EuroPharma Today

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’s Cozaar Loses Patent Protection In Europe And Generics Quickly Arrive

LONDON--Generic competition started on March 2 in Europe for Merck & Co.'s blockbuster antihypertensive, Cozaar (losartan), heralding the expected precipitous decline in revenues from the widely used branded product.

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.

Will IT Firms Displace Pharma in Health Care Collaborations?

LONDON--Will pharmaceutical companies lose control of the delivery of health care to upstart telecoms or even computer game manufacturers?  Patrick Flochel, a Life Sciences Leader at Ernst & Young, thinks the signs may already be pointing in that direction.

GSK Argues Its Strategy Is Delivering As Still More Cuts Are Made, Including in R&D

GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty declared on Feb. 4 that his strategy of building a global, diversified business was delivering. And to prove his point, he announced a return to full-year sales growth in 2009 after a negative 2008, and an upbeat forecast for 2010 as well.

Cephalon Buys Swiss Generics Firm Mepha, Talking Up Diversification

In a move that seems like an about face for a specialty pharma, Cephalon announced plans on Feb. 1 to buy the Swiss generics maker Mepha, citing international expansion and portfolio diversification. Under the arrangement, Cephalon will pay CHF 622.5 million ($590 million) in cash to the Merckle family-owned Mepha Holding AG.

AstraZeneca Reports Higher Profits, But Cuts R&D Jobs

LONDON--Facing U.S. patent expiries on key drugs , AstraZeneca announced at its Jan. 28 results meeting a further restructuring of its R&D operations, with the expected net loss of 1,800 jobs, and annual cost savings of $1 billion by 2014.

Overall, the company expects restructuring in R&D and elsewhere in the company to affect more than 10,400 positions between 2010 and 2014 -8,000 more than in previous plans - and to produce annual savings of $1.8 billion.

Report Highlights Issues Facing EU Device Sector

A ¹ report on the future of the medical device industry in the European Union highlights the need for more standardized technology assessment systems among member states, and for more robust mechanisms to support innovation.

Posted on the European Commission Web site Jan. 28, the report is intended to concisely explain to the new European commissioners the broad range of challenges facing the device industry.

Novartis To Launch Nycomed's PPI Pantoloc Control In 14 European Countries

Novartis will launch the OTC proton pump inhibitor Pantoloc Control (pantoprazole 20 mg) in 14 European countries in the second quarter of 2010 under a co-marketing agreement with the product's originator Nycomed.

Teva's Growth Strategy In Europe: Bullish on Germany (Part 1 of 2)

Teva's reported bid for ratiopharm, one of Germany's premier generics companies, could hardly be a surprise for anyone following the Israeli company's recent rip-roaring endorsement of opportunities in that troubled market.

Teva believes its can grow its European revenues at a compound annual growth rate of 18.6 percent between 2009 and 2015 - well above the biopharma industry's average in that region of 4 percent (6 percent, when excluding Germany). Given the size of the gap, Teva will have to take market share--and the way it knows how to do that best is through M&A.