Pharma rising

Fierce Biotech reports that profits rose at Novartis, Merck and Lilly. No...this does not signal the end of trouble for the Pharma industry. But - as they wrote in the article - profits are still better than the alternative. You can read the article here.

Pfizer's woes

Crain's New York reports Pfizer 1st quarter profits are down 18%. Ed Silverman on his blog wonders if Pfizer will now slash it dividend. See Ed's take on Pfizer here.

Pharma R&D cuts not as bad as reported

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the job cuts that we are seeing in the Pharma industry. But while the situation is admittedly tough for the people who are being laid-off, the truth is the industry as a whole is still in pretty good shape. As reported in FierceBiotech on 4/9, while there have been cuts,:

The money spent on R&D in the U.S. continues to rise, but after an 11.3 percent hike in 2006 budgets rose only 2.7 percent to a still considerable $35.4 billion.

Again, the industry still experiencing difficulties, but it is by no means decimated. While growth in R&D spending has slowed...the reality is...there still is growth!! While it is easy to get caught up in all the negative press we see about the industry, some times we do need to stop and take a look at the bright side.

What does the Pharma industry need to do?

According to an article in Fox Business [view here]:
"Pharmaceutical companies currently challenged with replacing the $65 billion worth of product expected to go off patent in the next four years must dramatically rethink their R&D models for future success,..."
That's the problem...But how does Big Pharma resolve these problems? The article goes on to discuss a new report just released by Deloitte that just might contain a viable set of solutions. Pharmaceutical companies need modify "...current R&D programs focused on developing a small portfolio of high revenue blockbusters...to R&D programs focused on high efficacy treatments developed for smaller patient populations based on specific genotypes."
Deloitte's study goes on to state that:

"The R&D model of the future will incorporate:

-- R&D strategies which support the assembly of treatment portfolios for the entire disease life cycle and the various genotype specific patient segments in the life cycle, rather than the traditional one-off "blockbuster"

-- Focused R&D programs based on genotyped patients/subjects and biomarkers

-- Virtual, disease-specific R&D networks, incorporating patients, physicians and the medical treatment infrastructure, which involves extensive partnering and collaboration with all the disease knowledge communities

-- Virtual R&D processes with significant outsourcing to maximize flexibility and manage development risk"

The complete report from Deloitte can be viewed here.

Interesting food for thought.