Canada

New Canadian rules to delay big generics

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Generics makers are up in arms over proposed patent rules in Canada. The drug copycats say the rules will delay generic Lipitor and several other blockbusters by as much as two years. (Can you hear Pfizer cheering that idea?) And they say the new rules are nothing but a sop to brand-name drugmakers.

The government says it's simply trying to put the worms back into the can after two court rulings unexpectedly curbed the practice of "evergreening," otherwise known as "filing new patents on a drug to keep generics away." Canada's Industry Minister's office says that the new regulations would uphold government policy as it was before the court rulings. "We need predictable and stable intellectual property laws" to remain attractive to international investment, a spokeswoman said.

- read the story in the National Post

Enbrel gets black-box infection warning

Fri, 02 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Enbrel's new black box is now official. Wyeth and Amgen have put the final touches on a boxed warning about tuberculosis and other life-threatening illness; the label states that patients using the drug have contracted infections that led to hospitalization and death. The drug is primarily used to treat psoriasis, but also is used for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders.

Amgen and Wyeth co-market Enbrel in the U.S. and Canada. The drug posted $3.2 billion in sales in 2007.

- see the CNN Money coverage

ALSO: According to the latest CEO ranking by Forbes magazine, which measured performance against pay for 175 company chiefs, Amgen's Kevin Sharer came in near the bottom of the barrel, at 169th. Report

Lundbeck poaches CEO from Wyeth ranks

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Wanted: CEO who can find a new "cash cow" to push a Danish drugmaker past impending patent expirations. Found: Ulf Wiinberg, lately of Wyeth, to take over Lundbeck. Soon to be ex-president of Wyeth's operations in Europe, the Middle East, African and Canada, Wiinberg also had been charged with strategic oversight of Wyeth's biopharma. Can Wiinberg deliver for Lundbeck? No doubt we'll soon see what he can do.

- read Lundbeck's release
- check out the brief at Money AM
- see the item at PharmaGossip

BMS swallows Canada's Erbitux price

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Call it a new pricing strategy. Bristol-Myers Squibb is preparing to launch the cancer treatment Erbitux in Canada after a two-year wrangle over cost. Approved by Health Canada in September 2005, Erbitux never went on sale because Bristol-Myers and the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board couldn't agree. Now, the drugmaker has acceded to the price the board set. "We think [the price] did not recognize the value of innovation that Erbitux represents," BMS's Marc Osborne said, "but with the overall survival data, we decided it's time to market this drug."

Next, the government has to check out the drug's manufacturing process, and once that's approved, the provinces will decide whether to cover Erbitux. Ontario looks like a safe bet: It currently sends patients to the U.S. for treatment.

- read the story from CBC

ALSO NOTED: Boston Scientific announces 2,300 layoffs; Galenica to buy Canada's Aspreva for $915 million;

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:59:50 -0400

> Boston Scientific announced worldwide layoffs of 2,300 as part of a restructuring plan that includes selling off some business units and generalized cost-cutting. Release

> Swiss-based Galenica is planning to offer some $915 million for shares of Canada's Aspreva Pharmaceuticals--a 34 percent premium over the company's 90-day average stock performance. Report

> Eli Lilly reported a 19 percent jump in sales this quarter, to $4.6 billion. Earnings also grew to $926 million--a 6 percent hike. Release

> Wyeth boosted sales by 9 percent to $5.6 billion for the quarter and increased its dividend by 7.7 percent. Release

> Spurred by strong third-quarter results, Baxter raised its full-year outlook for earnings per share to a max of $2.77 from a previous top end of $2.70. Release

> Canada's Protiva Biotherapeutics dropped litigation against Merck subsidiary Sirna Therapeutics when it inked a deal to share its RNAi technology with the pharma giant. Report

> Hoping to calm worries spark by a recent announcement by the FDA that the diabetes drug Byetta is linked to a higher risk of acute pancreatitis, Novo Nordisk said that there is nothing in its data that suggests that the late-stage diabetes drug Liraglutide presents the same risk. Report

> The chiefs of Florida's three new research centers say that the state should continue to offer a generous set of incentives in order to attract more research institutes to the area. Report

And Finally... Need to boost team spirit and shed stress at work? Let staffers curse as much as they want--just not in front of customers or senior execs. Report

SPOTLIGHT: Canadians prepare OxyContin lawsuit

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:59:52 -0400

OxyContin class action lawsuit
A Canadian lawyer is putting the finishing touches on a class-action lawsuit that pits patients hooked on the pain drug OxyContin against its maker, Purdue Pharma. To be filed in Nova Scotia next week, the suit will claim that the company "misinformed the public and physicians" about OxyContin's suitability for long-term use. Report