Pharmaceutical Executive-09-01-2002

The Senate's failure to approve a Medicare pharmacy benefit in August was not a big surprise on Capitol Hill, but it was disappointing to policy makers on all sides. Instead, the legislators adopted measures designed to make pharmaceuticals more affordable for all consumers.

Instead of developing innovative therapies, pharma companies devote most of their resources to modifying existing medications, according to a report from the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation (NIHCM).

Many more high-risk patients could benefit from statin therapy than currently receive the cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to a major UK study set up by the Medical Research Council and the British Heart Foundation.

Patient advocates recently surprised pharmacists and manufacturers by convincing an FDA advisory panel to recommend increased government scrutiny of its voluntary patient information policy. FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee met in July to review the status of a private sector initiative for distributing medication information to patients obtaining prescriptions in pharmacies.

Pharmaceutical companies and their marketing partners face a common dilemma: how to translate scientific progress into market success. Despite huge investments, R&D never seems to produce an adequate number of products with blockbuster potential.

A CenterWatch survey of 545 European clinical trial investigators named the best pharma companies to work with in clinical development.

Shares in Danish company Novo Nordisk took a hit after it suspended trials for one of its main pipeline candidates, the dual-acting insulin sensitizer, ragaglitazar.

Spurred by concerns about rising drug expenditures, the Netherlands' government has introduced a list of "lifestyle" medicines that it intends to stop covering with its basic health insurance.

In a new twist on "direct mail campaigns," marketers at Eli Lilly have taken DTC to an unprecedented level. The company is currently under investigation by the Florida attorney general for allegedly mailing Prozac Weekly (fluoxetine) to a woman who did not have, or request, a prescription for the product.

Pharma companies invested a hefty $12 billion in promoting to physicians and consumers in 2001, according to Scott-Levin. But after the highs of 2000, spending in 2001 seemed stunted-a growth rate of 9 versus 13 percent.

Sixteen years ago I began to edit Pharmaceutical Executive, a magazine unknown to me only a few months before. Today, I wonder how much I've learned in all the time since.

The number of pharmaceuticals derived from nature is staggering. Many medicine cabinet staples were first isolated from natural sources-penicillin from mold, quinine from the cinchona tree, digitalis (foxglove) for heart ailments, and the list goes on.

The Enron/Arthur Andersen debacle has been a painful warning that there is more to analyzing corporate performance than the smoke and mirrors that often pass for accounting and financial scrutiny. Indicators such as brand value, new product revenue, presence and percentage of business conducted in the US market, and sales growth provide more reliable criteria for companies' short and long-term prospects.

Aventis announced plans to cut R&D costs by spinning out a stake in one of its research units. The private equity house Warburg Pincus will invest 60 million euro in ProSkelia, taking a 58 percent share.