OXYGEN
14/05/2005, 09h14
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All these pressures make it more critical than ever that drugmakers improve their dangerously weak development pipelines. That's why investment bankers say Big Pharma companies will pursue licensing or acquisition deals with smaller companies more aggressively than ever to get their hands on upcoming products. Lazard LLC investment banker Steven J. Golub says intense competition for those products means deals are now getting done more quickly.
In the past, drugmakers were inclined to license many products when they reached the final phase of human testing. Now, in the rush to license, drugmakers seem willing to sign deals at a point early in the testing process, when drugs run a higher risk of failure. As for important mergers, many bankers say weakened companies such as Schering-Plough (SHR ), Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY ) could be acquisition targets. But given these companies' patent or legal problems, some potential partners may be inclined to stay on the sidelines for now.
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extracts from an article "More Bitter Pills For Big Pharma "
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_02/b3915433.htm
NDLR : This is what Big Pharma call R&D effort in "innovation" and why Big Pharma need higher prices for innovational medecines
All these pressures make it more critical than ever that drugmakers improve their dangerously weak development pipelines. That's why investment bankers say Big Pharma companies will pursue licensing or acquisition deals with smaller companies more aggressively than ever to get their hands on upcoming products. Lazard LLC investment banker Steven J. Golub says intense competition for those products means deals are now getting done more quickly.
In the past, drugmakers were inclined to license many products when they reached the final phase of human testing. Now, in the rush to license, drugmakers seem willing to sign deals at a point early in the testing process, when drugs run a higher risk of failure. As for important mergers, many bankers say weakened companies such as Schering-Plough (SHR ), Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY ) could be acquisition targets. But given these companies' patent or legal problems, some potential partners may be inclined to stay on the sidelines for now.
(...)
extracts from an article "More Bitter Pills For Big Pharma "
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_02/b3915433.htm
NDLR : This is what Big Pharma call R&D effort in "innovation" and why Big Pharma need higher prices for innovational medecines