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With Healthcare Reform Uncertain, BIO's Policy Fights Remain
Podcast: February 1, 2010

As President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union Address, healthcare reform legislation, as one Senator described, was on life support. The Democrats, losing their supermajority in the Senate, say they are not ready to pull the plug on the bill, but as of now, the path forward is unclear. We spoke to Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, about the uncertainty surrounding healthcare reform, what it means for such issues as follow-on biologics, and what the industry’s policy agenda looks like for 2010. Read More Here

Pfizer Overhauls Pipeline
Drug giant to cut 100 programs following purchase of Wyeth.
Pfizer said it plans to jettison 100 development programs and focus its efforts on developing new therapies in six strategic areas, as well as biologics and vaccines. The company unveiled its plans in the first update on its pipeline since the close of its acquisition of Wyeth. Read More Here

Novo Hopes for a Diabetes Blockbuster
Danish pharma secures approval for Victoza.
Novo Nordisk has secured U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Victoza, its type 2 diabetes treatment for adults. The company, which has waited since May 2008 for the approval, expects to start marketing the drug within weeks, kicking off what it hopes will be a billion dollar blockbuster just five years from now. Read More Here

Skin in the Game
Quintiles expands strategy, branding.
Quintiles, the world's biggest biopharmaceutical contract research organization is moving deeper into the drug development ecosystem, with plans to invest in its clients' early stage programs and expand its market share through a broad marketing push. Read More Here

Jimenez Takes Reigns at Novartis
Swiss drugmaker shuffles its top leadership.
Novartis is naming drugs unit chief Joe Jimenez as its new CEO, inciting grumbles from some investors over what was expected to be an accession by COO Joerg Reinhardt. In supporting his pick, long-time CEO Daniel Vasella noted Jimenez' “international experience in pharmaceuticals and consumer businesses together with an excellent track record,” which includes overseeing the development of the multiple sclerosis pill, Gilenia, and Afinitor, for treating advanced renal cell carcinoma. Read More Here

A Big Fat “F”
Commission gives the government a failing grade for its preparation to prevent and counter biological attacks.
Novartis is naming drugs unit chief Joe Jimenez as its new CEO, inciting grumbles from some investors over what was expected to be an accession by COO A new report from a government commission on terrorism warns that while the United States has made progress in preventing attacks with weapons of mass destruction the danger of biological threats continues to grow and the nation is “woefully behind in its capability to rapidly produce vaccines and therapeutics” needed to respond to such attacks. It also says there is a “failure of the U.S. government to grasp the threat of biological weapons.” Read More Here

Geron Looks at Alzheimer’s
Stem Cell company teams with UC Irvine to explore new application for hampered drug.
Geron is teaming up with the University of California to investigate the therapeutic potential of its human embryonic stem cell-based product, GRNOPC1, for Alzheimer’s disease. While the Menlo Park, California company is developing GRNOPC1 as a potential treatment for spinal cord injuries, Geron senior Chief Scientific Officer Jane Lebkowski says there are "striking parallels between recent data on mouse stem cells in Alzheimer’s disease models and what we know about GRNOPC1." Read More Here

Pay Now or Later
Increased co-payments for doctor visits boost healthcare costs for seniors.
Many health experts believe that one way to control cost for healthcare is to increase insurance co-payments for routine care. They reason that faced with a greater share of the expense, patients would cut down on unnecessary visits. Researchers at Brown University, though, say that practice – at least for senior citizens—actually makes care far more expensive because while elderly patients reduce their doctor visits, they ultimately require costly hospital care because of worsening health. Read More Here

AstraZeneca to Ax 8,000 more employees
The weekly round-up of failed trials, missed targets and other business mishaps.
AstraZeneca said it will eliminate an additional 8,000 jobs or about 12 percent of its workforce as it seeks to cut costs in the face of declining revenue and lowered its forecast for 2010. The announcement came as the company reported earnings that fell short of expectation. The company said the next five years will be difficult as key products come off-patent. AstraZeneca expects to save $1.8 billion a year as a result of the cuts by 2014, but would take a $2 billion restructuring charge. It also announced it would buyback up to $1 billion worth of its own stock. Read More Here

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