Profitability: A Mixed Blessing for Celltech

Celltech's early profits have come from unexciting, low growth specialty pharma products rather than from a breakthrough in its innovative biotechnology pipeline. Now, the challenge for new CEO Göran Ando is to prove that Celltech's focus remains R&D, not specialty pharmaceuticals. With few promising late-stage in-house projects other than CDP 870, generic threats to the revenue source, and the straitjacket that comes with profitability, Ando has plenty on his plate. But his experience, both broadly within the industry and with CDP 870 in particular, suggest he's well placed to take Celltech to a new level of profitability.