Oxford GlycoSciences/Teva: identifying Israeli opportunities

The deal is important, since 10-15% of Gaucher disease patients live in Israel. While it goes against OGS' intended strategy of marketing Vevesca alone, the deviation will be beneficial in the long run. Israel will not be as strong a market for OGS' later compounds, and a large licensing payment at this stage will help it establish salesforces in the key pharma markets.

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Pandemic flu: gaps in preparedness remain

The current outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) is testing pandemic preparedness strategies across the globe. While widely implemented strategies seem to have prepared the world better than ever before, important gaps regarding the logistics of drug and vaccine distribution remain.

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Pandemic threat reignites influenza vaccine market

The last few years have seen renewed interest in the vaccines market, overcoming the prevailing view that vaccines are a low-margin business with high barriers to entry. The flu vaccines market has been at the forefront of this trend, partially fuelled by fear of an impending pandemic. This trend is set to continue, although flu vaccine revenues will depend on ambitious coverage targets being met.

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Pediatric vaccines: unmet needs create opportunities

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Peptor: investigating additional indications in diabetes

DiaPep277 has already shown strong trial results for type I diabetes, which is in some ways similar to LADA. This makes the new investigation seem worthwhile. Approval would provide a new treatment option for an often-misdiagnosed subcategory of diabetic patients. It would also greatly increase the market potential of the drug, by allowing access to a much larger patient population.

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Personal health records will play an important role in the exchange of health information

Early successes in healthcare interoperability are paving the way for more health information exchanges in the near to mid future. Separate networks, including personal health records, will connect to form larger networks, and despite continuing skepticism surrounding the burgeoning technology, health information exchanges look set to become a typical part of the patient experience.

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Pfizer & Wyeth: opening the door for Big Pharma M&A

Pfizer's $68 billion move to acquire Wyeth has paved the way for further strategic realignments in the industry, as companies prepare for a raft of blockbuster patent expiries. In the wake of Pfizer's deal, Sanofi-Aventis has begun negotiations with banks in preparation for its own M&A activity while GlaxoSmithKline, still staying clear of mega-mergers, is making another round of job cuts.

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Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth brings scale but will fail to deliver sustainable sales growth

The Pfizer-Wyeth merger will create a prescription pharmaceutical company of unprecedented scale. The combined entity would have recorded total company sales in excess of $70 billion and prescription pharmaceutical sales of over $60 billion in 2008. However, the deal is not a solution to the companies' declining sales outlooks, and profit growth will only be achieved through further cost cutting.

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Pfizer's novel NGF pain drug is potential game changer

Phase II clinical trials of tanezumab in osteoarthritis, chronic low back pain and interstitial cystitis have demonstrated the drug's analgesic efficacy across these three chronic pain settings. Despite safety concerns and a high price point, Datamonitor expects tanezumab to enjoy a significant first-in-class advantage in a potentially lucrative novel area of pain therapy.

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Pfizer: announces staff cuts to refocus R&D

US healthcare giant Pfizer has announced that a further 800 jobs are to be terminated from its R&D department, bringing the total number of cuts since restructuring began in January 2007 to 14,600. The move follows the company's September 2008 announcement that it plans to focus its internal R&D capabilities on six core disease areas, and may herald further strategic realignment.

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