 BETTER LATE?

Pfizer reported
considering a takeover bid for Ranbaxy
 ACTELION’S NEXT ACT: Big
Pharma said circling Swiss biotechie
 GSK’S NEW BOSS says he’ll
hang on to OTC, soft drinks units

Issue #505 • Developments and Analysis in International Pharmaceutical Marketing for the week of 06.16.08
Subscriptions: Cdn$190/year in North America; Cdn$295 elsewhere (plus GST).
Setting the weekly agenda for 1,100+ Canadian pharma marketers. Breaking news: www.pharmacongress.info

THE CHRONICLE INDEX

May 9 June 13 May 9 June 13 ALSO-RANS STILL RUNNING AFTER RANBAXY?
CANADA: 101.12  down .25 A DAY LATE AND A COUPLE OF RUPEES short,
Aeterna Ze .1.18 1.38 Forbes Medi...........99 .97
Angiotech...2.69 2.90 Tekmira..............1.22 1.03 Pfizer reportedly ended the week by trying to insert
Cardiome. .10.05 10.89 Labopharm..........1.91 1.56 itself into Daiichi Sankyo’s takeover of Ranbaxy
Oncothryn. .3.57 2.81 Paladin Labs.....10.76 10.98
Bioniche........85 .74 QLT....................3.74 3.83 (see CHRONICLEMIDWEEK 6/11/08.) Ran helmer
Biovail......12.62 10.89 Bellus Health......1.83 1.45 Malvinder Mohan Singh has already penned a $4.6
Cangene.....5.35 5.35 Theratechnlgs....7.35 6.38 billion deal selling his family’s 35 per cent stake in
Nuvo Resear.12. .17 Vasogen.................44 .34
Draxis Heal.5.98 na Virexx. ..................05 .08 India’s largest drugmaker to Japan-based Daiichi.
However, it evidently dawned on Pfizer’s brain trust
GLOBAL: 106.39  down .75
that Ran has been its principal thorn-in-the-side
Abbott......51.78 53.98 Eli Lilly..............48.25 48.07
Allergan....52.87 56.73 Medicis.............22.35 22.60 when it comes to worldwide patent battles involving
Alcon......154.65 162.44 Merck................38.99 35.18 Pfizer’s cash-cow atorvastatin (Lipitor.) Someone in
Amgen......42.05 43.79 Mylan................11.42 12.50
AstrZnca. .40.55 40.81 Novartis............50.91 50.03 Pfizer’s finance office must have done the math:
Bayer Sch. 86.40 82.70 Novo Nordisk....67.49 61.03 Lipitor is worth $13 billion in annual revenues,
Biogen Id. .62.07 59.55 Genentech........68.53 73.70 while the remaining 65 per cent of Ranbaxy that is
Bristol M...21.71 19.99 P & G................65.21 66.38
Cephalon. .65.31 68.44 Pfizer................19.80 17.76 not owned by Daiichi is valued at $9.2 billion. Pfizer
Elan..........27.47 26.18 Sanofi-Aventis. .47.50 43.09 also has some experience in wrecking marriages,
Forest.......33.90 33.09 Sepracor...........19.71 19.82
Genzym G. 68.54 67.83 Schering Plgh. . .18.65 19.13 having wrested Warner-Lambert from the arms of
Gilead Sci 53.61 53.70 Abraxis Bio.......11.88 14.40 American Home Products—which is how the Lipitor
GSK..........43.90 41.92 Shire.................50.08 46.88
Hospira 40.99 41.20 Teva..................45.24 42.24
franchise came to Pfizer in the first place. Mr. Singh
Millennium24.96 na Valeant.............14.62 16.69 insists the Daiichi pact is unbreakable, noting: “This
J&J...........66.56 66.07 Watson..............28.28 27.62 is a firm and binding agreement between the two
King............9.52 9.49 Wyeth................43.93 43.11
Hey Bo Diddley! sides.” But an arrangement between Pfizer and Ran-
baxy’s institutional shareholders remains a technical,
if not a practical, possibility. The Business Standard

The Herpetic Syndrome

newspaper of Mumbai reports Mr. Singh’s sale to
Daiichi follows unsuccessful earlier negotiations
with other companies, including GlaxoSmithKline,
Special report in Sanofi-Aventis, and (wait for it) Pfizer. Investors
were underwhelmed by the rumor of Pfizer’s belated

The Chronicle of interest in Ran, and the world’s largest drugmaker

continued to trade at an 11-year low.

SKIN & ALLERGY A CONSOLATION PRIZE FOR PFIZER?

