Pharma News Analysis

MPM Capital Makes First Investment in Indian CRO Sai Advantium

This is big news! MPM has followed an investment into SAI after Seqquoia's investment means that SAI is onto becoming an even more dominant player. The management of SAI has been strengthened lately and is one of the best and most professional. Kudos to Krishna and Dr. Ranga Raju!

“MPM Capital, the largest venture capital investor dedicated solely to healthcare, announced today that it has made a $20 million investment in Sai Advantium Pharma, a leading chemistry-driven drug discovery and development service company headquartered in Hyderabad, India. This is the first new capital investment in Sai Advantium, MPM Capital’s first investment in

India

, as well as one of the largest life sciences venture capital investments made in the country thus far. MPM Managing Director William Greene, M.D. is joining Sai Advantium’s Board of Directors. Sequoia Capital is an existing investor and also has representation on the company’s Board of Directors.

According to

Dr.

Greene, “We have been evaluating investment opportunities in

India

for some time, looking for quality management teams in the life sciences who are leading companies poised for dramatic growth. Sai Advantium stood out as a leader in one of the most exciting emerging areas for global biotech and pharma, namely the outsourcing of drug discovery and development support. We have been deeply impressed by the determination of the founders an senior management team to be the best in this critical space.”

Dr.

Greene added, “The company is adding capabilities and building an absolutely world class team of scientists who know how to develop complex molecules and who understand what pharma and biotech partners really need and want. Already a leader in servicing the small- and mid-size biotech community, the capital improvements, decision and customer support tools and capacity expansions made possible by this investment should position Sai as the preferred partner for global pharma players of any size.”

MPM indicated that it intends to help the company approach biotechnology companies in its own network as well as big pharma partners with which it has strong relationships. Several of its portfolio companies are already enthusiastic customers,

Dr.

Greene noted.

He continued, “The pressure on global drug companies to increase productivity and reduce costs continues to escalate, and Sai is in a position to respond. In fact, analysts project that the global preclinical discovery and development outsourcing industry is poised to grow to $20 billion by 2010.”

Dr.

Ranga Raju, Sai Advantium Chairman & CEO, said, “We are delighted to have an investor and partner with great domain expertise and investment success. They bring to us a great perspective on the emerging needs of our customer, willingness to work with us to build our range and depth of services and give us reach into great scientific leadership.”

Source: BusinessWire

Pharma's Failure to Connect at Philadelphia Airport

I am at Philadelphia Airport waiting for my flight, along with my fellow passengers. I just witnessed something which was disappointing and baffling.

I was sitting next to a lady, professionally dressed with her handbag and a laptop bag that had the logo of Sanofi-Aventis. I introduced myself to her and learned that she was a sales rep for Sanofi in New Jersey.

A few minutes later, an elderly gentleman and his wife sat directly opposite us. After recognizing Sanofi's logo, the man started making small talk with me, assuming that the bag belonged to me. He told me how he loves Lovenox and it is the best product in the market. I corrected him and pointed out that the Laptop belonged to the lady next to me and not me. He apologized and started addressing her.

He said, ''Good morning. As I was telling this gentleman...'' and before he finished, the lady responded: ''I heard everything... And sorry I can't give you any free samples...'' and she got up and found a seat far away.

I was dumbfounded and so was the elderly couple. The couple and I engaged in small talk and I learned that he takes Lovenox on a regular basis and so does his wife. But the biggest surprise came when they told me that they both were Physicians.

In today's age of internet, online communities and viral messaging, it is surprising and disappointing to see this Sanofi-Aventis rep missed an opportunity to connect with her core cutomers.

Merck is Cutting 1200 Jobs...

After the US FDA rejected Merck's cholesterol drug Chordaptive and disappointing sales of Vytorin, Merck is slashing 1,200 jobs - mainly from its salesforce.

Indian CRO ( Clinical Research Outsourcing ) Industry " Panel Requests Tighter Rules Against Clinical Trials"

I do not know how much impact the following will have and if anything will change... My opinion is that a lot of this is noise...but it certainly is something to keep in mind for those of you involved in Clinical Research Outsourcing to India. It is from Times of India:

"The committee has raised concerns over implementation of the good clinical practice guidelines (GCP) and ethical norms.

"Though the concerns regarding involvement of women in clinical trials have been specifically addressed in Indian GCP guidelines, the committee is doubtful whether these are being followed in letter and spirit," the report said.

