Who's A Freier? Teva Freezes Israeli Job Cuts Amid Government Pressure
Faced with an outcry over plans to eliminate 800 jobs in Israel as part of a global cost-cutting campaign, Teva Pharmaceuticals has temporarily frozen plans to fire those workers while talks are held simultaneously with the government and a key labor union, according to reports.
The drugmaker, which is one of the biggest employers in Israel, backed off amid outrage that the government provided roughly $3.4 billion in tax breaks between 2006 and 2011 in order to encourage capital investment, while not paying any corporate taxes. Teva employs about 8,000 people in Israel.
“I’m not pleased with the tax benefits that the l...
Source: Pharmalot - October 16, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Teva Director: 'Generic Copaxone Will Come In 2015, If At All'
Last week, Teva Pharmaceuticals announced plans to accelerate a $2 billion cost-cutting plan by axing 5,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its global workforce. The move reflects as the drugmaker faces generic rivals as early as next year for its all-important Copaxone multiple sclerosis treatment, which generates about half of company earnings and dominates the MS market (back story). But Teva director Chaim Hurvitz tells Globes that the cuts, which is prompting Israeli workers to consider a strike (see this), are also due to higher taxes and may not be as bad as some Israelis fear. Here is an excerpt of his interview..
On the jo...
Source: Pharmalot - October 14, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Teva To Cut 5,000 Jobs As Key Drug Patent Expiration Looms
Faced with a looming patent expiration for its biggest-selling drug, Teva Pharmaceuticals is accelerating a $2 billion cost-cutting plan that was begun less than a year ago by cutting 5,000 employees, which amounts to roughly 10 percent of its global workforce.
The drugmaker also intends to take other, unspecified steps that involve “selective trimming of assets that no longer fit its core business or are not critical to its future,” and “scale down oversized parts of the company,” according to a statement.
The move comes less than three months after a US court invalidated the 2015 patent on its Copaxone multiple s...
Source: Pharmalot - October 10, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Pharmalot... Pharmalittle... Good Morning
PHARMALOT... PHARMALITTLE... GOOD MORNING
Hello, everyone, and welcome back from the weekend. Hope you had a relaxing time and feel refreshed, because the usual routine of meetings and deadlines is resuming. To brace ourselves, we stopped at a favorite grocery to stock up on the necessary ingredients to brew countless cups of stimulation. Our flavor today is Pumpkin Spice. So please grab your own cup of something stimulating and join us. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits to get you started. Hope your day goes well and you conquer the world...
Glaxo Exec Returns To China As 18 Employees Are Detained (Bloomberg News)
Pfizer S...
Source: Pharmalot - July 29, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Social Media Suggests An MS Dogfight Between Biogen And Novartis
Over the past month, surveying the track record for the newly launched Tecfidera multiple sclerosis pill has become a closely watched exercise on Wall Street. Each week, analysts pore over prescription data to gauge the extent to which the drug, which is sold by Biogen Idec, is capturing market share and how many billions of dollars in sales may be generated this year (back story).
Last week, for instance Tecfidera prescriptions rose 27 percent, a substantial increase, although less than the 37 percent gain noticed during the previous week. Not surprisingly, some of this reflects patients who are switching from older MS ...
Source: Pharmalot - May 23, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Using Social Media as an Early Predictor of a New Drug's Market Share
According to Gideon Mantel, co-founder and CEO of Treato, social media can predict the success of a new drug launch much faster than traditional methods."Many pharmaceutical companies try to measure the success of their launch based on weekly script trends," said Mantel in a blog post (here). "The difference between social media data and data derived from prescriptions is significant: social media data can predict the future, while script data record the past."To illustrate this, Treato looked at patient-written social media posts on over 2,000 health blogs and forums to find mentions of Tecfidera (formerly called BG-12 du...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - May 22, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: social media Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 19-year-old woman with bilateral leg weakness
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 19-year-old woman is admitted to the hospital because of a 2-week history of bilateral leg weakness and numbness accompanied by urinary incontinence that began after a viral gastrointestinal illness of 3 days’ duration. She has no personal or family medical history of note and takes no medication.
On physical examination, temperature is 36.7 °C (98.1 °F), blood pressure is 96/55 mm Hg, and pulse rate is 66/min. Bilateral leg weakness, loss of sensation below the umbilicus, and hyperreflexia in the lower...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 13, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Conditions Neurology Source Type: blogs
Teva Petitions FDA To Delay Biogen MS Drug
In the latest gambit by a drugmaker to derail a looming competitive threat, Teva Pharmaceuticals recently filed a citizen’s petition to ask the FDA not to approve a forthcoming multiple sclerosis treatment from Biogen Idec without first holding an advisory committee meeting.
For those who may not recall, Teva sells Copaxone, an injectable medicine that accounts for roughly 20 percent of revenue. This explains why the Israeli drugmaker – which is best known for selling generics, but wants to build a bigger brand-name business – is worried about Biogen and its BG-12 pill, which Wall Street thinks will be a...
Source: Pharmalot - January 10, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Biogen Idec Gilenya MS Multiple Sclerosis Novartis Teva Pharmaceuticals Tysabri Source Type: blogs
Finally! A Study of a “Generic” MS Med
This study will compare the efficacy of a generic form of Glatiramer Acetate (known as generic Glatiramer Acetate, Synthon BV or “GTR” for short) with the braded Glatiramer Acetate marketed as Copaxone.
I’ve never used Copaxone but know of many people who have been quite happy with their success using this drug.
The cities which have centers studying GTR are:
Charlotte, NC
Charlottesville, VA
Dayton, OH
Downey, CA
Elk Grove Village, IL
Fairfield, CT
Franklin, TN
Gilbert, AZ
Indiana, PA
Long Beach, CA
Louisville, KY
Maitland, FL
New London, CT
Northbrook, IL
Port Charlotte, FL
Raleigh, NC
Sunrise, FL
Tampa, FL
If you...
Source: Life with MS - January 7, 2013 Category: Other Conditions Authors: admin Tags: MS research MS treatment multiple sclerosis medication Source Type: blogs
Fil in the blanks
The filgrastim adcomm isn’t the end of the debate. There are still many issues yet to be determined via FDA guidance (such as nomenclature) and corporate strategy (read, “pricing”). As BIO’s Jim Greenwood said, “This week’s advisory committee meetings facilitated important discussion of the scientific approach of reviewing biosimilar applications and we encourage this positive momentum, however, we believe the appropriate way to develop policy on such a significant new approval pathway is through published guidance documents with the opportunity for public comment, rather than through single-application adviso...
Source: drugwonks.com Blog - September 6, 2007 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: blogs
Truth, Justice, and -- Copaxone
In addition to the complicated question of FDA regulation of Non-Biologic Complex Drugs (NBCDs), there's the legal morass of patent legislation. Per the latest on that front, BioCentury reports thatU.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday voiced skepticism about arguments from both sides in the petition by Teva to overturn an appeals court decision that invalidated the company’s process patent for multiple sclerosis blockbuster drug Copaxone. (Source: drugwonks.com Blog)
Source: drugwonks.com Blog - September 6, 2007 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: blogs
