Having started life selling calcium supplements from above a shop in provincial England, Shire has emerged three decades later as one of the most prized assets in the European healthcare sector

June 23, 2014 9:39 pm

Shire a jewel in crown among drugmakers

By Andrew Ward, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent

Having started life selling calcium supplements from above a shop in provincial England, Shire has emerged three decades later as one of the most prized assets in the European healthcare sector.

On Friday, months of speculation over which big pharmaceuticals group would make the first move for Shire came to an end when AbbVie confirmed it had made a £27bn takeover proposal.

Flemming Ornskov, Shire chief executive, made clear on Monday that AbbVie – or any other suitor – would have to bid much higher than the latest £46.11 per share cash and stock offer made by the Chicago-based company. Read more of this post

The Gluten-Free Craze: Is It Healthy? Experts Question Benefits of Gluten-Free For All but a Small Minority

The Gluten-Free Craze: Is It Healthy?

Experts Question Benefits of Gluten-Free For All but a Small Minority

JULIE JARGON

June 22, 2014 10:37 p.m. ET

Consumers are inundated with competing claims about how – and what — they should eat.  Even a once tiny trend like the gluten-free diet has turned into a blockbuster. But is a diet without gluten really healthy? Read more of this post

Heart to heart: Tax benefits aside, Medtronic’s deal with Covidien makes sense

Heart to heart: Tax benefits aside, Medtronic’s deal with Covidien makes sense

Jun 21st 2014 | NEW YORK | From the print edition

WHEN Medtronic, a maker of stents, pacemakers and other medical devices, said on June 15th that it would buy Covidien, a competitor, for $43 billion, it gave a variety of reassurances to anxious American politicians. To be sure, the deal will let Medtronic reap the benefits of being based in Ireland for tax purposes, as Covidien already is (see article). But Medtronic is promising that its operational headquarters will stay in America and that it will invest an extra $10 billion to develop new technology there, supporting local jobs. And, beyond the tax gains, there are good business reasons for Medtronic to want to buy Covidien. Read more of this post

With Efforts to Buy Shire, AbbVie Tries to Join Rush to Go Abroad

With Efforts to Buy Shire, AbbVie Tries to Join Rush to Go Abroad

By DAVID GELLES and CHAD BRAY

JUNE 20, 2014 5:43 AM Comment

Updated, 7:08 p.m. | At first it was a trickle. A few relatively unknown pharmaceutical companies acquired international competitors, and moved their headquarters abroad.

Then the pace picked up. Bigger health care companies, including Pfizer andMedtronic, also sought to relocate overseas, claiming that doing so would lower their tax rate and allow them to access trapped cash. Competitors felt pressure to match those financial advantages and began looking for deals of their own. Read more of this post

Zombie patents: Drug companies are adept at extending the lifespan of patents, at consumers’ expense

Zombie patents: Drug companies are adept at extending the lifespan of patents, at consumers’ expense

Jun 21st 2014 | From the print edition

IT IS hard to think of an industry in which competition is more important than pharmaceuticals. As health-care costs rocket, the price cuts—often of 85% or more—that generic drugs offer are one easy way to economise. Ibuprofen is a good example. In the early 1980s the drug, which soothes both pain and inflammation, was a costly patented product. Today Boots, a British chemist, sells 16 generic tablets for 40 pence (68 cents), just 2.5 pence per pill. In America, the drug can be bought in bulk for a penny a pop. Indeed, competition from generics is so painful to drugs companies that they have invented a series of ingenious palliatives, exploiting patent laws to help maintain high prices. Read more of this post

Treating diabetes: There’s an app for that; How software can make diabetics’ lives safer and simpler

Treating diabetes: There’s an app for that; How software can make diabetics’ lives safer and simpler

Jun 21st 2014 | New York | From the print edition

IF DIABETICS are to keep their blood-sugar levels in a healthy range, they must rely not only on periodic visits to the doctor, but also on careful daily management of their medicine, meals and exercise. For years, this regime included regular self-administered blood-sugar tests and similarly self-administered insulin injections. Now, in the better-off parts of the world at least, these things can be automated. There are gadgets that monitor sugar levels, and implanted pumps that deliver insulin. But Ed Damiano of Boston University and Steven Russell of Massachusetts General Hospital think things could be improved further by using software to make these devices work together as what would, in effect, be an artificial pancreas. Read more of this post