Adding that most scandals about clinical trials revolved around issues like whether the patient knew about being part of the trial, whether informed consent to participate was taken or not and whether the patient was told about the possible side effects and risks.

The committee has asked the government to make the conditions for clinical trials more "stringent" and introduce clear guidelines on compensation. The committee, headed by Delhi MP Krishna Tirath, recommended an amendment to schedule Y making the trials easier.

The committee reviewed the family planning methods prevalent and opined that the entire contraception programme of the government had become women-centric and male sterilization had been put on the backburner. "

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/3010486.cms

Told You So: Indian Pharma's M&A Frenzy Continues

Ok, so here goes the "I told you so".... In many of my recent blog posts, I have predicted the increased M&A activity by Indian pharma companies... Here is a very brief summary of seven stories...

1. Dr Reddy’s buys BASF’s contract manufacturing biz Mint 
2. Strides Arcolab acquires 17.7% more in Genepharm Australasia The Economic Times 
3. Ranbaxy acquires a major stake in Orchid Pharma...  Hindustan Times
4. Jubilant Organosys acquires Canada's Draxis for $255 mn Economic Times
5. Veeda completed the acquisition of DICE, a CRO based in Brussels, Belgium Veeda
6. Siro Clinpharm buys German CRO... The Hindu Busienss Line
7. Nicholas Piramal acquires Anafortan and CEFL Groups... Trading Markets

8. Manipal AcuNova Ltd completed the acquisition of ECRON GmbH, Europe... AcunovaLife

There are many more... and more to come! 

Pharma News Analysis Referenced in BioSpectrum

I am pleased to see that PharmaNewsAnalysis is being referenced by Industry Publications around the globe. On December 4, 2007, I blogged under the title: Top 10 Trends for Pharmaceutical Industry in 2008 ... I just discovered that BioSpectrum has referenced a this blog in their Jan 2008 Cover Story...You can access the entire magazine here...

Download pharmanewsanalysis_referred_in_biospectrum_jan_2008.pdf

Outsourcing: Mumbai or Nebraska?

I am honored and privileged to be invited to be a panel member at a very prestigious conference "TiECON EAST 2008" organized by TiE Boston. This year's theme is: "Harnessing the Network: Communication, Collaboration, and Convergence". I will be a member of the Panel titled: "Outsourcing: Mumbai or Nebraska?" ... Visit http://www.tieconeast.org/ ... In the meantime, here is some info on the panel and the event. Hope to see many of you there!

"Panelists examine the current state of the Indian outsourcing industry. Does a mature industry still provide growth opportunities? What is the case for outsourcing today? Can entrepreneurs and start-ups leverage the outsourcing model? What are the trade-offs and organizational complexities involved in managing a global organization?

Producer: Rajat Das Moderartor: Julio Quinteros, Goldman Sachs, Senior Analyst IT Services Panelists: Malcolm Frank, Chief Strategy officer, Cognizant Technologies Vikram Saksena, CTO Sonus Networks Rahoul Roy, Head of India Practice, Brown Rudnick Nailesh A. Bhatt, Founder and Managing Director, Proximare Inc.

The Westin

70 Third Avenue . Waltham, Massachusetts 02451

United States

Phone: (781) 290-5600

May 29th through 30th 2008

Pharma CEOs & Executives Afraid

In the past few months, I have been traveling extensively across the globe several times for business, where I have interacted with many global C-Level pharma executives. I was truly surprised and amazed to learn how afraid and insecure many of these executives are...

Many executives are afraid that they have never seen the state of industry in such weak manner. They are worried about (in no particular order):

• Weak pipelines/productivity
• Rising costs
• share prices / ROI
• Competition (this is a big one - as they are no longer just afraid of generic threat but also new players from India, China, Korea, as well as virtual companies being funded by VCs)
• Political pressure
• Social pressure
• Leadership gaps
• And last but not the least: "What business do they want to be in?"

Lot of these executives have risen through the ranks and have earned their stripes by putting in years in the trenches... but those times were great... Gone are those days when you can simply grow by acquisitions and licensing and cutting backroom deals with generic companies.. These executives feel lonely, scared and without any more options...

I must clarify that 100% of these executives are from non-generic pharma companies as in large pharma or biotechs.

I was even more intrigued to see that a few of these guys wondered aloud about just taking a package and leave...