Bayer drug sales up 2.3%, as new products offset older drugs' suffering
Poor Bayer HealthCare. Its new drugs and modest sales growth couldn't make up for lagging sales and soaring costs at Bayer's plastics business. Announcing its first-quarter results, Bayer Group understandably leaned on its healthcare unit's strengths, but headlines focused on the German company's overall disappointments: profits up only 0.4%, sales up just 2.1%, both below analyst expectations.
Merck nabs 'breakthrough' label for anti-melanoma drug
The designation was based on Phase Ib data that showed significant early signs of antitumor activity in some patients with aggressive cases of the deadly skin cancer.
Is GlaxoSmithKline prepping older products for spinoff?
The U.K.-based drugmaker posted disappointing profits for the first quarter as sales took a backwards step, partly because of revenue lost in the sale of over-the-counter products.
Lilly cost-cutting and price hikes pay off with Q1 earnings beat
The moral of Eli Lilly's first-quarter performance is this: Raise prices and cut costs.
Feds nail key player in counterfeit Avastin probe
For more than a year, U.S. authorities have been tightening a noose around Internet pharmacy company Canada Drugs, which reportedly was the source of counterfeit Avastin shipped last year to doctors.
Busy Novartis announces layoffs, taps new CFO, and slashes chairman's pay
While the U.S. government was announcing its kickbacks lawsuit against Novartis, the Swiss drugmaker was putting the finishing touches on a few press releases of its own.
Feds sue 'repeat offender' Novartis in Myfortic kickback scheme
Federal prosecutors sued the Swiss drugmaker, accusing it of offering "disguised" kickbacks to pharmacies for switching patients to one of its drugs. And switch they did, the prosecutors say.
Roche to shed 170 jobs in diagnostics restructuring
Roche plans to cut 170 jobs in the U.S. and Germany.
South Africa follows India's lead with proposed drug-patent reforms
South Africa plans to revamp its intellectual-property laws to make it more difficult for pharma companies to win protection for new versions of older drugs. The move comes soon after India's top court backed strict requirements for drug patents.
State AGs amp up legal attacks on Big Pharma
Maverick states could cost Big Pharma big money. Though many drugmakers have wrapped up marketing settlements with the federal government--and states willing to go along--they're now facing claims from state attorneys general who are bold, stubborn, ambitious, or all of the above.
Thanks to Lexapro generics, Forest swings to loss on 32% drop in yearly sales
No one expected Forest Laboratories to post quarterly sales growth. How could it? The company's flagship drug, Lexapro, lost patent protection just as last year's fiscal fourth quarter drew to a close. So, this time around, Forest's sales were destined to drop.
Biogen MS pill soars onstage with impressive first-week script numbers
Biogen Idec's new multiple sclerosis pill made its debut to high expectations earlier this month. And so far, Tecfidera hasn't disappointed. As The Street reports, the drug has literally leapt onto the market. Its first week's worth of prescriptions surpassed 300, a rate that Novartis' first-to-market rival didn't hit until almost three months after launch.
Drugmakers, get ready for bigger, faster dealmaking, Moody's says
Deal junkies, rejoice. Moody's Investors Service figures pharma M&A will pick up in 2013, after a not-so-exciting 2012. But even if the pace picks up, deal size probably won't increase much; we're looking at another year of small- to medium-sized buyouts, rather than megamergers.
AstraZeneca inks cancer deals with Bind Therapeutics, Horizon Discovery
AstraZeneca forged two oncology development deals on either side of the Atlantic.
Ready to target GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi wins 6-in-1 vaccine nod in EU
Sanofi Pasteur is ready to aim its new 6-in-1 infant vaccine at rival GlaxoSmithKline. The vaccine maker won European approval for the immunization, putting Glaxo's Infanrix Hexa on notice for the first time since 2005.
Aussie stats show HPV shots effective, but will U.S. parents listen?
Could Australia's success with HPV vaccination help boost similar efforts in the U.S.? If hard numbers on results could help, then yes. A BMJ study shows that immunizing young women against the human papillomavirus has already proven its worth.
Top AstraZeneca investor backs Soriot and his 'golden hello'
At least one big AstraZeneca shareholder isn't concerned about CEO Pascal Soriot's pay package.
Lundbeck launches alcohol dependence drug Selincro in heavy-drinking countries
After losing patent protection last year on the blockbuster antidepressant Lexapro, Danish drugmaker Lundbeck hopes to regain a least a bit of that vaporized revenue as it launches its anti-binge drinking drug Selincro in some European countries.
Merck CEO snags 16% raise to $15.5M, in year of 'significant hurdles'
Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier scored a 16% raise for 2012. In a normal year, that might be a normal increase in compensation for a pharma CEO, especially for longtime chiefs whose pensions grow in multimillion-dollar leaps.
Updated: EU pharma CEOs earned 46% less than U.S. peers
CEO pay in Europe continues to be a flashpoint given the high unemployment and austerity measures the workaday folk on the continent face. Still, a new analysis shows the CEO's of European drugmakers continue to pull in far less than their U.S. counterparts.
