Washington Editor WASHINGTON - The FDA approved fewer drugs last year than in 2004 - by some estimates a downturn of about a third or more - leaving industry observers wondering why. Perhaps it's a more conservative stance at the FDA. "That's what some people think," said Michael Werner, who heads The Werner Group, a Washington-based consulting firm, "and it's one of those things that once people start thinking that way, it sort of becomes true." Or maybe it's a drug industry that is drying
By Aaron Lorenzo | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
West Coast Editor With big pharma firms watching their patents expire and their pipelines dwindle, deal making - both partnerships and outright buyouts - roared forward in 2005, with Novartis AG's $5.1 billion buyout offer (upped from an earlier, rejected bid of $4.5 billion) to Chiron Corp. stealing the show in November. There is renewed interest in vaccines. Chiron had just won a $62.5 million contract to supply the U.S. government with pre-pandemic vaccine for a stockpile to protect against
By Randall Osborne | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Staff Writer Despite a discriminating public market and increasing competition in the venture capital arena, funding in biotech held strong in 2005, as money continued to flow steadily into the sector. The total $20.1 billion raised during the year marked a slight - about 3 percent - from the $20.8 billion brought in during 2004. For some, the year was a boon. Certain public companies were able to capitalize on clinical data and raise big money - such as Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc., which
By Jennifer Boggs | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Science Editor South Korean researcher Woo-Suk Hwang made Science magazine's Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year list in 2004 for the first cloning of a human embryo. His 2005 report on the first cloning of a dog, "Snuppy," earned the designation of "Invention of the Year" from Time magazine. But things turned. If there were an award for starkest reversal of fortune, Hwang would get that, too. Neither the human nor the dog cloning paper had been retracted by the end of 2005. But questions about
By Anette Breindl | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Washington Editor WASHINGTON - To many observers, 2005 brought a regulatory tightening of the belt, of sorts, with more public attention paid to product safety than in the past. Also over the course of the year, stem cell research received a congressional boost, the muddy biogeneric picture became a little clearer, and drug makers scored with liability protection for flu vaccine R&D. The heightened safety consciousness, of course, represents a reaction to the now infamous painkiller Vioxx
By Aaron Lorenzo | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Staff Writer When a starlet makes a movie that crashes at the box office, her once-loyal fans might leave the theater fretting the $8.25 just wasted and think twice about seeing her next film. But it won't stop them from returning to the theater altogether. In the biotech sector, the scenario is not much different. The multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri from Biogen Idec Inc. was a star of sorts in early 2005, but its withdrawal in February due to serious adverse effects helped cause a depressed
By Karen Pihl-Carey | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
West Coast Editor Tysabri's spectacular flameout, ongoing buzz about COX-2 inhibitors and a late-year scandal over faked stem-cell research failed to take the shine off a stellar 2005 in terms of money for biotechnology, which raised about $20 billion through financings and an estimated $14 billion more by way of partnering - a record number for the industry, if those numbers are added together. Biogen Idec Inc. and partner Elan Corp. plc pulled their much-celebrated Tysabri (natalizumab) off
By Randall Osborne | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Managing Editor In many ways, 2005 looked a lot like 2004. Total money raised last year nearly equaled the year prior, when the industry raised $20.8 billion. There were 33 initial public offerings around the world in 2005, just slightly off from the 37 that completed in 2004. The markets were steady both years - BioWorld's stock tracker showed the average biotech firm's shares in 2005 lost just 2 percent, compared to the 2.5 percent gained in 2004. Those signs point to a leveling off for the
By Brady Huggett | State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Underwriter (Number Of IPOs As Lead/ Number Of IPOs As Lead Or Co-Manager) Percentage Change In Stock Price Post-IPO To Year-End CIBC World Markets (1/6) +16% Credit Suisse First Boston (1/4) +15% Leerink Swann & Co. (0/1) +14% Thomas Weisel Partners (3/8) +13% Harris Nesbitt (0/3) +13% Jefferies & Co. (0/1) +13% Wachovia Capital Markets (0/1) +13% Wells Fargo Securities (0/2) +11% Robert W. Baird & Co. (0/1) +11% JP Morgan Securities (0/1) +11% Goldman Sachs & Co. (4/4
State of the Industry Report | Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Washington Editor WASHINGTON - The FDA approved fewer drugs last year than in 2004 - by some estimates a downturn of about a third or more - leaving industry observers wondering why. Perhaps it's a more conservative stance at the FDA. "That's what some people think," said Michael Werner, who heads The Werner Group, a Washington-based consulting firm, "and it's one of those things that once people start thinking that way, it sort of becomes true." Or maybe it's a drug industry that is drying