Merck & Co and Sun Pharmaceutical are winding down their 2011 joint venture focused on developing branded generics for emerging markets outside of India.
Sun Pharma said the move follows a change of strategic priorities for both partners, which have decided not to invest further in the JV.
Dilip Shanghvi, Sun’s managing director, reportedly told analysts that the firm’s investment in the venture is not significant and has been factored into the company’s financials over time, according to The Hindu Business Line.
Other agreements between the firms – the co-marketing deal for Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia (sitagliptin) and licensing deal for Merck’s investigational psoriasis therapy tildrakizumab – remain unaffected by the decision, the Indian generics giant stressed.
By Selina McKee
Source: Pharma Times
A monkeypox outbreak is emerging in the U.S. and Europe, and at least one country is amping up countermeasure preparedness. Bavarian Nordic has secured a contract with an unnamed European country to supply its smallpox vaccine, called Imvanex in Europe, in response to the emergence of monkeypox cases, the Danish company said Thursday.
Moderna’s recent chief financial officer debacle—in which Jorge Gomez departed on his second day on the job—raised questions about the company’s hiring process given its rush to global biopharma prominence. The most obvious one: How was it possible for Gomez to be hired when he was under investigation by his previous employer, Dentsply Sirona of Charlotte, N.C.
Merck & Co. is plucking a cancer project from the branch of Chinese-based Kelun Pharmaceutical for up to $1.4 billion, but details from the New Jersey-based Big Pharma have been hard to come by. The deal, first disclosed Monday on the Shenzhen stock exchange, has Merck handing over $47 million in upfront cash in exchange for ex-China rights to a “macromolecular tumor project.”
