Bristol turns to blockbuster pipeline as Plavix goes generic

Posted under Blog, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Companies, Diagnostics, Eliquis, Funding, Generic, Hepatitis C, M&A, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Pipeline, Plavix, Startups, Universities, Videos, Yervoy by rmcbride

Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY) has enticed other drugmakers to mimic its strategy of buying up mid-sized biotechs, and the New York-based pharma has seen some of those bets pay off with approvals of drugs such as Yervoy, acquired from Medarex ($MEDX). With clot-buster Plavix facing generic competition, the company is banking on some more wins in its pipeline to replace revenue from declining sales of its top seller.

Plavix sales slipped 4% in the first quarter to $1.69 billion, while sales of newer meds such as melanoma treatment Yervoy and hepatitis B drug Baraclude made solid gains, Bloomberg reported. And the news service provided some analysis on the role of the company's top pipeline prospects, which promise to enable Bristol to weather the loss of Plavix to generics if approved.

For starters, the FDA is expected to make a decision on approval of Eliquis, Bristol and Pfizer's ($PFE) potential blockbuster blood thinner, by June 28. In the meantime, analysts are keeping an eye on Bristol's progress in the development of oral treatments for hepatitis C that don't require injections of interferon. Bristol upped its stake in the oral hepatitis C race in January with the $2.5 billion buyout of Inhibitex ($IHNX), and recently the company hitched up with Johnson & Johnson and Medivir on an interferon-free combo therapy. 

"We want to understand how [HepC is] going to fit into things," Les Funtleyder, an analyst and portfolio manager at Miller Tabak & Co., told Bloomberg. "There's going to be some combination therapy, and it almost certainly requires some partnering, because not everybody's going to have all that's required."

- check out Bloomberg's article

Special Report: Eliquis - 15 top blockbuster contenders

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Cancer immunotherapy partners face big test with Phase III program

Posted under Blog, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Companies, Dendreon, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Merck KgAA, Oncothyreon, Pharmaceuticals, Provenge, Startups, Stimuvax, Universities, Videos, Yervoy by Ryan McBride

Merck KGaA and Oncothyreon ($ONTY) will learn soon whether their lung cancer vaccine has a shot at being one of the next bright lights in the cancer immunotherapy arena, with an interim analysis set for this quarter expected to determine whether the pivotal trial for the program will continue, Reuters reported.

Cancer immunotherapies are among the most closely watched in oncology, and the approvals of Dendreon's ($DNDN) Provenge and Bristol-Myers Squibb's ($BMY) Yervoy have given developers of the immune-stimulating agents some faith that commercial opportunities—however fraught with challenges in the case of Provenge—await.

For Oncothyreon's lung cancer vaccine Stimuvax, which it licensed to Merck, the commercial prospects of the experimental treatment will be tested with the interim analysis. The analysis, which takes place once a certain number of patients in the trial have died, will determine whether the drug is working and the big trial should continue, or that its lack of effectiveness doesn't warrant further study, Reuters reported. The 1,514-patient study is testing whether Stimuvax provides at least a 6-month improvement in survival in people newly diagnosed with lung cancer.

"We would be perfectly content if the decision is to continue the trial to its end," Oncothyreon CEO Robert Kirkman told Reuters. "We still expect to have top-line data in 2012. If the trial continues, we would have those results in the second half."

If Stimuvax falls short, there are a bevy of players in the cancer immunotherapy field such as Roche ($RHHBY), GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) and smaller outfits that are making progress with their own programs.

- get more in the Reuters article

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Bristol CEO touts successful biopharma blitz after big hep C play

Posted under Adnexus Therapeutics, Blog, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Hepatitis C, Inhibitex, Medarex, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Mergers and Acquisitions, Pfizer, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos, Yervoy by Ryan McBride

Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY) mounted an enviable makeover from a diversified company to a biopharma force over the past several years, with the famed "String of Pearls" strategy advanced to buy biotechs that brought BMS new drugs and science. Bristol-Myers CEO Lamberto Andreotti told folks in San Francisco on Tuesday that his company is sticking to the dealmaking model to fuel further growth, The Associated Press reported.

Biotech dealmakers and analysts have cheered the buyout strategy. Bristol-Myers has been one of the most active acquirers of biotechs around and doubled down this week with plans to scoop up hepatitis C drug developer Inhibitex ($INHX) for $2.5 billion. While gobbling up biotechs including Medarex (developer of Yervoy) and Adnexus Therapeutics over the past 5 years, Bristol-Myers' stock has outperformed those of companies that have stayed diversified with nonbiopharma businesses such as Merck ($MRK) and Pfizer ($PFE).

"Diversification can take many forms. We have not felt the need to diversify into OTC or generics or diagnostics," Andreotti said during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, as quoted by the AP. He also noted: "Business development remains our top priority."

With the stellar results of Bristol's strategy, there are plenty of pharma groups that would like to rip a page out of its playbook. Teva Pharmaceutical, of course, made perhaps the most aggressive move to copy the playbook, poaching Bristol's chief dealmaker Jeremy Levin, who was named the Israel-based group's new chief executive. And Sanofi ($SNY) CEO Chris Viehbacher told Bloomberg this week about his own plans to string together a series of buyouts this year to the tune of $2.6 billion to boost growth (yet he's open to looking outside biopharma to areas such as animal health).

With 2012 forecast to be a big year of deals as big biotechs and pharmas patch up their pipelines, expect to hear about more CEOs sporting their own "String of Pearls" strategies.

- here's the AP story

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New Teva CEO expected to replicate "string of pearls" deal strategy

Posted under Blog, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Companies, Diagnostics, Funding, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Universities, Videos, Yervoy by John Carroll

Over the past two years, Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMY) has been widely lionized for its successful "string of pearls" approach to drug development. Now one of the chief authors of the strategy is headed to Teva ($TEVA), where analysts widely believe he'll try to replicate the strategy. And that could lead to some big paydays for biotechs which attract his interest.

Jeremy Levin, the Cambridge-educated senior vice president for strategy at BMS, has been tapped to fill the CEO post at Teva, which has been growing rapidly under outgoing CEO Shlomo Yanai. Now analysts expect Levin to start doing deals that can bring in drugs like Yervoy (Medarex buyout, 2009).

"His appointment clearly signals that Teva will remain acquisitive in building its brand business but at appropriate scale since Levin will likely attempt to recreate his "string of pearls" success," noted Barclays. "Indeed, this should alleviate investor concerns that Teva would make additional large acquisitions in order to achieve its 2015 guidance targets. In particular, we believe Levin will drive acquisitions in oncology, which has been a focus for Teva business development for some time, including the Cephalon acquisition."

"He's the perfect guy for this," Sphera Funds' Ori Hershkovitz tells Bloomberg. "If Jeremy can do one or two good product selections as he has done in the past for Bristol-Myers, that will be very, very good for Teva."  

- read the Globes story
- here's the report from Bloomberg