Under CEO Vas Narasimhan, Novartis has slimmed down what was a sprawling conglomerate spanning prescription and generic drugs, eye care and consumer healthcare. The drugmaker sold its stake in a consumer health joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline in 2018 and, a year later, spun off its eye care unit Alcon as a independent company.
Tuesday’s announcement of a strategic review for Sandoz, meanwhile, follows a failed bid by Novartis to sell about 300 of its products to India’s Aurobindo Pharma, a deal that was terminated after U.S. regulators refused to sign off.
“The review will explore all options, ranging from retaining the business to separation, in order to determine how to best maximize value for our shareholders,” Novartis said in a statement.
In a conference call, Narasimhan said the company would provide an update on progress “at the latest by the end of next year.” READ MORE
Ned Pagliarulo
Source: biopharmadive.com
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.”
