Who: Wyeth
Based: United States
2006 Pipeline Budget: $3.44 billion (€2.35 billion)
Pipeline News: 2007 hasn't been a pretty year for Wyeth. A string of woeful developments has left the company stripped of three of its leading drug candidates. The FDA issued a non-approvable letter [1] to Solvay and Wyeth for bifeprunox, an antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia. In another instance, Wyeth and ViroPharma stopped dosing patients with HCV-796 [2], a Phase II hepatitis C drug candidate, due to adverse events experienced by two patients. And the FDA issued an approvable letter for Pristiq, delaying the launch of the drug for major depressive disorder. On the upside, the company named a new CEO this year [3] (check out Schering-Plough's pipeline [4] to see what a difference a new CEO can make). Hopefully this will bring some much-needed change to Wyeth. The next big milestone for the company: New mid-stage data from a study for a new Alzheimer's drug being developed with Elan.
Pending approval:
Pristiq - Major depressive disorder
Bifeprunox - schizophrenia
Phase III:
Lybrel - Continuous contraception
Viviant - Postmenopausal osteoporosis
Pristiq - Vasomotor symptoms of menopause
Torisel - Renal cell carcinoma III
Full Pipeline Site: Link [5]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/wyeth-solvay-handed-fda-rejection/2007-08-10
[2] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/viropharma-wyeth-halt-hcv-study/2007-08-10
[3] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/wyeth-names-poussot-ceo/2007-09-28
[4] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/15-schering-plough-top-15-r-d-budgets
[5] http://www.wyeth.com/research/pipeline
[6] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/11-eli-lilly-top-15-r-d-budgets
[7] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/top-15-r-d-budgets
[8] http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/13-bristol-myers-squibb-top-15-r-d-budgets