reason, it is a good idea to keep your resume as up-to-date as possible. Yes, I know it is a hassle to update and stay on top of you resume especially if you already have a job. However, in these uncertain financial times, you never know when you might be back on the job market. To that end, I highly recommend a piece on .jpg)
Pharmaceutical,biotechnology and other companies that sell prescription drugs and devices are deathly afraid of adverse events (AEs) associated with their products. For those of you who may not know, companies with approved prescription drugs and medical devices are required to track and report any adverse events associated with their products to regulatory agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If FDA receives enough AE complaints about a product, the agency will investigate to determine whether or not there may be efficacy, safety or tolerability issues with it. And, if FDA thinks that the AEs are legitimate, it may ask a company to conduct Phase IV clinical trials with the product in question or require that changes be made to the product’s label. Not surprisingly, these outcomes can be time consuming and perhaps more importantly, costly. Label changes—especially for blockbuster products—frequently lead to changes in physician prescribing habits which can translate into a loss of revenue. Despite the fact that ALL drugs exhibit AEs, many companies falsely cling to the hope that there will be few, if any, AEs reported for their products..jpg)
Mark Senak, author of the 
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Until today, direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC) has received very little attention during the recent spate of debates over healthcare reform. The (1).jpg)
The debate, if you can call it that, over whether or not interactive social media platforms like .jpg)
Mark Sendak, a social media enthusiast and author of the 
Over the past several years, I have publicly called for fundamental changes in graduate education and training for life scientists. To that end, I was delighted to read an OP-ED piece in today’s New York Times entitled “End Universities as We Know It” written by Professor Mark C. Taylor, Chairperson of the religion department at Columbia University. .jpg)
The New York Times reported 
Twitter, which is currently de rigueur in social media circles, is emerging as one of the most powerful branding and marketing social media tool that has been developed to date. 
Since 2007, approximately 80,000 pharmaceutical jobs have been eliminated. The recent consolidation in the industry, e.g., Merck-Schering, Pfizer-Wyeth and Roche-Genentech suggests that many more life sciences jobs will be lost over the next year or so. Typically, to avoid law suits and possible discrimination claims, most companies will layoff a mixture of experienced and entry level employees that cover the racial, religious and age spectra. For those of you who may not know, Americans who are 40 and older constitute a “protected class of employees.” In other words, companies that layoff employees cannot disproportionately give pink slips to employees 40 years of age or older. This law was enacted because older employees typically have higher salaries and have accrued more benefits and vacation time than their more junior counterparts and eliminating them can drastically cut costs. While most companies are careful to layoff a mixture of junior and senior employees during large layoffs, a quick perusal of the demographics of employees who lose their jobs reveals that many of them are older, more experienced workers. Sacrificing a few entry level employees (to prevent any red flags) is worth it to the accountants who charged with cutting costs and orchestrating large corporate layoffs..jpg)
Today's New York Times reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters and ordered 14 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to stop running what it calls misleading ads on internet search pages displayed by search engines like Google. The agency faulted the companies for failing to identify product names (brand) and not listing potential side effects (only benefits) for the drugs. In other words, the ads lacked “fair balance” something that FDA stresses and that all drug makers are very familiar with. 
The old baseball adage which says that “you can’t tell the players apart without a program” is particularly apt when it comes to tracing the M &A activity that led to the creation of some today's largest pharmaceutical companies.
As you all know by now, 
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.
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Twitter, the microblogging platform, is the current rage in social media. According to 
While the domino theory was incorrect when it came to the spread of communism during the Cold War, there may be a kernel of truth to it when it is applied to today’s pharmaceutical industry. On Tuesday, Pfizer announced that it would lay off 800 researchers. Not to be outdone by Pfizer,.jpg)
For those of you who haven’t been able to keep up with the latest pharma layoffs, I came across an 
For the past five years, I have been giving career development seminars that offer graduate students and postdoctoral fellows alternate careers choices (instead of research) for life scientists. The intent of these seminars is to get students who may not be enamored with a possible life long career at the bench (I know that there a lot of you out there) to think about what they really want to do after they complete their graduate or postdoctoral training..jpg)
Over the past few weeks, the blogosphere was rife with rumors and speculation that Pfizer would be laying off additional R&D personnel in December. However, it seems that the layoffs have been 
According to a recent analysis conducted by .jpg)
I am frequently asked by life sciences PhDs whether an MBA would improve their chances of finding a job in industry. And, my response is always “maybe— because it depends. I don’t think that getting a traditional MBA really gives you that much of an edge especially if you are an established PhD looking for career advancement or change. However, if you are a graduate student or postdoc who has already decided that academia is not for you, then getting a certificate or M.S. through an established graduate program in biotechnology (
Let me begin with the good news. The Indianapolis Business journal reported today 
First, King Pharmaceuticals posted a non-branded high blood pressure video on YouTube in early 2007. Next, Novartis added a 60-second commercial (as part of its 
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