Nevertheless, Teva clearly wants to believe that it is a company that can work with both innovative products and generics, even if it is switching from applying a generic mindset to brands (minimise risk and cost) to applying a branded mindset to generics (try...
The waning power of brands
Not so long ago, it was possible to make a simple distinction between branded and unbranded generic markets in Europe. In unbranded markets, either doctors wrote INN scripts or else pharmacists were happy to substitute generics against a branded prescription. As a result, manufacturers...
Is big pharma thinking twice about the lure of generics?
A couple of news items recently have provided some support for our long-held view that big pharma companies are unlikely to sustain their current interest in generics once they get over the patent cliff and return to earnings growth driven by innovative drugs. The...
Mylan’s tie-up with Pfizer should kick-start growth in Japan
Mylan announced last week that it will join forces with Pfizer’s Established Products division in Japan to sell generic drugs. Pfizer will be responsible for marketing, while Mylan does product development and manufacturing. The collaboration will apparently involve at least 350 existing marketed products,...
EGA meeting highlights the risk of basket pricing
Given that even companies operating from very low cost countries still need to invest in their businesses, the obvious question is why any generics producer would actually supply products under the Dutch preference policy (or to the German tenders, or to the UK pharmacy...
Soul searchng at Teva as Dr Levin takes charge
At a hastily-arranged conference call a couple of weeks ago, the new CEO of Teva, Jeremy Levin, announced a downgrade of Teva’s forecast earnings for 2012 and talked a little about the business review that he is conducting and about his search for Teva’s...
URL purchase shows how PE can make money in generics
The recent announcement by Takeda that it is paying $800m (plus an undisclosed earn-out) to acquire the private US pharma company URL, is a reminder that there is money to be made by private equity in generics. It also offers a big clue as...
Watson/Actavis: Deja vu all over again
Rumours have surfaced that Watson is working on the acquisition of Actavis, with the apparent transaction value being somewhere in the range of €4.5-5.5bn. As Watson was also one of the bidders when Actavis was up for sale in 2008, but chose to walk...
The sun shines (briefly) over Budapest
The last couple of weeks have seen positive news for Richter, slightly lifting the gloom over the company’s prospects in an increasingly tough pricing environment. Firstly – and more immediately significantly – the EMA approved Esmya, Richter’s innovative treatment for uterine fibroids. This product...
Actavis finally ties the knot with Bioton
Actavis announced earlier this week that it had finally tied up an agreement with the Polish company Bioton, having first mooted it in September 2010. According to the press release, Actavis will pay Bioton €22.25m immediately and a further €33.25m in instalments, if certain...