Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category
May
15
Posted under
AstraZeneca,
Blog,
Companies,
David Brennan,
Diagnostics,
Europe,
Funding,
layoffs,
Medical Devices,
Medical Supply,
Pharmaceuticals,
R&D,
Startups,
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AstraZeneca isn't wasting any time in pushing ahead with draconian cuts to its neuroscience work in its big R&D hub south of Stockholm. The first 50 scientists have already been shown the door, according to local news reports, part of the first wave of 400 job cuts as AstraZeneca ($AZN) slashes a total of 1,100 positions at the research complex.
"The first 50 left two weeks ago. Some will leave during the summer and others early this autumn and the whole move should be completed in December," AstraZeneca spokesperson Ann-Leena Mikiver told news agency TT. AstraZeneca has been inviting in companies to interview some of the exiting staffers, reports The Local, an English language news service. And the pharma giant is also offering advice to would-be entrepreneurs during "start-up days."
Following a number of rival pharma companies like GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), AstraZeneca has been radically downsizing its exposure in the neurosciences, a field that has delivered far more disappointments than new products in recent years. In place of its big facility AstraZeneca will go "virtual" with 40 to 50 scientists working out of Boston and Cambridge, U.K., collaborating with academics and other biotechs around the world.
AstraZeneca had already cut more than 20,000 workers in the last 5 years before announcing plans to shed another 7,300 staffers worldwide. Generic competition has begun to bite deep into profits and AstraZeneca has been given harsh reviews for its late-stage pipeline, a situation that helped inspire the recent departure of CEO David Brennan.
- here's the story from The Local
Special Report: AstraZeneca - Top 10 pharma layoffs of 2011
Related Articles:
Brennan's ouster at AstraZeneca sets stage for big changes in R&D
AstraZeneca faces resistance to job cuts on home turf
Ax hovers over 3,000 more AstraZeneca jobs, U.K. papers say
Novartis joins exodus from traditional R&D neuroscience drug work
May
15
Posted under
Blog,
Cellzome,
Companies,
Diagnostics,
drug screening,
Europe,
Funding,
GlaxoSmithKline,
inflammation,
M&A,
Medical Devices,
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Pharmaceuticals,
proteomics,
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Videos by john
Four years after it first clambered aboard Cellzome's drug discovery platform, GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) has opted to buy out the company for $98 million, snagging full rights to a pair of early-stage inflammation programs and a proteomics technology that it plans to use to screen drug candidates. In the deal GSK will cherry-pick the assets it likes, leaving room for a spinoff company to take shape with the unclaimed portion of work being carried out in labs in Cambridge, U.K. and Heidelberg, Germany.
In announcing the acquisition, in which GSK will add all the outstanding shares the pharma giant didn't already own, the R&D division had high praise for technology capable of spying drug interactions with target proteins in what it called a close proximity to a "whole biological system."
"The acquisition of Cellzome adds significantly to our scientific capabilities and capacity to characterize drug targets and provides the opportunity to further enhance GSK's ability to bring medicines to patients in a more effective manner," said John Baldoni, senior vice president, platform and technology science, at GSK.
GSK had partnered on two early-stage drug programs with Cellzome, but the company hasn't specified exactly what is being spun off into a new company. GSK has been an active dealmaker in recent years, licensing and buying new drug technologies as it creates new drug development units in R&D. This is the first time it's acquired a new platform technology, though, in 5 years.
- here's the press release
Related Articles:
GSK development team tackles a new drug class at Yale
GSK's epigenetics team tests promising leukemia drug in mice
Cellzome partners with GSK on inflammatory diseases
May
14
Posted under
Blog,
Companies,
Diagnostics,
Europe,
Funding,
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Medical Supply,
Merck KgAA,
Pharmaceuticals,
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Universities,
Videos by john
Whipped into action by the stunning news that Merck KGaA plans to shutter Serono's big Geneva facility, FiercePharma reports that workers are preparing a strike, claiming that the pharma company has been sugarcoating the big layoffs being planned. When it made its initial announcement, the German company said that it planned to transfer 750 workers. But employee groups say that few are willing to take the transfers, as they are being offered "really unattractive" pay packages. And investigators are claiming the company's cumbersome decision-making process has caused poor productivity of recent years. A strike is being threatened for tomorrow. Story
May
03
Posted under
Andrew Witty,
AstraZeneca,
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David Brennan,
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Europe,
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GlaxoSmithKline,
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GSK ($GSK) chief Andrew Witty (photo) quickly dismissed any idle speculation that he might be interested in buying the struggling British rival AstraZeneca ($AZN). A buyout, he said, would be "very distracting". Some analysts have been wondering if David Brennan's departure at Astra would set the stage for a big merger. But such megadeals are in distinct disfavor right now. Story