The Big Red Biotech Blog

Rise of Asian biopharm creates investment targets for Quintiles

Quintiles says it plans to invest more in Asia as the biopharm industry continues to develop rapidly over there.  

Rise of Asian biopharm creates investment targets for Quintiles.

Anand Tharmaratnam, head of Asia markets at Quintiles, said that global biopharm companies accounted for 90 percent of Quintiles clients in Asia only 3 years ago, whereas the ratio of global to local clients is now closer to 50:50 today. That's a dramatic shift in only 3 years.

Tharmaratnam attributes the rapid growth to government support and return of highly qualified staff (with an entrepreneurial bent) from the US.  Korea, Singapore and Taiwan in particular were singled out as biopharm hotbeds.  The rapid growth in India and China has also stimulated global pharma companies to locate more and more operations there to open up these potentially lucrative markets. 

Anyone think the US needs a policy to further promote US Biotech growth and industry health to maintain our current leadership position?  Or can we just watch Asia grow at our expense?

Posted by Bruce Lehr Dec 1st 2011.

Lipitor Wars Begin with Ranbaxy and Teva pact

 All the previous posts on Pfizer's marketing plans for Lipitor are spurred on by Ranbaxy (in partnership with Teva) gaining FDA approval for manufacturing the generic version at its US plant in New Jersey.

Ranbaxy forms pact with Teva to launch generic Lipitor in US.

As part of its partnership agreement, Ranbaxy will pay a portion of its sales to Teva during the 180-day exclusivity period. Watson pharmaceuticals will also be selling the officially "approved" version of Lipitor in an agreement with Pfizer during this same period.  At the end of the 180 days, up to 6 competitors are expected to be fighting for share in this lucrative market space.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Dec 1st 2011.

Senators Unleash Lipitor-rent of Letters to Question Pfizer Plan

Three US Senators have written Pfizer over concerns that its unusual program with health plans and pharmacy benefits managers to block generic versions of its best-selling Lipitor cholesterol pill moves will increase costs for government health plans and others.   

Senators Probe Pfizer Plan To Block Generic Lipitor // Pharmalot.

Pfizer's move, aimed at retaining hundreds of millions of dollars in Lipitor sales over the next several months, has angered the Senators. “Consumers and taxpayers foot the bill when drug benefit companies and insurers manipulate the marketplace to prevent access to generic drugs for millions of Americans,” says Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat who heads the Special Senate Committee on the Aging - in his usual inflammatory rhetoric about such things.

In their letter to Pfizer Ceo Ian Read, the Senators reiterate concerns expressed by some pharmacies that the pharmacy benefits managers may pocket discounts offered by Pfizer, but Medicare and employers will pay the full freight.  The PBMs deny that this will occur.

A Pfizer spokesman adds: “The Senators’ letter is based upon an earlier article that contained incomplete and incorrect information about our Lipitor programs. We want the public to understand the facts. Our intent is to offer Lipitor to payers and patients at or below the cost of a generic during the 180-day period. As a result, patients receive Lipitor at co-pays comparable to generics.

As Pfizer says, "Trust us".  It's not like we've paid billions in fines for off label marketing, price fixing or other unethical marketing programs in the past is it?

 

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Dec 1st 2011.

Pfizer Plans to Protect Lipitor Market Share

You gotta give them an A for effort and maybe creativity too.

Pfizer is embarking on a novel marketing/sales plan to protect shae of its Lipitor franchise as much as possible -- and perhaps preserving hundreds of millions to billions in revenue for itself in the process.  Its new pricing strategy includes offering incentives to health plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to favor its brand-name drug, providing consumers a co-pay card that lowers their cost significantly, and partnering with a specialty pharmacy to mail Lipitor directly to patients. 

Can Pfizer Really Protect Lipitor Market Share? // Pharmalot.

In a poll of PBMs, 66.7 percent believe the moves will not protect Lipitor market share during the first 180 days of exclusivity that Ranbaxy Laboratories (in partnership with Teva) has in which to sell a generic. After six months, they expect Pfizer to lose 54.5 percent of the market. And a year from now, they expect Pfizer will have lost two-thirds of the Lipitor market.

That may be so but...and here's the Big But.

“What Pfizer is doing is groundbreaking, because they are taking a very aggressive step to stop erosion of their brand and this will probably result in protecting billions of dollars in the first six months that would have been lost otherwise,” says Rhonda Greenapple of Reimbursement Intelligence. “And partnering with a specialty pharmacy to protect a patent has never been done before. It’s a model everyone will look at and it’ll be very interesting to see what really happen after 180 days. Because if every brand does this, it could stop people from being converted” to generics.

It will be very interesting to watch how this plays out.  Several Senators (next post) have already written to Pfizer CEO Ian Read about their concerns that this plan will in fact work and raise prices for consumers and the government in the process.

 

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Dec 1st 2011.

 

Shire US Facility to Help Gaucher Drug Shortage

Shire is on the verge of riding to the rescue of Gaucher patients who've faced persistent drug shortages due to Genzyme's well-documented manufacuring woes -- and exclusive market position.

Shire has filed applications with the European and US regulators to produce its Gaucher disease drug Vpriv (velaglucerase alfa) at a new manufacturing site in Lexington, Massachusetts, setting it on track to start boosting supplies to patients in 2012.

Shire facility could answer rare disease drug shortage | InPharm.

What's more?

The company said the facility will give it flexibility to meet global demand for its other rare disease treatment, Replagal (agalsidase alfa) for Fabry disease, by freeing up manufacturing capacity at another plant in Alewife.  The Lexington facility already has approval from the EMA for the purification of Replagal, according to Shire.

This means that US patients who've suffered through years (not months but years) of drug shortages from Genzyme may soon have a welcomed alternative.

 

Posted by Bruce Lehr Dec 1 2011.