Weekly Roundup: July 30, 2007
- GlaxoSmithKline Pharma Net Up 6 Percent (India)
- Singapore Factory Output Falls 7.4 Percent Year-on-Year in June (Singapore)
- Japan Family to Sue Government Over Tamiflu (Japan)
- Learn from China (Asia)
- Patents: Govt, Firms Sing Different Tunes (India)
- Wockhardt Hints at More Buys (India)
- China to Improve Standards of Pharmacy Degrees for Overseas Students (China)
- JB Chemicals Net Plunges 76 Percent in Jun'07 Qtr (India)
- Transfer Pricing at Heart of Pfizer Case (Pakistan)
- API Sells House to Global Retail (Australia)
- Japan's Chugai, Bioventure to Co-Develop Antibody Drugs (Japan)
- China Shenghuo Pharma Sees Q2 Net Profit 1.5 Mln USD, Revenue Up to 6.5 Mln (China)
GlaxoSmithKline Pharma Net Up 6 Percent (India)
GlaxoSmithKline's India division increased its net profit by 6 percent during second quarter 2007 compared to last year. The Indian division is developing four new anti-diabetic products, and this year has successfully launched two such products, Windia and Windamet. GSK's total sales fell by 2.1 percent, mostly due to the sale of Virbac Animal Health in 2006, one reason its operations efficacy and net profit increased in second quarter 2007. The company also is selling Qualigens Fine Chemicals to India-based Thermo Electron LLS India for Rs 240 crore. (Click here for more )
"GlaxoSmithKline Pharma Net Up 6 Percent"
Economic Times of India (07/27/07)
Singapore Factory Output Falls 7.4 Percent Year-on-Year in June (Singapore)
Singapore's pharmaceutical industry reduced production by 52.5 percent during the month of June 2007, mostly because many factories are revamping themselves for new pharmaceutical production mixes. This slow down shrunk Singapore's overall factory output by 7.4 percent this June compared to June 2006. Many economists believe Singapore's economy will expand between 5 percent and 7 percent this year and meet government targets despite the retraction in June. (Click here for more )
"Singapore Factory Output Falls 7.4 Percent Year-on-Year in June"
Channel News Asia (07/26/07) Yi, Tung Shing
Japan Family to Sue Government Over Tamiflu (Japan)
The family of a teenage boy who took Tamiflu in February 2004, and then displayed abnormal behavior and died, plans to file a lawsuit against Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. The agency determined that the boy's death did not result from Tamiflu, though the boy ran from the house barefoot and subsequently was hit by a truck while taking the drug. The father says that the lawsuit simply will help the family reach closure on what happened to their son. "We would like to know the truth about whether or not there was a causal relationship between Tamiflu and his abnormal behavior," says the father. The family is seeking 1 million yen (or $8,300). (Click here for more )
"Japan Family to Sue Government Over Tamiflu"
China Post (Taiwan) (07/25/07)
Learn from China (Asia)
China's recent quality problems with food and pharmaceutical exports have tarnished its reputation and could become a concern for all of Asia's pharmaceutical industries. For instance, India imports large quantities of raw materials for antibiotics from China, and this has drawn concern from Indian and U.S. authorities. In fact, India exported around $800 million in drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients to the United States in 2006. This trade volume ranks above the $675 million of such products sent to the United States by China. Indian pharmaceutical laws are not evenly enforced or well-funded across all provinces. This one day may result in negative world attention such as the scandals experienced recently by China. (Click here for more )
"Learn from China"
Times of India (07/26/07)
Patents: Govt, Firms Sing Different Tunes (India)
R&D firms have submitted 80 patent applications in India for minor upgrades in TB drugs, despite the presence of a patent law that guards against giving exclusive commercial rights for modifications of existing medicines. Patent applications for both new processes as well as modified product forms are pending on existing drugs such as Rifampicin, Moxifloxacin, Quinoline, Aminoquinoline, Ethylene diamine, and Fluroquinolone. Patent expert Gopakumar Nair says of the TB application status: "We are not aware of any new drugs developed for TB in the last 15 years. So, even if some companies have applied for product patents, they may not stand official scrutiny." Seventy patent applications are aimed at product and process-by-product patents, eight are on diagnostic techniques, and two applications are on method of treatments. These applications are being filed even as Swiss multinational Novartis and the Indian government are involved in a legal dispute over the issue of refusing patents to Novarti's Glivec, an anti-cancer drug. The disagreement revolves around whether improvements to known substances are patentable under the Indian Patent Act. (Click here for more )
"Patents: Govt, Firms Sing Different Tunes"
Business Standard (India) (07/25/07) Mathew, Joe C.
