Novartis’ new CEO Vasant Narasimhan has indicated that the company might spin off its struggling U.S. generic pill business—and that is what it is preparing to do, sources are telling Reuters.
The news service today reported that Novartis is doing the legwork to auction off that piece of the Sandoz business, which might bring $1.6 billion from a competitor or private investors, Reuters said.
Outgoing CEO Joseph Jimenez and Narasimhan told analysts late last year that the Swiss drugmaker was looking at its options for the business in the face of rapid price erosion for generic pills in the U.S. They said a spinoff was one idea.
Narasimhan, in his first earnings call last month, said the company was looking at how to optimize the business in the face of ”significant pricing declines” and a poor climate that was unlikely to change anytime soon.
Executives have said they will concentrate U.S. efforts in complex generics and biosimilars.
By Eric Palmer
Source: Fierce Pharma
CureVac and the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center have announced a co-development and licensing agreement to develop novel messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based cancer vaccines. The strategic collaboration will focus on the development of differentiated cancer vaccine candidates in selected haematological and solid tumour indications with high unmet medical needs.
FUJIFILM Corporation is planning to invest $1.2 billion to expand the planned FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US. This news follows the organisation’s announcement of a $2 billion investment in the facility in March 2021. This additional financial boost totals the investment to over $3.2 billion, FUJIFILM confirmed.
Sanofi’s global restructuring and downsizing is now fully underway, with layoffs stretching to the company’s Belgian offices. Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports that 67 employees have been laid off at a site in Ghent and 32 jobs are on the chopping block at Sanofi’s Belgium HQ in Diegem.