WITH BIG PHARMA INTEREST in acquiring Ran-
For more information, call 416.916.2476 or baxy out in the open (see preceding item,) other
drugmakers may be quietly circling another target:
514.747.0644. Space closing July 2nd. Actelion. The Zurich-based biotechie is in talks with
seven leading multinationals concerning a potential
out-licensing deal for sleep disorder Tx candidate
Three pages from the publishers of
BEST PRACTICES CHRONICLE, COMPREHENSIVE CARDIOLOGY CANADA, DENTAL CHRONICLE, THE CHRONICLE
OF CANCER THERAPY, THE CHRONICLE OF HEALTHCARE MARKETING, THE CHRONICLE OF NEUROLOGY &
PSYCHIATRY, THE CHRONICLE OF SKIN & ALLERGY, THE CHRONICLE OF UROLOGY & SEXUAL MEDICINE,
and LINACRE’S BOOKS/LES EDITIONS LINACRE
 almorexant, which is considered a potential block-
buster. Actelion already owns a billion-dollar fran-
chise in oral endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan
(Tracleer,) leading several observers to suggest that
the company is a desirable takeover object at its
current $6.75 billion market cap. Reuters news
agency says the parties most likely to bid for Act-
elion are Schering Plough, Johnson & Johnson,
GlaxoSmithKline and, naturally, Pfizer.
DE-RISKING, AND THE BOSS’S BURDENS
TWO RECENTLY PROMOTED DRUGBIZ CEOs
were busy last week putting their stamp on their
respective companies, with varying results. Glaxo-
SmithKline‘s Andrew Witty, a month into his new gig,
promised investors fewer “nasty surprises” and said he
would “diversify and de-risk” his outfit. (Because he’s
new, we’ll allow Mr. Witty to occasionally use words
such as ‘de-risk’ during his breaking-in period.) He
tells the Financial Times newspaper GSK will
emphasize the growing markets of Brazil, Russia,
India, and China, and will invest in its consumer health
and vaccines units. He says he has no plan to divest
non-core properties, which include a line of soft drinks
popular in the UK. Elsewhere, Biovail helmer Bill
Wells told an investment forum last week he’s sticking
with a bold plan to develop new molecules to treat
CNS conditions. Says he: “We intend to invest heavily
in research and development, continue to explore
business development opportunities, and return capital
to shareholders.” Biovail founder Eugene Melnyk
thinks that’s crazy talk, perhaps observing that the
$150 million annual budget Mr. Wells has allocated to
R&D wouldn’t begin to cover the hot-lunch expense at
larger rivals which have also targeted the CNS area.
This difference of opinion appears to set the stage for
the smackdown between Mr. Melnyk and Biovail
board chair Doug Squires, at the company‘s AGM later
this month. Mr. Melnyk intends to prompt shareholders
to replace the company’s directors with a loyalist board
led by retired executive Bruce Brydon. Mr. Wells in
unimpressed with the return of Mr. Brydon, com-
menting, “Anyone who believes that Eugene Melnyk
will not be controlling this company needs to be in a
home for the terminally naive.”
BETTER, FASTER, CHEAPER: NOT IN CANADA
IF THERE REMAINS ANY DOUBT that the Canada
Health Infoway project represents anything more
than a madcap scheme to extract billions from un-
witting taxpayers, just take a look at how they do
things in California. The Golden State, which has a
larger population than Canada, last week announced
a plan to place the prescribing records of residents
online for instant access by physicians and
pharmacists. The project, called the Controlled
Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation
System, is expected to be ready within 10 months at
no cost to the public. Private donors will fund the
system, which will contain 86 million entries. In
contrast, the Infoway boondoggle, which plans to
take at least 10 years to attempt to have an electronic
health record for 50 per cent of Canadians, has thus
far spent $1.33 billion of public money. California
Attorney-General Jerry Brown says of his donated
system: “It will give doctors and pharmacies the
technology they need to fight prescription drug
abuse, which is burdening our healthcare system.”
PIPELINE PROGRESS
CARBOCISTEINE, a generic mucolytic, may show
efficacy for COPD patients, according to researchers
from the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease
in China, writing in the current Lancet. According to
lead author Dr. Jin-Ping Zheng: “This is especially
good for developing countries and low-income
populations—it provides an option to treat COPD.
Carbocisteine, as well as other mucolytics, are old
medicines. However, carefully conducted clinical
trials of existing medications can offer new insights
into COPD care.”
IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR…
PATIENTS who present phony symptoms to doctors.
The ethics council of the American Medical Assoc-
iation has endorsed the concept of “undercover
patients,” hired ringers who monitor physicians’
office performance and provide reports. The full
AMA membership will vote on whether to
encourage the fakery, an idea some doctors just plain
hate. Opponents call it “official deceit.”
IT WAS A BAD WEEK FOR…
DRUGMAKERS IN THE UK, following word that
manufacturers are close to caving in to terms
demanded by the UK government for a revised
Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. The plan
dictates the cost of formulary drugs used by the
NHS. According to the Bridgehead International
consultancy, “It would appear that the new PPRS
will look very much like the old one, but with lower
prices.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“WHILE WE AGREE with Health Canada that the
direct risk to health is considered low, we have
chosen to implement the voluntary recall as part of
our quality control program.” —a spokesman for
Hedy Canada, responding to reports that samples of
the company`s latex gloves, used for medical exam-
inations, may have contained embedded insects
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