EuroPharma Today

AstraZeneca Outlines Branded Generics Strategy at Emerging Markets Event

LONDON-AstraZeneca plans to broaden its presence across a wide range of developing markets, including small and mid-sized ones, not only to maximize growth but also to smooth out variations in growth rates across countries and regions, top company executives said in a detailed presentation to analysts on March 16.

Beyond BRIC: ‘Pharmerging’ Markets Loom If Pharma Is To Expand, IMS Study Says

Drug makers need to more aggressively target so-called "pharmerging" markets – but not just the usual suspects. Brazil, Russia, India and China remain highly important, but in a March 16 report, IMS Health predicts that 17 countries, in total, will contribute 48 percent of annual market growth in 2013, up from 37 percent last year.

European Spec Pharma is the Focus for Novo Growth Equity--Again

Less than two weeks after committing its first £40 million ($60 million) to UK-based specialty pharma firm Archimedes, Novo Growth Equity on March 15 announced its second investment—in another European specialty pharma firm. This time it's Sweden's Orexo, a listed group focused on pain and inflammation, to which Novo has committed SEK206 million (about $30 million) through a share purchase and a SEK111 million convertible bond.

Emerging Markets, Biosimilars May Enhance Suitors' Interest In ratiopharm

More than a year after being put up for sale, German generics firm ratiopharm is now said to have three serious suitors: generics giant Teva, Iceland's Actavis and Pfizer.

Prices touted for the company, part of the late industrialist Adolph Merckle's empire, top $4 billion (about €3 billion), or just under two times the company's €1.6 billion 2009 sales. Various reports suggest Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler visited the company's Ulm headquarters March 5, with Teva having made its final bid presentation a few days before, and Actavis a day or two later. Ratiopharm is Germany's second-largest generics firm, behind Novartis' Hexal.

At first glance, it's hard to see why ratiopharm has attracted so much interest. The German generics market has come under serious pricing pressure since the government introduced rebate tender contracts between manufacturers and the country's health insurance funds in 2007 (¹ 'The Pink Sheet' DAILY, Aug. 3, 2009).

NicOx finds new partner Bausch & Lomb for Phase II Glaucoma Candidate

French biotech NicOx has signed up leading U.S. eye health firm Bausch & Lomb to collaborate on its Phase II nitric oxide-donating glaucoma therapy, NCX116, six months after losing Pfizer as its development partner for the product.

UCB May Be Stagnating Today, But Promises There Will Be Growth Tomorrow

No one expected good 2009 results for Belgian mid-cap UCB. The company faces a perfect storm of earnings headwinds, led by ongoing generic competition to its top-selling epilepsy drug Keppra (levetiracetam).

Merck KGaA Boosts Diversification Effort With $7 Billion Acquisition Of Millipore

After disappointing investors on Feb. 23 with a lackluster set of 2009 financial results, Germany's Merck KGaA a week later turned sentiment around with a €5.3 billion ($7.2 billion) agreement to acquire Millipore, which is based in Billerica, Mass.

Millipore, a technology, tools and service provider to the biopharma industry, is expected to strengthen Merck's own laboratory and manufacturing services business and will add about $1.7 billion in sales to Merck KGaA's €1.2 billion chemicals arm. Before the deal, that division accounted for 25 percent of Merck's overall revenues; its share will now increase to 35 percent.

Lesson From A Deal Gone Bad: Basilea Ups Role In New Astellas Partnership

Even before Switzerland's Basilea started arbitration proceedings a year ago against its now former partner Johnson & Johnson on antibiotic ceftobiprole, the biotech would have been drawing lessons on what to avoid - and what to insist upon -in future license agreements.

Lack of Cladribine Answers And Dividend Cut Cloud Merck KGaA’s Outlook

Two questions dominated Merck KGaA's earnings call on Feb. 23 - how was the company addressing last December's refuse-to-file notice from the U.S. FDA for oral cladribine in multiple sclerosis? And why was the company cutting its dividend?

But neither question was answered completely to analysts' satisfaction. Meanwhile, the German company's stock fell by 10 percent on the day to €58, a six-month low.

Basilea Recovers With Astellas Deal For Phase III Anti-Fungal Following J&J Break-Up

Switzerland's Basilea licensed its Phase III anti-fungal isavuconazole to Japan's Astellas Pharma Feb. 24, just days after Johnson & Johnson revealed it was pulling out of its five-year deal with the biotech on the delayed antibiotic ceftobiprole.