Rain mouse: Recent experiments give a glimmer of hope for a treatment for autism

Rain mouse: Recent experiments give a glimmer of hope for a treatment for autism

Jun 21st 2014 | From the print edition

WHAT causes autism is a mystery. One theory is that a phenomenon called the cellular-danger response lies at the root of it. The CDR makes cells put their ordinary activities on hold and instead switch on their defence systems, in reaction to high levels in the bloodstream of chemicals called purines. These are important and widespread substances: ATP, a molecule that shuttles energy around cells, is a purine; so are half the “genetic letters” in DNA. Cells under viral attack tend to shed them. Too many of them in the blood can thus be a signal of viral infection. In that case activating the CDR makes perfect sense. But studies have shown that people with autism (and also those with some other brain conditions, such as schizophrenia) often seem to have chronic CDR. The purine signal has somehow got stuck in the “on” position. Read more of this post

Cancer Doctors Ring Up Big Medicare Bills for Tarnished Drug Procrit; Florida Oncology Group Stands Out Among Its Peers for Use of Pricey Drug

Cancer Doctors Ring Up Big Medicare Bills for Tarnished Drug Procrit

Florida Oncology Group Stands Out Among Its Peers for Use of Pricey Drug

CHRISTOPHER WEAVER, ANNA WILDE MATHEWS and TOM MCGINTY

Updated June 19, 2014 2:55 p.m. ET

Many cancer doctors now use a drug called Procrit sparingly.

It was approved in 1989 for anemia and became a popular treatment for that side effect of chemotherapy. But regulators later learned Procrit can speed tumor growth and hasten death in cancer patients. Today, use of this class of drug—best known as EPO, a substance Lance Armstrong took illicitly to pedal faster and longer—is sharply restricted.

  Read more of this post

Merck to buy Idenix in race for hepatitis C treatments

Last updated: June 9, 2014 6:25 pm

Merck to buy Idenix in race for hepatitis C treatments

By Andrew Ward, Pharmaceuticals CorrespondentAuthor alerts

Merck & Co has agreed to buy Idenix Pharmaceuticals for $3.85bn in a deal aimed at bolstering its position in the hotly contested race to develop a new generation of hepatitis C treatments.

The US drugmaker is vying with rivals including Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie for share of a market forecast to reach at least $20bn of annual sales by the end of this decade. Read more of this post

Bill Gates’ funded next-generation non-latex condom that feels like skin comes closer; Hydrogels are used in contact lenses and are being studied for use in wearable and implantable bionics

Next-generation condom that feels like skin comes closer

June 4, 2014 – 12:33PM

Nicky Phillips

Robert Gorkin, left, and Sina Naficy demonstrate the new latex-replacement they are triallng for condoms. Photo: Tony Walters Read more of this post

Virtual Biotechs: No Lab Space, Few Employees; New Generation of Startups Aim to Keep Costs Low While Pursuing Lofty Research Goals

Virtual Biotechs: No Lab Space, Few Employees

New Generation of Startups Aim to Keep Costs Low While Pursuing Lofty Research Goals

JEANNE WHALEN

June 3, 2014 1:37 p.m. ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Biotech startup Alkeus Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a lofty goal—curing childhood blindness—but its operating budget is anything but grand.

The company has zero full-time employees and no laboratory space. Chief Executive and co-founder Leonide Saad doesn’t draw a salary, and holds meetings in empty classrooms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or at an Au Bon Pain down the street. Read more of this post

Research shows heart failure affects Asians earlier in life

Research shows heart failure affects Asians earlier in life

JUNE 3, 2014

SINGAPORE, June 3 — Heart failure affects Asian patients at least 10 years earlier compared with Westerners, despite Asians having lower Body Mass Index (BMI), preliminary results from a multinational study have shown.

