Nevertheless, Teva clearly wants to believe that it is a company that can work with both innovative products and generics, even if it is switching from applying a generic mindset to brands (minimise risk and cost) to applying a branded mindset to generics (try...
The waning power of brands
Not so long ago, it was possible to make a simple distinction between branded and unbranded generic markets in Europe. In unbranded markets, either doctors wrote INN scripts or else pharmacists were happy to substitute generics against a branded prescription. As a result, manufacturers...
Is big pharma thinking twice about the lure of generics?
A couple of news items recently have provided some support for our long-held view that big pharma companies are unlikely to sustain their current interest in generics once they get over the patent cliff and return to earnings growth driven by innovative drugs. The...
EGA meeting highlights the risk of basket pricing
Given that even companies operating from very low cost countries still need to invest in their businesses, the obvious question is why any generics producer would actually supply products under the Dutch preference policy (or to the German tenders, or to the UK pharmacy...
URL purchase shows how PE can make money in generics
The recent announcement by Takeda that it is paying $800m (plus an undisclosed earn-out) to acquire the private US pharma company URL, is a reminder that there is money to be made by private equity in generics. It also offers a big clue as...
Watson/Actavis: Deja vu all over again
Rumours have surfaced that Watson is working on the acquisition of Actavis, with the apparent transaction value being somewhere in the range of €4.5-5.5bn. As Watson was also one of the bidders when Actavis was up for sale in 2008, but chose to walk...
Mylan joins the queue for generic Advair
Mylan announced last Wednesday that it would spend $17.5m to purchase the worldwide rights* to Pfizer’s generic version of GSK’s blockbuster respiratory drug, Advair. In addition, it will take on a group of Pfizer scientists based in Sandwich in the UK, the site of...
Acino snaps up Cephalon’s MENA portfolio
Acino announced this morning that it is to pay €80m for the MENA assets of Cephalon, the acquisition of which by Teva also closed today. As an Israeli company, Teva is precluded from operating in a number of Middle Eastern territories, and clearly decided...
Hikma buys in Morocco – what’s not to like?
Looking at Promopharm’s historic sales development, which has been much slower than the Moroccan market as a whole, we get the impression that the company has been somewhat dozy in the past. Hikma clearly thinks so too, as it plans to increase the size...
Bad news from Bad Vilbel: Stada’s woes deepen
These are difficult days for Stada. The announcement that it was taking a further write-down of receivables in Serbia of close to €100m – equivalent to more than a year of Serbian sales – led to a 19% decline in the company’s share price...