Drug Discovery

Study projects new wave of globalization in biopharma

John Carroll — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:13:18 -0400

Don't be misguided by dated reports discounting the impact Indian and Chinese scientists are having in drug development and other key technologies, says a new study from Duke and Harvard. Looking at recent data, research teams from those two countries have swiftly expanded their work in the field. A look at 2006 data shows a four-fold increase in the number of patents filed since 1995. And pharma giants like Merck, Lilly and J&J have been shifting research and manufacturing to India and China as they seek new ways to develop drugs on a lean budget, pushing a new wave of globalization.

"Driven by cost pressures and growth opportunities, they are partnering with firms there to do sophisticated drug research and clinical testing," writes Vivek Wadhwa in BusinessWeek. "Indian and Chinese companies are making strides in the segments of global value chains that are most lucrative. They are also now performing their own drug discovery with the hope of marketing new products through their multinational partners."

- read the article from BusinessWeek

GSK outlines plans to become more ‘biotech-like’

John Carroll — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:53:09 -0400

Biotech is in. At least, that's the message from GlaxoSmithKline's Patrick Vallance, the pharma giant's head of drug discovery. In a speech in London on Monday Vallance made clear that Glaxo intends to become more "biotech-like" in advancing new therapies. That calls for smaller discovery teams which would be incentivized for creating value and ‘disincentivized' for value destruction.

Glaxo has been one of the most aggressive pharma companies in the industry when it comes to in-licensing new biotech therapies in development. The company has been setting up Centres of Excellence in Drug Discovery and is funding outside research through the Centre of Excellence in External Drug Discovery. But Glaxo has been talking up an entrepreneurial atmosphere for eight years even as pressure has built to advance new drugs to take the place of blockbusters losing patent protection.

That trend, no doubt, will make those ‘disincentives' ever more painful.

- read the report from the Financial Times

GSK collaborates on immune disease research

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:59:57 -0400

GlaxoSmithKline has inked a five year, $25 million collaboration deal with the Disease Institute of Boston to conduct on immunoinflammation research. GSK and IDI researchers will develop joint grant proposals in targeted areas of research under an Alliance Research grant program. GSK gets first dibs on any drug targets identified through the collaboration.

"GSK is committed to becoming a world leader within 3 years in drug discovery of immuno-inflammation," said Jose Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, head of the Immuno-Inflammation Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery of GSK. "This agreement fits perfectly with our strategy to pursue scientific excellence and technologies both internally and externally."

- see GSK's release for more

Syndexa gets $15M for metabolic disease work

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

With help from technology entrepreneur Dr. Yalcin Ayasli, Cambridge, MA-based Syndexa Pharmaceuticals has garnered $15 million in a second round of financing. The company previously raised about $4 million in a seed round and is developing drugs for chronic inflammation, neurodegenerative disorders and obesity-related conditions--including type 2 diabetes. The start-up was founded by Gokhan Hotamisligil using technology he developed at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"This new influx of capital reflects the enormous promise of Syndexa's drug targets, Endoplasmic Reticulum and c-jun N-terminal kinase. Attracting additional capital at an increased valuation is a testament to the robust product potential of our innovative drug discovery approach and the strength of our team," said Teo Uysal, CEO and co-founder of Syndexa. "We are thrilled to partner with our new investor Dr. Ayasli whose experience will bring a new dimension to the Syndexa team as we move forward."

- read Syndexa's release for more on the financing

Takeda gains RNAi tech with $1B Alnylam deal

Tue, 27 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Takeda's quest to expand in the U.S. market--and off-set expiring patents on big drugs--continues. The Japanese company announced today a $1 billion alliance with RNAi company Alnylam. The deal covers RNAi therapeutics in the fields of oncology and metabolic disease with the option to expand to additional therapeutic areas in the future. Alnylam gets $100 million in up-front and additional $50 million in near-term technology transfer payments. Takeda can expand the partnership in the future to include additional fields, with a payment of $50 million to Alnylam for each additional field. Finally, Alnylam will receive $171 million in milestones, along with royalties, for each product developed as part of the deal.