The BMI is a measure of body fat based on an adult’s height and weight. Past studies have linked heart problems to a higher BMI, among other things. Read more of this post

Do Drug Companies Make Drugs, or Money? Short-term financial gain, not a sense of nobility, is behind Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ and William Ackman’s attempt to buy Allergan

Do Drug Companies Make Drugs, or Money?

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN

JUNE 2, 2014 9:05 PM 1 Comments

“I just want to emphasize that this is an industry where it is composed of really great people, working to do good things for patients, for doctors and actually for society, and when I look at our employees, there is sort of a noble purpose to working in the pharmaceutical industry.” Read more of this post

Pascal Soriot: Leader of the great escape; The AstraZeneca chief on saying ‘no’ to Pfizer bid

THE MONDAY INTERVIEW

Last updated: June 1, 2014 3:59 pm

Pascal Soriot: Leader of the great escape

By Andrew Ward

A dose of politics: Pascal Soriot was adept in telling British lawmakers that a takeover by Pfizer might put lives at risk, a line eagerly picked up by UK media; but he prefers to spend his time with scientists

For some chief executives, a $100bn takeover battle would be something to relish. Pascal Soriot is not one of them.

The French CEO of UK drugmaker AstraZeneca has spent much of the past month surrounded by bankers and lawyers as he fought off an unwanted approach from Pfizer.

With the US drugmaker repelled, at least for now, Mr Soriot is relieved to be getting back to the business of making medicines: “I find it a lot more exciting to be talking to customers and scientists.” Read more of this post

Shire strategy fails to keep predators at bay; The UK-listed, Dublin-based speciality drugmaker has long been touted as an attractive prize – especially for US rivals drawn to Ireland’s low corporate tax rate

June 2, 2014 10:11 pm
Shire strategy fails to keep predators at bay
By Andrew Ward, Arash Massoudi and Neil Hume
When bankers talk about the deal frenzy gripping the pharmaceuticals sector, it rarely takes long for Shire’s name to come up as a potential target.
The UK-listed, Dublin-based speciality drugmaker has long been touted as an attractive prize – especially for US rivals drawn to Ireland’s low corporate tax rate.
However, Flemming Ornskov, chief executive, is doing his best to cast Shire as predator rather than prey.
Less than six months after completing its $4.2bn takeover of ViroPharma and two weeks after a $260m deal to buy Lumena, Shire is looking to complete a hat trick of acquisitions in the US rare disease sector. Read more of this post

New Immunotherapy Drug Data Show Promise in Treating Cancer; Drugs From Bristol-Myers and Merck Shown to Prolong Lives of Some Cancer Patients

New Immunotherapy Drug Data Show Promise in Treating Cancer

Drugs From Bristol-Myers and Merck Shown to Prolong Lives of Some Cancer Patients

PETER LOFTUS and RON WINSLOW

June 2, 2014 7:30 a.m. ET

Drugs designed to unleash the body’s own immune system against cancer are significantly prolonging the lives of some people with hard-to-treat forms of the deadly disease. WSJ’s Jeanne Whalen joins Tanya Rivero on Lunch Break to explain. Photo: Getty

CHICAGO—Drugs designed to unleash the body’s own immune system against cancer are significantly prolonging the lives of some people with hard-to-treat forms of the deadly disease.

The latest evidence: Patients with the skin cancer melanoma who received a combination of two Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY -1.31% immunotherapies in a clinical trial lived an average of more than three years, researchers reported Monday. In another study, about 70% of advanced melanoma patients receiving aMerck MRK +0.12% & Co. immunotherapy were still alive after one year of treatment. Read more of this post

Hospitals’ Prices for Common Services on the Rise; Vascular and Chest-Pain Treatments Show Some of Biggest Upticks

Hospitals’ Prices for Common Services on the Rise

Vascular and Chest-Pain Treatments Show Some of Biggest Upticks

STEPHANIE ARMOUR, CHRISTOPHER WEAVER and MELINDA BECK

June 2, 2014 7:58 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—Federal data released Monday show an increase in the average price hospitals charge to treat common conditions, with vascular procedures and chest-pain treatment showing some of biggest upticks.

The numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services include 2012 prices at 3,376 hospitals for the 100 most-common inpatient stays by Medicare patients. It is the second year the agency has released such data, and it reflects $57 billion in payments from Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

The data show what each hospital charges on average for individual services alongside the typically much lower rates Medicare actually pays, based on a set schedule of fees. Private insurers also negotiate their own reduced amount. Read more of this post

Allergan and Valeant are both hypocrites

Allergan and Valeant are both hypocrites

Stephen Gandel

JUNE 2, 2014, 5:23 AM EDT

The battle over Botox has pitted the doctors against the dealmakers. It’s the medicine men vs. the money men. It’s barbituates vs. barbarians, perhaps. You get the picture.

Valeant  VRX 0.65% , the company bidding to buy the maker of wrinkle reducer Allergan  AGN 1.79% , is headed by Michael Pearson, who spent two decades as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. His chief lieutenant is Howard Schiller, a veteran Goldman Sachs dealmaker who once led M&A at that bank. Together, they have done 10 acquisitions in a little over three years, including last year’s nearly $9 billion acquisition of eye care company Bausch & Lomb.

Last week at an investing conference, Pearson told an audience that his company doesn’t claim to have the best scientists in the world. Indeed, in some ways he said Valeant is more like a professional services firm — like an investment bank or a law firm — than a pharma company. “We have a very good commercial organization that is very good at capital allocation,” Pearson said.

On the other side is Allergan, which is fighting the acquisition bid. Its CEO, David Pyott, comes from the drug industry. The company spent a little over $1 billion on R&D in 2013, much more than most other pharma companies its size. (Valeant, characteristically, says this is a negative.) It developed Botox almost from scratch and plans to launch 13 products developed by the company next year. Read more of this post

Roche returns to antibiotic research as superbug threat grows

Roche returns to antibiotic research as superbug threat grows

10:29am EDT

By Caroline Copley

ZURICH (Reuters) – Roche is betting the same tools that made it the world’s largest producer of cancer drugs will help it tackle the growing public health crisis of antibiotic resistance as regulators and politicians encourage fresh research.

The Swiss drugmaker used its expertise in in vitro diagnostic tests to develop highly-targeted cancer medicines. Now it believes it can use those same skills to find out quickly which bugs cause which infections, and help doctors kill them.

Experts are currently warning that superbugs resistant to even the most powerful drugs threaten to undermine modern medicine – requiring a response on the same scale as efforts to combat climate change.

Infections that are resistant to antibiotics affect more than 2 million people in the United States every year and kill around 23,000 people as a result, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read more of this post

Hopes for cancer cures offer comfort for battered pharma

May 30, 2014 12:07 pm

Hopes for cancer cures offer comfort for battered pharma

By Andrew Ward, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent

It is the Holy Grail of medical science. Ever since Hippocrates, the Greek physician, first described the disease more than 2,000 years ago, generation after generation of doctors have searched in vain for a cure for cancer. Read more of this post

Health-care fraud: The $272 billion swindle; Why thieves love America’s health-care system

Health-care fraud: The $272 billion swindle; Why thieves love America’s health-care system

May 31st 2014 | MIAMI AND NEW YORK | From the print edition

INVESTIGATORS in New York were looking for health-care fraud hot-spots. Agents suggested Oceana, a cluster of luxury condos in Brighton Beach. The 865-unit complex had a garage full of Porsches and Aston Martins—and 500 residents claiming Medicaid, which is meant for the poor and disabled. Though many claims had been filed legitimately, some looked iffy. Last August six residents were charged. Within weeks another 150 had stopped claiming assistance, says Robert Byrnes, one of the investigators. Read more of this post

Health-care fraud in America: How to hand over $272 billion a year to criminals

Health-care fraud in America: How to hand over $272 billion a year to criminals

May 31st 2014 | From the print edition

MEDICAL science is hazy about many things, but doctors agree that if a patient is losing pints of blood all over the carpet, it is a good idea to stanch his wounds. The same is true of a health-care system. If crooks are bleeding it of vast quantities of cash, it is time to tighten the safeguards. Read more of this post