On the tenth day of Christmas life science gave to me…big pharma speaking
We’ve created our very own 12 days of Christmas for the life science sector. Via news brands Medical Plastics News, Digital Health Age and European Pharmaceutical Manufacturer we’ll be looking back on 2015 in festive form
On the tenth day of Christmas life science gave to me…
… big pharma speaking, start-ups expanding, world class R&D’ing, firms that are a-winning, nicotine a-spraying, the internet of things, an app to help with words, French epi-pens, new robotic gloves and devices for cardiology.
The big pharmaceutical companies are rarely out of the news - be it for mergers & acquisitions, new drug development or R&D. As such, the bosses at these companies are never short of a quote or two about the latest happenings.
Perhaps the biggest story of the year was the news that big pharma player Pfizer has inked its long-rumoured deal to buy botox maker Allergan.
Speaking of the deal, Pfizer chairman and ceo, Ian Read said: “The proposed combination of Pfizer and Allergan will create a leading global pharmaceutical company with the strength to research, discover and deliver more medicines and therapies to more people around the world.”
Meanwhile Brent Saunders, chief executive officer at Allergan said: “The combination of Allergan and Pfizer is a highly strategic, value-enhancing transaction that brings together two biopharma powerhouses to change lives for the better. This bold action is the next chapter in the successful transformation of Allergan allowing us to operate with greater resources at a much bigger scale.
"Joining forces with Pfizer matches our leading products in seven high growth therapeutic areas and our robust R&D pipeline with Pfizer’s leading innovative and established businesses, vast global footprint and strength in discovery and development research to create a new biopharma leader.”
Make it personal
A leading player in the pharma space, AstraZeneca made the exciting announcement that it was teaming up with Manchester University for personalised cancer treatment.
The collaboration includes the development of a new bioinformatics system to capture and integrate clinical trial safety, efficacy, biomarker and drug distribution data in real time.
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, AstraZeneca said: “This collaboration is exciting because it will eventually allow us to incorporate important data from clinical trials into a format that can be reviewed in real time by healthcare professionals and matched with information about cancer medicines.
“We will be able to modify clinical trial programmes accordingly and support clinicians to offer more accurate, personalised and rapid decision making to patients about their treatment.”
Talking point
David Epstein, head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, is a frequent contributor to EPM. When the company acquired all remaining rights to GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Ofatumumab for the treatment of MS, he said: "Novartis is pleased to further reinforce our commitment to neuroscience and to add an exciting new treatment to our strong MS portfolio.
“Our vision for patients with MS is to develop treatments that improve on current standards of care, meeting patients' needs at every stage of their disease with innovative and targeted drugs."
And when the company’s heart failure medicine recently received EU approval, he added: "We know that people living with heart failure face a high risk of death and have a worse quality of life than those with almost any other chronic condition, so it is very meaningful for HFrEF patients in Europe that we're able to offer a new first in class treatment option."