"We believe this alliance will accelerate our initiatives to establish the foundation for RNAi drug discovery supported by Alnylam's platform technologies and know-how. We expect that our product portfolio will be enhanced by the addition of RNAi therapeutics to our current small molecule and anti-body research platforms," said Takeda's president Yasuchika Hasegawa. Just two months ago Takeda forked over $8.8 billion dollars to buy Millennium Pharmaceuticals, bolstering its oncology pipeline.

- here's Takeda's release
- read the Wall Street Journal article for more

Novartis restructures its development strategy

Tue, 20 May 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella (photo) tells the Wall Street Journal that he knew Novartis had become too big and too bureaucratic when one of the company's top scientists expressed delight at finally meeting him. So he's set out to reconstruct the drug giant he built, with a particular emphasis on drug discovery.

At the top of the pipeline: two meningitis vaccines that could become blockbusters. And the new pharma chief--Joe Jimenez--is breaking up investigators into small teams so they can go one on one with regulators to see if they should move ahead with a development program.

- read the article from the Wall Street Journal

Biotech entrepreneurs grow a new CRO in China

Mon, 19 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Biotech entrepreneur John Oyler--who helped found Genta and Galanea--sat down with Chemistry World to discuss his three-year-old CRO, BioDuro. He and an old friend founded the CRO with their own money, choosing to base the contract research organization in Beijing rather than Shanghai, where the big multinational drug companies have flocked.

"By the end of this year, we will have nearly 600 chemists and biologists working for the company," Oyler tells the pub. "Most of the world's top pharmaceutical firms are our clients. We have our business and marketing headquarters in San Diego, California. We have a team of more than 20 senior scientists leading the firm, many of whom used to be at multinationals like Merck and Pfizer."

- read the report in Chemistry World

SPOTLIGHT: Array lands $80M financing deal

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:53 -0400

Deerfield Management will provide $80 million to Array BioPharma to fund its drug discovery work. Array is advancing new therapies for inflammatory diseases and cancer. Principal and interest of 6.5 percent a year accrue annually and are due in 2014. Release | Story

Booming Chinese market lures Unigene joint venture

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

Unigene is racing to complete construction of new facilities in China that will house its joint venture with a Chinese pharma company. The joint venture plans to pursue R&D work as well as drug manufacturing. And they're aiming at capitalizing on the booming Chinese market.

"The PRC (People's Republic of China) pharmaceutical market for Western-style pharmaceuticals in 2006 was $13.1 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 30 per cent, one of the fastest growth rates in the world," said Dr Warren Levy, CEO of Unigene. "It has been projected that the PRC will become the world's leading consumer of pharmaceutical products by the year 2020."

- see Unigene's release
- read the report in In-PharmaTechnologist

ALSO NOTED: CFOs are pharma's new power players; Progen axes staff in restructuring; MethylGene inks collaboration deal;and muc

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:59:50 -0400

> Australia's Progen is laying off workers in a restructuring that includes outsourcing the commercial manufacture of PI-88. Release

> Who's pharma's power forward these days? The CFO. Or so concludes Ernst & Young after slicing and dicing two global surveys. As companies shift focus from driving sales growth to managing returns, CFOs will have to be increasingly proactive. Report

> MethylGene will get $2 million up front and up to $50.5 million in milestones in its newly signed collaboration deal with Otsuka Pharmaceutical. MethylGene will be responsible for the design, synthesis, characterization and initial screening of kinase inhibitors. Otsuka will be responsible for and fund efficacy and toxicology studies, as well as preclinical and clinical development of compounds. Otsuka is also responsible for the global commercialization of any resulting product. Release

> When FDA reviewers cram, do they perform poorly on the test? A new study concludes that yes, when drugs are approved right on deadline, they're more likely to cause safety problems later. The Harvard analysis, published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, concludes that drugs approved in the two months leading up to the deadline are four to five times more likely to be withdrawn or require serious safety warnings. Report

> The FDA will allow copper alloys to be sold as a weapon against bacteria and microbes. Report

> Japan's Ono Pharmaceutical has inked a discovery deal with Evotec. The collaboration applies Evotec's fragment-based drug discovery platform, EVOlution, to identify small molecular weight compounds active against a protease target. Release

> Novelos Therapeutics has raised $5 million in a private placement. Release

And Finally... People with larger stomachs in their 40s are more likely to have dementia when they reach their 70s, according to a new study. Release