Biosimilar and Biobetter Opportunity

Today I was listening to Podcast by Michael Kamarck President, Head Merck Bio ventures.......he said that at present Bio better and innovative drug have great future and that Merck in recent years has been keen in Bio better development and but in long run like all the big pharma Merck will venture in Bio similar's .......and already Merck in into two Bio similar product development.

 Later on he discussed about Merck pipeline , it already has Antibody in clinical trials for Solid tumours, two antibodies for Anti inflammatory for Phase 2....and now New Merck has many products in pipeline after last year M&A.........

Listen more at:http://biopharminternational.findpharma.com/biopharm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=677150

FICCI- ABLE-Indian Biopharma- Update1

Last week on Monday July 12th I got invitation to attend National Biopharma convention organized by FICCI, ABLE in collaboration with government of India and Indian Biopharmaceutical companies.....

I am going to write the issues in Series so this is the first issue related to the points discussed over the conference.

According to Indian Bio pharma industry there were issues majorly related to
-Operational cost of running a bio pharmaceutical manufacturing plant
-Cost of the instruments and media related to biopharmaceutical development and production
-Involvement of more local players related to development and production of instruments, media and other lab requirements for Biopharma industry.
-Mr Sanjiv, VP product development from Cadila emphasized be one window concept which should be developed for regulatory approval
-Speakers also raised issues related to clinical trial development

India Biopharma Proposal

Currently India is a significant player in the global Biopharmaceutical Industry. To enhance its presence the Indian Industry and the Government need to join hands to address key issues and challenges to achieve and maintain a globally competitive and sustainable industry. FICCI has organized a one day national convention to offer platform to all stakeholders to identify areas where Industry needs facilitation and brainstorm with Government on how it can be done effectively. The conference deliberations will be an input to a Strategy paper being developed by Department of Pharmaceuticals for the Biopharma Industry. Key topics that the convention will cover include

· Manufacturing: Increasing Capacities and Efficiencies

·Infrastructure and HRD: Infrastructure for Product Development and Evaluation & Harnessing Indigenous Skills and addressing talent

·Challenges and Opportunities: Complexity in Development and Impact of Cost Constraint

·Regulations for Biopharma: Ensuring patient safety and enabling growth

The issues identified and discussed during this convention will be compiled and submitted to the Government for support and necessary action.

Next thing i wish pharma

Now a days after coming from office I have become addicted to How met you mother Series, last year this time I had finished sex and the city all seasons....thanks to my cousin in LA Manjul....for introducing me to Jimmy choo, Vogue .......and Carrie Bradshaw

Leaving apart my sense of fashion the following news headlines intrigued my brain

v     Sanofi going for $20 Billion deal in Biotechnology deal and like wise Lilly has also announced for more M&A this year

v     Abbott Laboratories is in market to sell its vaccines unit it gained after acquisition of Solvay Pharmaceuticals ($6.2bn)

v     Eli Lilly driving for enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) market and it is going to acquire of US based biotechnology firm Alnara Pharmaceuticals.

v     Some 5 years back Apt it acquired Quintiles pre clinical business and now Aptuit has again acquired GSK R&D unit in Italy....it’s a very good strategic expansion for a CRO which is majorly into preclinical studies.

After this news update what I am still awaiting for is the next biggest Bio similar deal in Indian peninsula

India Inc. Intra nasal H1N1 Vaccine

Last week Saturday Pune based Serum institute of India launched VaxiFlu-S (purified A (H1N1) flu vaccine) indigenous vaccine in New Delhi, This vaccine will be available in the Indian market within next 10 days, and last year Pune had been the epicenter for Swine flu, hope this year it will have enough resources to fight.

For more read the following link

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article487465.ece

India Biogeneric.........for double digit dollar revenue

One of the largest generic manufacturer of India Inc Cipla is planning to launch its own line of Bio similar products, in a press release Cipla's chairman Yusuf Hamied said that he plans to invest in companies in India and Hong Kong who will be able to produce so-called monoclonal antibodies. The technology will enable Mumbai-based Cipla to have access to products modelled bio equivalence to Roche’s Avastin, Herceptin cancer drugs and Amgen’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel.

PS: Cipla is the largest supplier of HIV drugs:)

Link:http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-16/cipla-targets-19-billion-a-year-roche-amgen-drugs-update2-.html

Europe's Big Daddies for Active M&A

Last year after the present Sanofi's new CEO joined the board from GSK, Sanofi has been aggressively into Mergers and Acquisitions, now another big giant to look for is Bayer for long time Bayer has been into active patent portfolio management and out licensing but as we have new CEO on board we have many mergers and acquisition awaiting from Bayer's end.
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Yesterday I was reading some analyst report in which they have mentioned about some companies for which venture capitalists have high hopes, they include the following

-RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Nasdaq: RXII): RXi's proprietary sd-rxRNA molecules has a unique 'self delivery' property.
-Northwest Bio therapeutics (OTC BB: NWBO.OB): Northwest Bio therapeutics' vaccine to combat brain cancer
-Dendreon Corporation's (NASDAQ: DNDN): Dendreon announced recently that their drug Provenge for treatment for prostate cancer has been approved by FDA.

Sanofi deal Update -2010-Q2

In my last article I had mentioned about Sanofi Aventis generic market penetration in emerging markets, today morning the news was that Sanofi is interested in venturing into Ophthalmology domain and in the news it was also mentioned that last year as it had closed 33 deals it is going to close the same number of deals by this year end......An interesting observation is that last year Abbott was the company which had invested heavily in Ophthalmology segment but this year with Sanofi eyeing this therapeutic landscape we will have tough neck to neck competition between the two giants in Ophthalmology therapy landscape in the coming decade.

Read more in http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/Sanofi-RD-sets-sight-on-eye-diseases-2010-06-03T081726Z-INTERVIEW