Big Pharma Finds A Match Made In Heaven With Biotech Startups
Strategic partnerships between large pharmaceutical companies and more agile biotech firms is becoming a fast-growing trend. In other news, an analysis identifies the drugs on which Medicaid spends the most money, cancer drugs drive Roche's sales and more.
The Boston Globe:
Big Pharma’s Cash Flows In A Flurry Of Partnerships
It’s become a rite of passage for local biotech startups: After you’ve launched, raised venture capital, and set up labs, it’s time to find a partner to share the costs and risks of drug development. Jounce Therapeutics Inc. did it Tuesday, drawing a $225 million upfront payment from Celgene Corp. to bankroll its immuno-oncology research. ... The partnerships involving this trio of Cambridge cancer drug developers are the biggest, but far from the only, recent alliances between cash-hungry companies experimenting with new drug discovery approaches and established biopharma players scaling back on their in-house research. (Weisman, 7/21)
Stat:
Medicaid Spends A Lot On Outpatient Drugs, But Which Cost The Most?
Between January 2014 and June 2015, the costliest medications were the Abilify antipsychotic pill; the Sovaldi and Harvoni hepatitis C treatments; the Vyvanse attention deficit medicine; and the Truvada HIV drug, according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. However, the analysis, which examined list prices before manufacturer rebates, noted that 45 of the 50 costliest drugs were considered high-cost items partly because they were frequently prescribed. (Silverman, 7/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Why The Price Is Right For Drug Companies
Drug manufacturers continue to rely on pricing power to help top investor expectations. That may not be as big a short-term problem as some investors fear. Prices of medicines remain in focus ahead of second-quarter earnings season. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that more than two-thirds of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies boosted revenues from major products in the first quarter by raising prices. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index showed a nearly 6% rise in pharmaceuticals prices from June 2015 through June 2016, well above broader inflation rates. Since prescription drugs generally carry a high gross profit margin, these price raises tend to flow through to the bottom line. (Grant, 7/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Roche Sales Rise On Cancer Drugs
Roche Holding AG said profit climbed in the first half of the year thanks to strong sales across its pharmaceutical and diagnostics divisions. Basel, Switzerland-based Roche said net income increased 4% to 5.5 billion Swiss francs ($5.57 billion) in the six months to June 30, beating analyst estimates of 5.3 billion. Revenue rose 6% to 25 billion francs, in line with estimates. Stripping out currency effects, net income climbed 3% and sales rose 5%. (Roland, 7/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Bioengineered Bacteria Burst In Synchrony To Release Anticancer Drugs
In a new way to inject drugs, researchers say today they can make bacteria that deliver regular doses of an anticancer toxin deep inside a tumor, usually beyond the reach of conventional chemotherapy. In animal experiments of interest to pharmaceutical companies, the researchers report today in the journal Nature that their genetically engineered bugs can shrink a tumor by directly delivering repeated, synchronized doses of an anti-tumor toxin. To modulate the drug dose, the researchers engineered the anticancer microbes to grow or self-destruct based on the rise or fall of their overall population, through a technique called quorum sensing. (Hotz, 7/20)
The New York Times:
Generic Crestor Wins Approval, Dealing A Blow To AstraZeneca
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it had approved generic versions of the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering pill Crestor, rejecting a last-ditch and controversial effort by AstraZeneca to stop cheaper competition from reaching pharmacy shelves. The move should considerably decrease the price of the drug and result in a sharp loss of market share for AstraZeneca. The brand-name drug has a retail price around $260 a month, according to GoodRx.com. With multiple generics now coming onto the market, the price could eventually drop as much as 80 to 90 percent. (Pollack, 7/20)
Stat:
AstraZeneca Loses Court Battle To Prevent Generic Versions Of Crestor
A federal judge late Tuesday refused to issue an order that would have blocked several companies from selling generic versions of the Crestor cholesterol pill in the US. The decision is a blow to AstraZeneca, which last month filed a lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration in hopes of thwarting generic competition to its blockbuster drug, a $5 billion seller last year. The drug maker claimed the agency was about to illegally broaden the indication for the drug and, as a result, unfairly permit low-cost copycat versions of Crestor. (Silverman, 7/20)