Wockhardt Hints at More Buys (India)
Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala says the India-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company is hungry for more acquisitions as part of its goal to generate $1 billion in global sales by 2009. Wockhardt is restructuring its European operations in consultation with Bain & Company after it purchased Negma Laboratories of France in May 2007 for $265 million. Negma is France's fourth largest pharmaceutical company. Wockhardt has been targeting Europe for acquisitions; to date it has acquired Britain-based Wallis, Britain-based CP Pharmaceuticals, Germany-based Esparma, and Ireland-based Pinewood Laboratories. (Click here for more )
"Wockhardt Hints at More Buys"
Daily News and Analysis (India) (07/27/07) Pantulu, C. Chitti
China to Improve Standards of Pharmacy Degrees for Overseas Students (China)
China's Ministry of Education announced plans to raise the standards for its college pharmacy BA programs for foreign students. The Ministry plans to create a pharmacy education team to review all pharmacy college curriculums in China for quality and rigor, and then institute annual national reviews. Chinese pharmacy colleges in recent years have begun offering English-language programs to attract foreign students, and the Ministry wants these English programs improved. In some cases China's Ministry of Education believes some pharmaceutical universities are more interested in collecting tuition than cultivating high standards. The Ministry comments that "this kind of behavior has damaged the reputation of China's higher education establishments and should be controlled." (Click here for more )
"China to Improve Standards of Pharmacy Degrees for Overseas Students"
People's Daily (China) (07/26/07)
JB Chemicals Net Plunges 76 Percent in Jun'07 Qtr (India)
Globally powerful India-based pharmaceutical company JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals posted a 76.40 percent net profit decline during second-quarter 2007 ending on June 30 compared to second-quarter 2006. The company's second quarter net sales rose by 4.07 percent, however, while its declining profit still came in at a positive RS 30.71 million crore. This company has worldwide distribution in over 50 countries. Its earnings per share registered at RS 0.36 in second-quarter 2007 compared to RS 1.55 during the same period last year. (Click here for more )
"JB Chemicals Net Plunges 76 Percent in Jun'07 Qtr"
MyIRIS.com (07/28/07)
Transfer Pricing at Heart of Pfizer Case (Pakistan)
Pfizer Inc. says it will appeal a court ruling in Pakistan that sided with a small group of investors who alleged that the multinational systematically drained the coffers of its local operations through artificially high prices for drug ingredients. The eight investors are part of a dwindling group of shareholders who now own less than 0.5 percent in Pfizer Laboratories Ltd (PLL), and maintain that their original holdings are investments that their parents made in a company called Dumex, acquired by Pfizer in 1959. The shareholders allege that Pfizer has deliberately contributed to poor results at its Pakistan operations, thus continuously diluting the value of the minority stakeholders' shares in an attempt to get 100 percent control of the business for less than what it is worth. A larger issue of "transfer pricing," a common system under which related but separate companies assign prices for goods or services transferred from one company to the other, lies at the heart of the case. As these are negotiated prices, there is potential for one company, especially the parent or majority shareholder, to take advantage of a unit. Governments and regulators in the developing world, including India and Pakistan, have been particularly suspicious of opaque transfer pricing mechanisms, due to concern that a foreign parent company could use such transactions to drain resources away from the local unit to a foreign parent. According to a court ordered examination of PLL's practices conducted by Ernst & Young, Pfizer exported drug raw materials to the Pakistani unit at prices that were, in some cases, up to 70 times those charged by alternative providers. (Click here for more )
"Transfer Pricing at Heart of Pfizer Case"
livemint.com (07/26/07) Parker, Leela Ann
API Sells House to Global Retail (Australia)
Australian pharmaceutical distributor and pharmacy operator Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) has sold its homeware "House" brand for $8.5 million as part of its goal to focus on the pharmacy, health, and beauty businesses. API CEO Stephen Roche says API is focusing on these core businesses in Australia as part of "our strategic plan to build the leading pharmacy, health and beauty presence by 2010/2011." API also plans to sell its Price Attack haircare brand as part of its shedding of non-core assets. API sold its homewares operation to retail group Global Retail Brands. (Click here for more )
"API Sells House to Global Retail"
Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) (07/24/07)
Japan's Chugai, Bioventure to Co-Develop Antibody Drugs (Japan)
Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. has signed an agreement for the collaborative development of antibody drugs with bioventure Chiome Bioscience Inc., which has a proprietary technology using chicken immunocytes grown in cultures to create antibodies in just a week, compared with the months it ordinarily takes using lab animals. Chugai has already commercialized one antibody drug, and wants to use Chiome's technologies to develop antibodies against a variety of disease marker proteins. The antibodies will form the material basis enabling Chugai to develop other antibody drugs, with a focus on diagnostics and therapeutics for cancers and immune disorders. (Print Edition Only: Link to Full Text Unavailable)
"Japan's Chugai, Bioventure to Co-Develop Antibody Drugs"
Asia Pulse (07/27/07)
China Shenghuo Pharma Sees Q2 Net Profit 1.5 Mln USD, Revenue Up to 6.5 Mln (China)
China Shenghuo Pharmaceutical predicts its second fiscal quarter earnings will be about $1.5 million and for fiscal-2007 somewhere between $5 million and $6 million total. Official results will be published in mid-August 2007. (Click here for more )
"China Shenghuo Pharma Sees Q2 Net Profit 1.5 Mln USD, Revenue Up to 6.5 Mln"
Hemscott Online (07/23/07)
