AbbVie took the top two TV drug ad spending spots with its immunology duo Rinvoq and Skyrizi, respectively, in December as it looks to cement its place as the pharma with the deepest direct-to-consumer pockets. AbbVie spent nearly identical amounts on all DTCs for each drug: $39.8 million for Rinvoq across its five spots and $39.7 million for Skyrizi across seven spots. In November, the positions of the two drugs were swapped, with Skyrizi taking the top spot and Rinvoq coming in second. Coming in third place was rival Dupixent, marketed by Sanofi and Regeneron, with a much smaller $27.6 million spent across its ads for the blockbuster med. And Pfizer has suddenly started to spend big on its new RSV vaccine Abrysvo, coming in fourth place with a strong spend of $18 million last month, more than five times the $4 million it spent in November. In fifth place ...
By PharmaCompass BMS buys Karuna for US$ 14 billion; Astra-Ionis’ nerve damage drug bags FDA nod This week’s Phispers is a double bill with news from last week and the first days of the New Year. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and AstraZeneca have been on year-end shopping sprees with the former picking up Karuna Therapeutics for a whopping US$ 14 billion and the latter expanding its already dominant presence in China through an acquisition and a deal. Novo Nordisk is investing over US$ 2 billion, this time in Ireland, to meet the skyrocketing demand for its blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. In drug approvals, AstraZeneca and Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ drug Wainua became the first self-administered treatment in the United States for a rare nerve damage disease. In trial news, a potential first-in-class small molecule that was on course to becoming the first new drug approved in 20 years ...
Don Tracy, Associate Editor Company cites potential safety risks for patients who ignore the intended indication of Mounjaro and Zepbound. In a letter to the public, Eli Lilly and Company warned against the use of its medicines for cosmetic weight loss. Citing the fact that neither Mounjaro or Zepbound are indicated for cosmetic purposes, the pharma company stressed that both are intended to treat serious diseases, with Mounjaro focusing on type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for obesity in specific BMI ranges of a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or greater or those who are overweight with a BMI ≥ 27 kg/m2 or greater. Additionally, caution is advised for patients with severe gastrointestinal conditions and the medications should only be prescribed by licensed healthcare professionals. “Patients should consult with their healthcare providers to determine whether Mounjaro or Zepbound is right for them,” the company stated in a press release. “Mounjaro and Zepbound ...
Eli Lilly has created a website to make it easier for patients to access medicines including its hot obesity drug Zepbound. The website, LillyDirect, combines telehealth and pharmacy services to provide access to Lilly’s portfolio of diabetes, migraine and obesity medicines. Companies including the weight loss program providers Noom and WeightWatchers have begun offering telehealth services to help people access Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. Drugmakers have kept in their lane, though, developing and manufacturing medicines without getting into the business of connecting patients to physicians and delivering products to their homes. LillyDirect marks a shift in strategy, at least for Lilly. The website features sections to help people access healthcare, either remotely or in person, and details of how to send prescriptions to LillyDirect Pharmacy Solutions to get home deliveries of Lilly drugs. Lilly CEO David Ricks set out the thinking behind LillyDirect in a statement, framing the ...
Even with the Federal Trade Commission keeping a watchful eye on the biopharma industry and the economic landscape giving some players pause, mergers and acquisitions are back on the rise. And it is with cautious optimism that industry watchers see the trend continuing in 2024. Wielding plenty of firepower, drugmakers are more likely to make higher-value deals in the new year as they address growth challenges that loom later in the decade because of patent cliffs and the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act. “Executives will continue to deploy cash balances and seek out areas of innovation and clinical differentiation,” PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote in its Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences: U.S. Deals 2024 Outlook. “As regulators’ perspectives on key deal factors become better understood, there may be a return of larger deals, along with continued interest in the $5 billion to $15 billion deals to fill targeted strategic gaps.” Look no further ...
Following an IPO and ahead of its fiscal 2023 earnings release next month, German drug containment and delivery specialist Schott Pharma is trumpeting its recent momentum. Over the course of its 2023 fiscal year, Schott Pharma charted a 9% year-over-year revenue boost to €899 million (about $986 million), the company said Tuesday. For comparison, the company pulled down €821 million in fiscal year 2022. Schott credited the gains to the expansion of its production capabilities, especially as they pertain to drug delivery systems and new production lines for prefillable polymer syringes in Germany. Schott partners with a range of drugmakers in the biopharma industry. The company and its products are involved in several significant trends, such as the GLP-1 treatments from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, plus mRNA vaccines from Moderna. Schott’s revenue win comes more than a year after the company set out on its own. Back in August ...
A BMJ investigation has shone a spotlight on the marketing of semaglutide in the U.K., raising questions about the effectiveness of regulatory oversight of materials on the weight loss and diabetes treatment. Novo Nordisk is the marketing authorization holder for semaglutide, the active ingredient in diabetes drug Ozempic and obesity therapy Wegovy, but the results of online searches for the molecule include pharmacy websites unrelated to the drugmaker. The BMJ looked into whether any of those pages break the rules on the advertising of prescription drugs and how authorities in the U.K. respond to allegations of illegal promotion. A complaint filed by academics in the U.K. and Sweden forms the centerpiece of the report. Writing to the U.K. drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the academics said they were “appalled” to find Pharmadoctor, a provider of clinical services to pharmacists, was marketing Wegovy “directly to the ...
Pfizer already reported its experimental drug for hemophilia A and B met a pivotal study’s goals of reducing bleeding episodes. During the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, the company presented a full look at the results, which are expected to support regulatory submissions soon. By FRANK VINLUAN Patients with hemophilia A or B can manage the inherited bleeding disorders with regular infusions of the clotting proteins they lack. This treatment helps—until it doesn’t. One problem with these infused factor replacement therapies is patients can develop inhibitors, which are antibodies that render the clotting proteins ineffective. Experimental Pfizer drug marstacimab takes a different approach to both forms of hemophilia. Results from a pivotal study show the subcutaneously injected drug met the main goals of reducing bleeding episodes. The company also has some additional long-term data showing continuing improvement beyond the initial clinical trial evaluation period. The full Phase ...
By Tyler Patchen Pictured: Sign at Pfizer’s headquarters in New York/iStock, JHVEPhoto Pfizer on Friday said it is scrapping an investigational twice-daily oral Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist candidate after topline data from a Phase IIb trial of obese patients without type 2 diabetes showed high rates of adverse events. While the trial did reach the primary endpoint of a statistically significant change in body weight, there were high rates of adverse events. According to Pfizer, the adverse events in the obesity trial for the twice-daily dosing of GLP-1 danuglipron were mild and included gastrointestinal symptoms that were “consistent with the mechanism” of the candidate. However, the company noted high rates of these side effects. Up to 73% of patients experienced ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: NASDAQ Stock Exchange headquarters Carmot Therapeutics on Friday filed for an initial public offering (IPO), banking on its pipeline of GLP-1 agonists and the multibillion-dollar potential of the obesity market. Carmot did not disclose how many shares of its common stock will be put up for sale or its projected earnings from the planned offering. The company expects to wrap up its IPO before the year closes, after which it will trade on Nasdaq under the proposed ticker CRMO, according to a Nov. 17 SEC filing. The California-based biotech is advancing a pipeline of “life-changing therapeutics for people living with metabolic diseases,” particularly obesity and diabetes, per the SEC filing. One of its most mature candidates is CT-868, a dual agonist of both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors, both of which play crucial roles in the regulation of insulin secretion, appetite and weight. CT-868 is being ...
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