Pharmaceutical Technologist - November 2007 - (Page 9)

// News Pfizer’s Exubera draws its final breath Datamonitor’s predictions regarding the limited potential of inhaled insulins have been confirmed as Pfizer abandons inhaled insulin product Exubera, resulting in a €1.9 billion write-off. Overall, quarterly revenue for the company fell 2.4% while third quarter net dropped 77%. Pfizer also stands to lose patent protection within the next 4 years on drugs accounting for about half of its 2006 revenue, including the cholesterol drug atorvastatin (Lipitor) — the world’s single most successful drug. The discontinuation of Exubera is one less drug to make up for the upcoming losses. Originally expecting a profitable future for the drug, Pfizer spent just short of €1 billion in 2006 to obtain Exubera and insulin production plants in Germany, but the product performed disappointingly in worldwide sales, obtaining only €2.7 million in the second quarter. Although it was forecast to be a huge success by most analysts, Datamonitor quickly identified a number of issues that would restrict the product’s commercial success; the drug was only available with an inconvenient delivery device and, furthermore, the risks of long-term lung damage and carcinogenicity remained unknown, despite extensive clinical trials. New classes of antidiabetic agents, such as GLP-1 agonists (Byetta) and DPP4 inhibitors (Januvia), also meant a significant reduction in the size of the market available to Exubera. Datamonitor cardiovascular lead analyst, Nick Karachalias, said: “The fact that Exubera was, in essence, a repackaged form of insulin, only offering a suggested convenience advantage rather than being a truly novel treatment, made it unappealing to healthcare providers.” The withdrawal of Exubera will force developers of second-generation inhaled insulins — namely Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Mannkind — to assess whether the continuation of their projects is a viable decision. www.datamonitor.com Fancy a boost from the taxman? R&D businesses eligible for tax credits UK companies conducting innovative work in the pharmaceutical field, or that have an R&D section, could be eligible for tax credits. These could reduce tax bills or, in certain circumstances, give a cash payment. R&D tax credits were first introduced in 2000 to promote investment in innovation. They are open to businesses of all sizes, but HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is urging more small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take advantage of this type of tax relief. Seven specialist HMRC units have been set up across the UK, and are happy to visit companies and help them put a claim together. To be considered, a company must be performing qualifying R&D with the aim of advancing overall knowledge in the science or technology field. So far, more than 4500 SMEs are claiming in excess of €360 million each year in tax credits and the vast majority of companies receive their payable tax credits within a month of a successful claim. www.hmrc.gov.uk www.ptemagazine.com 9 http://www.datamonitor.com http://www.hmrc.gov.uk http://www.ptemagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Technologist - November 2007

Pharmaceutical Technologist Contents Editor's Comment News Morpheus Feeling the Pressure Legal Crusaders The Holy-Grail of Start-Up Biotech Special Feature Q&A

Pharmaceutical Technologist - November 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.