Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - (Page 10) 10 News & Analysis January 2008 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe COMPANIES Abbott Laboratories (US) is the latest in a long line of pharma companies to announce job cuts. Because of “overcapacity due to significant improvements in manufacturing efficiency and current market conditions,” the company is to close a facility in Galway, Ireland, where it currently employs 498 people, and to cut 700 jobs in Temecula, California, despite expansion of this facility. Both the Galway and the Temecula sites are involved in the manufacture of stents. Bilcare (India) is to invest £11 million in setting up a new clinical supplies facility in south Wales (UK). The investment will enable Bilcare to expand its presence in Wales and cater to the needs of its customers in Western Europe and parts of Eastern Europe. Bilcare, which acquired UK-based clinical trials services provider DHP in September 2006, plans to employ approximately 200 people at its new Welsh facility. As of December 24, 2007, Ipsen (France) has entered the SBF 120 index, which regroups the 120 largest companies by market capitalisation and by trading volumes on Euronext Paris and serves as a reference for index funds and as a benchmark for measuring performance of portfolios invested in French equities. Ipsen first listed on Euronext Paris in January 2006. JOINING FORCES Akela Pharma Inc (Canada) has extended the territory coverage of the initial license and development agreement it has with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (Belgium) for Fentanyl Taifun, its fast-acting Fentanyl formulation using the company’s Taifun dry powder inhaler, to include Canada. The existing agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV already covers the European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. All the commercial and contractual conditions remain in effect. The product will be distributed by Janssen-Ortho Inc for the Canadian market. Orion Pharma (Finland) has chosen ChemDiv Inc (US) as a discovery partner in small molecule therapeutics for Orion’s priority targets. Under the terms of the agreement, ChemDiv will deploy the Discovery outSource platform for Orion’s discovery programme, including the world's largest commercially available chemical library, proprietary rational design, assay development and bioscreening. ChemDiv will screen rationally designed chemical libraries against Orion’s proprietary targets, and Orion will select hit series for subsequent lead optimisation. Financial terms and identity of drug targets were not disclosed. The agreement provides options for expanding the discovery partnership. Ablynx (Belgium) and Novartis (Switzerland) have extended their drug discovery and development alliance for another year. Under the terms of the agreement, entered into in December 2005, the companies are collaborating to discover and develop novel nanobody-based therapeutics against disease targets that are difficult to address with conventional antibodies or their fragments. Novartis has exclusive right to develop and commercialise the Nanobody products resulting from the collaboration. MorphoSys AG (Germany) has announced the initiation of a therapeutic target sourcing collaboration in Japan with its Tokyo-based partner GeneFrontier Corporation. The expansion of the existing alliance with GeneFrontier aims to increase MorphoSys’s access to innovative druggable therapeutic targets sourced from leading Japanese research institutes and universities, which will in turn further strengthen MorphoSys’s proprietary drug development capabilities. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. GE Healthcare (UK) and Novavax Inc (US) have announced a collaboration agreement to develop and market a pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing solution for selected international countries. This collaboration leverages GE Healthcare’s bioprocess solutions and design expertise and Novavax's virus-like particle (VLP) and manufacturing platform. Novavax’s VLP-based H5N1 pandemic ‘flu vaccine is currently in Phase I/IIa clinical trials. Addex Pharmaceuticals (Switzerland) has entered an exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Merck Sharpe & Dohme Research Ltd (UK), with the goal of developing a new class of orally available drugs, initially as candidates for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and potentially other undisclosed indications. The partners will discover and develop positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) targeting the metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (mGluR4). The deal includes lead mGluR4 PAMs discovered by Addex. GlaxoSmithKline (UK) and Galapagos NV (the Netherlands) have announced the creation of a multi-year strategic alliance to develop novel antiinfective drug candidates. GSK will participate in the alliance through its Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (ID CEDD). Under the terms of the agreement, Galapagos will grant GSK options to license product candidates that are directed against up to six anti-infective discovery targets. Galapagos will be responsible for the discovery and development of natural product small molecule drug candidates through to clinical proof of concept, at which point GSK will have exclusive option to license each compound for further development and commercialisation on a worldwide basis.
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 Contents From the Editor News and Analysis Calendar Corporate Strategy: Walking the Line Executive Profile: The Pharmacist’s Friend Q&A: An End to Drug Counterfeiting Healthcare Cost Assessment: Ready to Make NICE? Pricing and Reimbursement: Through the Reimbursement Barriers Generics: India Inc. The Mix: New Models of Excellence Last Word: Mid-size Matters Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 (Page 1) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 (Page 2) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - From the Editor (Page 4) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - From the Editor (Page 5) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 6) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 7) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 8) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 9) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 10) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - News and Analysis (Page 11) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Calendar (Page 12) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Calendar (Page 13) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Corporate Strategy: Walking the Line (Page 14) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Corporate Strategy: Walking the Line (Page 15) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Corporate Strategy: Walking the Line (Page 16) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Corporate Strategy: Walking the Line (Page 17) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Executive Profile: The Pharmacist’s Friend (Page 18) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Executive Profile: The Pharmacist’s Friend (Page 19) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Q&A: An End to Drug Counterfeiting (Page 20) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Q&A: An End to Drug Counterfeiting (Page 21) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Healthcare Cost Assessment: Ready to Make NICE? (Page 22) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Healthcare Cost Assessment: Ready to Make NICE? (Page 23) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Healthcare Cost Assessment: Ready to Make NICE? (Page 24) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Pricing and Reimbursement: Through the Reimbursement Barriers (Page 25) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Pricing and Reimbursement: Through the Reimbursement Barriers (Page 26) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Pricing and Reimbursement: Through the Reimbursement Barriers (Page 27) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Generics: India Inc. (Page 28) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Generics: India Inc. (Page 29) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Generics: India Inc. (Page 30) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - The Mix: New Models of Excellence (Page 31) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - The Mix: New Models of Excellence (Page 32) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - The Mix: New Models of Excellence (Page 33) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - The Mix: New Models of Excellence (Page 34) Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - January 2008 - Last Word: Mid-size Matters (Page 35)
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