Rise and shine. Another day is under way. And of course, there is much to do. Our list is quite lengthy, in fact, starting with hustling one of the short people to the schoolhouse. To cope, we are brewing the required cup of stimulation. Meanwhile, the world keeps spinning and here are a few items to prove the point. Have a great day and stay in touch...
Merck And Sanofi-Aventis Merge Animal Health Units (Reuters)
Astellas Likely To Pay More For OSI (Bloomberg News)
Tennessee Judge Won't Dismiss Novartis Jaw Injury Suits (Associated Press)
Exelixis Cuts Jobs And Reorganizes R&D (Reuters)
Germany To Change Pricing For Branded Drugs (In Vivo blog)
3 Comments
I think the market (NYSE nearly flat overall, but most of the rest of pharma is rising, even if just slightly) must feel that Merck is getting the "shorter end of the stick" -- having previously agreed to let Sanofi-Aventis "call" the legacy Schering-Plough Intervet animal health assets, for a fixed price. Merck is now trading below $37. Wow.
Neither Merck nor Sanofi would comment -- in Paris, overnight, our time -- on their proposed joint approach to resolving the obvious anti-trust issues raised by the deal (if unchecked, it will catapult past Pfizer, to become the world's largest animal health concern), but earlier estimates by people with knowledge of the operations (here on my blog -- in the comment box) guessed that perhaps one-third of the to-be-combined assets will have to be divested to clear the various competition regulators. Even if that's what ultimately transpires, I still think it will still be the largest animal health concern on the planet.
Of course, this was all worked out last Summer, so that
Merck could buy Schering-Plough[Erh, I mean so that Schering-Plough could buy Merck -- "Yeh, that's the ticket!"] and still clear ECC and FTC/DoJ antitrust regulators.In any event, I'll keep you apprised.
Namaste
Growth rates are -- by the companies' own admissions, overnight -- declining in these franchises. From 10+% per year (2005 to 2008), to aroung 5% per year 2010 to at least 2014.
Namaste
But Andrew Von Eschenbach (es-FDA Commissioner) has publicly said that the changes he's implemented in FDA under the 'strategic plan' will pay off for companies beginning in 2014. I wonder what he could have meant.
Salmon