Business-in-Brief
Mega mergers, state-of-the-art stem cell facility and humorous pharmaceutical ads… What’s new for pharma in business?
Mergers & Acquisitions
Bristol-Myers Squibb is acquiring Celgene in a stock and cash deal worth $74 billion. The combined company could become the fourth largest pharma firm in the US, but the deal still needs approval from shareholders and regulators.
Eli Lilly is buying Loxo Oncology for $8 billion, which is around $235 per share. Loxo is working on cancer treatments based on the genetic markers of tumors and their portfolio includes the FDA-approved TRK inhibitor, Vitrakvi.
Cambrex has completed its acquisition of Avista Pharma Solutions, which will bolster the company’s offerings in early stage small molecule development and testing services for both API and finished dosage forms.
Facilities
A $21-million stem cell manufacturing facility is being built by Fujifilm in Madison, US, which will be used for the company’s own products, as well as for contract manufacturing.
WuXi Biologics has commenced construction of a new biologics drug substance manufacturing facility in County Louth, Ireland. This will be the company’s first site outside of China and is designed to use both traditional fed batch and continuous bioprocessing.
Marketing
In the US, the federal government wants drug prices to be included in pharma TV adverts, but a number of pharma companies say that inserting the list price will cause confusion given that most consumers don’t usually pay the list price. A number of comments were made during the consultation period, but the end result will depend on the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
A study by GSW and the Harris Poll revealed that most doctors (52 percent) don’t always understand the message in pharma advertising. The survey highlighted the fact that simple messages were key to making an impact. However, 62 percent of respondents said they liked funny adverts.
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