Not-For-Profit Makes Business Sense, Too
Executive Summary
Not-for-profit drug development and other charitable initiatives haven't had a hugely prominent role at Big Pharma in the past. But nowadays most Big Pharma can point to some sort of benevolent effort, and a few companies view such initiatives as more than just the right thing to do. They claim that not-for-profit R&D makes good business sense, too.
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Why Wyeth's Talking Up Vaccines
Given the near-term generic threats to over a third of its US drug revenues and two late-stage set-backs last year, Wyeth's vaccines business--basically the $3 billion-and-growing pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar--matters more than ever before. So, then, does eliminating an imminent competitive threat from GlaxoSmithKline, and a swift switch to follow-on Prevnar 13 in 2010. Indeed, vaccine chiefs at the other four big players-Sanofi-Aventis, Merck & Co. Inc., GlaxoSmithKline PLC, and Novartis AG-are likely to become more prominent, too. Vaccines may still account for only a small minority of revenues at these Big Pharma, but most saw far healthier growth in their vaccines business in 2007 than in therapeutics. That's why Sanofi, according to recent media reports, is out looking for vaccine acquisitions.
Why Wyeth's Talking Up Vaccines
Given the near-term generic threats to over a third of its US drug revenues and two late-stage set-backs last year, Wyeth's vaccines business--basically the $3 billion-and-growing pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar--matters more than ever before. So, then, does eliminating an imminent competitive threat from GlaxoSmithKline, and a swift switch to follow-on Prevnar 13 in 2010. Indeed, vaccine chiefs at the other four big players-Sanofi-Aventis, Merck & Co. Inc., GlaxoSmithKline PLC, and Novartis AG-are likely to become more prominent, too. Vaccines may still account for only a small minority of revenues at these Big Pharma, but most saw far healthier growth in their vaccines business in 2007 than in therapeutics. That's why Sanofi, according to recent media reports, is out looking for vaccine acquisitions.
Can Amgen Find a New Engine?
Amgen's string of misfortunes has highlighted the group's need to find an alternative growth engine--one which will, necessarily, look very different from the current anemia franchise. The biotech is leaning too heavily on osteoporosis and cancer candidate denosumab.