Bio/Pharma Business

Osaka, Japan (Feb. 2)-Tanabe Seiyaku Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation agreed to merge, with the closing planned for merger scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, 2007.

Sixty deals were completed in 2006, with a total value of $2 billion.

Tokyo (Jan. 18)-Tanabe Seiyaku Co. Ltd. confirmed it has had discussions with Mitsubishi Pharma Corporation over a possible merger between the two companies, but that no definite decision has been made for such a deal.

London (Feb. 1)-AstraZeneca PLC unveiled a plan to improve asset utilization within its global supply chain that involves rationalizing production assets and cutting staff. The company made the announcement as part of its fourth quarter and full-year 2007 financial results.

The recent struggles of Cardinal Health's and Patheon's contract dose manufacturing businesses offer a lesson on good business practices.

Cardinal Health (www.cardinal.com) agreed to sell its contract services unit, Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services (PTS), to The Blackstone Group (New York, NY, www.blackstone.com) for roughly $3.3 billion in cash.

Indianapolis, IN (Jan. 11)-Eli Lilly and Company announced several strategic changes to its global manufacturing operations. The changes include termination of construction of a planned insulin manufacturing plant in Virginia, staff reductions in its operations for small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and investments in manufacturing biotech-based drug products

Darmstadt Germany (Jan. 8)-Merck KGaA closed on its roughly CHF 16.6 billion ($13.3 billion) deal to acquire a majority stake in the European biotechnology company Serono (Geneva, Switzerland), officially launched Merck Serono SA as a new entity within Merck KGaA, outlined its integration strategy, and announced plans to divest its generics business.

Berlin and Leverkusen, Germany (Dec. 29)? Bayer Schering Pharma AG was officially launched as a new company following the acquisition of Schering AG (Berlin, Germany) by the Bayer Group (Leverkusen, Germany).

Hafnarfjordur, Iceland (Dec. 21)-The generic drug manufacturer Actavis Group is expanding its manufacturing capabilities in India and plans to close a facility in Norway.

The recent struggles of Cardinal Health's and Patheon's contract dose manufacturing businesses offer a lesson on good business practices.

Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo) will sell three European plants to the Temmler Group (Marburg, Germany), a pharmaceutical company and contract manufacturer. The move is part of Astellas's plan to reduce the number its production sites.

Biotechnology stocks dropped 14% in 2006, giving up more than half of the value they'd picked up during a "stellar" 2005, according to G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company (www.burrillandco.com), the venture and merhant banking company. "Overall, it wasn't a great year for biotech," said Burrill in a year-end analysis, indicating that the biotechnology industry will finish the year with its collective market capitalization essentially unchanged, at approximately $490 billion. As for the future, biotechnology will continue to fuel a the transformation in healthcare, a tansformation emphasizing earlier disease detection, more targeted treatments, and adjunctive support through enhanced nutrition. We will see further progress on the personalized, predictive, preventative front...with new products targeting the "individualization" of medicine in the marketplace. Other predictions for 2007 include...

Basel, Switzerland (Dec. 5)-Lonza Group Ltd. and Singapore?s Bio*One Capital have formed a joint venture, Lonza Biologics Tuas, to build a large-scale mammalian cell-culture facility in Singapore for as much as $350 million.

Bothell, WA (December 12)?If the shareholders of biotechnology company Icos Corp. approve a proposed buyout by Eli Lilly and Co., all of Icos?s 700 employees will lose their jobs.

Dec. 11, 2006 (Rockville, MD)-Effective Jan. 16, 2007, Scott Gottlieb, MD, deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs at the US Food and Drug Administration, will leave the agency and will return to the American Enterprise Institute.

Princeton, NJ (Nov. 30)-Rockwood Holdings, Inc. agreed to sell its Group Novasep subsidiary for EUR 425 million ($567 million) to a consortium of buyers consisting of Glide Buyout Partners BV, Banexi Capital, and Group Novasep management.

Rockville, MD ( Dec. 4)-The U.S. Pharmacopeia plans to open a 10,500-square-foot site in Shanghai in February 2007. The facility, in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, will support collaborative testing, technical assistance, customer service, and training.

Whitehouse Station, NJ, (Dec. 6)-Merck & Co., Inc. expects the initial phase of its cost-reduction program, first announced in 2005, to yield cumulative pretax savings of $4.5?5.0 billion from 2006 through 2010, with roughly $2 billion of that coming from implementing its manufacturing supply strategy.

Dublin, OH (Nov. 30)-Cardinal Health has announced plans to divest its Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services (PTS) segment, "a business that manufactures or packages 100 billion doses of medication every year for pharmaceutical and biotech firms, employs approximately 10,000 at more than 30 facilities worldwide and generates $1.8 billion in revenue," according to a company statement.

London (Dec. 8)-GlaxoSmithKline PLC agreed to acquire Domantis Ltd., a developer of antibodies for £230 million ($454 million) in cash.

The integrated services model is the "next big thing" in CMC and early development services.

As salaries stagnate and FDA's initiatives play a bigger role in the job environment, the pharmaceutical workforce keeps its eyes on the future.

The integrated services model is the "next big thing" in CMC and early development services.

Leverkusen, Germany (Nov. 9)?Bayer AG outlined its strategy for integrating Schering AG (Berlin) into the newly formed company, Bayer Schering Pharma. These moves follow Bayer's acquisition of Schering AG earlier this year.

South San Francisco, CA (Nov. 9)?Genentech, Inc. has agreed to acquire Tanox, Inc., for $20 per share, a total cash value of roughly $919 million. Tanox is a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery and development of biotherapeutics based on monoclonal antibody technology.

Research Triangle Park, NC (Nov. 13)-Eisai Inc. broke ground here for a new pharmaceutical production and formulation research and development facility for parenteral oncology drugs.

Abbott Park, IL (Nov. 6)-Abbott Laboratories agreed to acquire the specialty pharmaceutical company Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $3.7 billion.

St. Paul, MN (Nov. 9)-3M Co. will carve up and sell its global branded pharmaceuticals businesses for a total of $2.1 billion, the company announced this morning.

Wilmington, NC (Oct. 26)?AAIPharma Inc. has completed its acquisition of contract research organization Cvitkovic & Associes Consultants S.A.