Generic pharmaceutical company Mylan will merge with Pfizer’s off-patent medicines unit Upjohn. The new firm will be based in the US, with anticipated revenues of $19–20 billion (£15–16 billion) in 2020.
The intention is to combine Pfizer’s distribution network in China and other emerging markets with Mylan’s existing products in developed markets and future generics, but the deal does not include Pfizer’s biosimilars.
‘Upjohn has off-patent drugs like Viagra (sildenafil), Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Lyrica (pregabalin), for which Mylan has filed generic applications. This makes me wonder what happens when there is overlap between Mylan’s generics and the branded Pfizer products,’ says Josh Whitehill, a lawyer specialising in pharmaceutical and biotechnology patent law at Goodwin Procter in New York, US. ‘Do they [sell them off], or does the new company just stop selling them?’ he asks.
‘It will be interesting to see if this starts a trend of large branded drug companies selling off or spinning off their off-patent assets,’ Whitehill says. Rather than a consolidation, the deal represents a shift of Upjohn into Mylan, he states. ‘I don’t see this as disrupting the status quo, it just really is giving Mylan more legs to reach places where it couldn’t before.’
By: Rebecca Trager
Source: Chemistry World
The Food and Drug Administration’s top scientist Namandjé Bumpus will assume the role of principal deputy commissioner when longtime agency leader Janet Woodcock retires from that role in early 2024, according to an announcement Thursday.
US biopharma AbbVie has agreed to acquire ImmunoGen in a deal which values the company at about $10.1 billion and gives AbbVie access to flagship cancer therapy Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx), a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approved for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC), as well as a pipeline of promising next-generation ADCs.
EUROAPI today announced the appointment of David Seignolle as Chief Operating Officer, succeeding Eric Berger, and Marion Santin as Chief Legal, Compliance, and IP Officer, both joining the company’s Executive Committee. In his new role, David Seignolle will lead the transformation of the Industrial Operations organization.
