Impactiviti Daily 061710 Top Pharma News

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TODAY’S NEWS:

Boehringer‘s female sex pill: maybe not. The drug “failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement” in sexual desire, Food and Drug Administration staff said in a review released today. It was also linked to appendicitis, depression and loss of consciousness. Side effects led about 15 percent of women to stop treatment with the drug, the review said…more

What is Eli Lilly paying laid-off workers? This (interesting chart).

Pharma mergers – do they really deliver on efficiencies? Interesting summary.

Sanofi-Aventis – more cuts, but future expansion. I’ll leave the math to you!

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Any kind of pharma training. Our business at Impactiviti is partnering with the best vendors for all aspects of training, and then helping you identify the best one(s) for your needs.  Contact us (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) to discuss your needs, and we’ll make recommendations (yes, the service is free!)

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Marketers must embrace the connected patient. Amen.

JUST FOR FUN

Starbucks to begin sinister Phase Two of operations. Funny goodness from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source. :>}

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Impactiviti Daily 050710 Top Pharma News

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TODAY’S NEWS

Valeant goes for the niches. Deliberately.

Eli Lilly still chopping positions – Eli Lilly and Co. plans to cut 200 sales and marketing support jobs Friday in its U.S. biomedicine group, with more than half of those cuts taking place in Indianapolis, a company spokesman confirmed Thursday. The cuts are the latest wave of the drugmaker’s previously announced plans to chop 5,500 jobs worldwide by the end of 2011 in response to financial pressures…more

InVentiv to be acquired by private equity firm.

Bayer gets new type of contraceptive approved – The Food and Drug Administration approved Natazia, which is the first in the U.S. to deliver doses of its two female hormones at four times during the drug’s 28-day treatment cycle, the agency said today in a statement…more. But then, what about that mystery recall of Yaz last year – who knew??

I don’t know, Mr Harper (Forbes) – isn’t it more accurate to say that an application has been rejected, rather than that a drug has been rejected, when a Complete Response Letter is issued? The semantics are important.

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Down – like, seriously depressed? Get Some Help.

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More doctors giving drug reps the cold shoulder. And, sunlit leaves in dark shadow (pic).

JUST FOR FUN

Astonishing stuff – A Showcase of 3-D Street Art Paintings. How do people do this?

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Impactiviti Daily 041210

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Coming up on May 11th: BDI’s Social Communications & Healthcare event – half day session in NYC with Case Studies and Roundtables (I’ll be leading one of the roundtables). Top speakers from J&J, Pfizer, and more! These are always great networking and learning events. Hope to see you there!

For more information, including registration, please click here to visit the event website. Use promo code IMPACT for a discounted rate of $155.

TODAY’S NEWS

Lilly in an Indy pullback.

Taking another look at medical uses for hallucinogens. Timothy Leary would be proud!

Byetta (once-weekly) and possible cancer risks. Frankly, I have a bit of problem with this sort of stuff. When you pump rats with mega-doses of just about anything, what do you expect? Eternal life?

If you need a Monday morning dose of super-sized, complex words in a cloud of oncology verbiage, this one’s for you. Otherwise, nothing to see here…

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PLUS

Letting Go.

JUST FOR FUN

Visual treat – Steel Giants floating on a blanket of Fog.

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Impactiviti Daily 031710

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TODAY’S NEWS

Alpharma/King to pay big fine – American pharmaceutical manufacturer Alpharma Inc. has agreed to pay $42.5 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations in connection with the marketing of the morphine-based drug, Kadian, the Justice Department announced today. The settlement resolves allegations that, between January 1, 2000 and December 29, 2008, Alpharma paid health care providers to induce them to promote or prescribe Kadian, and made misrepresentations about the safety and efficacy of the drug, which is used to treat chronic moderate to severe pain. Alpharma is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol, Tenn.-based King Pharmaceuticals Inc…more

Don’t go buying Lilly drugs on the street corner – In a departure from the recent M.O. of in-transit drug cargo thefts, emboldened thieves hit Eli Lilly’s 70,000-square-foot east coast distribution facility in Enfield, CT. And they hit it hard: $70 million to $75 million worth of Prozac, Cymbalta and Zyprexa–enough to fill a large trailer, according to press reports…more

More and more scripts going unfilled.

Preventing diabetes with drugs – very hard questions being asked.

The interesting background story on new drug Xiaflex (NY Times) – It took half a century. But a tiny drug maker on Long Island has finally found a potentially lucrative use for its only medicine: straightening clenched fingers. And, if research proves successful, treating a condition that causes bent penises…more

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PLUS

Salesperson as rebel (Business Week) – but can this mentality even remotely work within pharma?

JUST FOR FUN

Reflection photography – 44 impressive examples. Eye candy.

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Impactiviti Daily 031510

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TODAY’S NEWS

TriCor = placebo? Not good news for Abbott – A popular triglyceride-lowering drug that has been taken by millions of Americans failed to prevent heart disease in a big federal study being presented today…more

FDA to Eli Lilly/Amylin on once-weekly Byetta: No.

OSI to Astellas: No.

FDA to Plavix (from BMS and Sanofi): black-box warning.

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PLUS

You’ve heard all about reach and frequency. How about each and recently? And, when it comes to Pharma and Social Media: One or Many?

JUST FOR FUN

Dogs filmed at 1,000 frames per second. You’ve never seen dogs jump quite like this before.

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Impactiviti Daily 022310

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TODAY’S NEWS

Big approval news for Gilead Sciences – Gilead Sciences Inc., the world’s largest maker of HIV treatments, won U.S. approval of an inhaled antibiotic for lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. The Food and Drug Administration cleared sales of the medicine, given the brand name Cayston, the company said today in a statement. Outside advisers to the FDA backed the product’s safety and effectiveness in a 15-2 vote on Dec. 10…more

What is the future of “personalized medicine”? Probably, it’ll look a lot like this (encouraging story from NY Times). Plus, in a cooperative effort, Eli Lilly, Merck and Pfizer have formed an independent, not-for-profit company Asian Cancer Research Group (ACRG) to accelerate research and ultimately improve treatment for patients affected with the most commonly-diagnosed cancers in Asia…more

Of course, in this industry, there is often a mix of good news and bad – and “bad” usually means bad behavior by people who love dollars above sense: lack of openness at AZ?; secret tapes and GSK (plus, a “fixer” who spiked research?); research fraud by rogue doc; kickbacks and J&J; risk of depression assessment and Eli Lilly (are you alive? then you’re at risk!!!). Reminds me of some prior posts on the Gold-in Rule…

Novartis looking to expand even more at East Hanover campus. Including themed food venues!

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PLUS

I’m feeling much safer now. FDA finally comes out against “ear candling“! Next up, perhaps – a prohibition of USB-to-nasal-passage uploads??

JUST FOR FUN

Delightful (and BIG) pictures from Vancouver Olympics. Love the colors in the very first one. From Boston.com’s very nice The Big Picture section.

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Impactiviti Daily 020210

TODAY’S NEWS

Keep some Lexapro around for strokes. Forest Laboratories Inc.’s antidepressant Lexapro may help stroke patients recover some of their mental skills, a study said. Patients who took Lexapro recovered more of their visual and verbal memory after 12 months of treatment than those given a placebo or those who underwent therapy without drugs, researchers reported today…more

Will there be a new dementia treatment coming? – Doctors may learn next month that Dimebon, a 27-year-old hay fever treatment and one of the most mysterious compounds yet tried to fight dementia, is poised to become their newest and perhaps best weapon against Alzheimer’s…more

What will the sales rep of the future look like?

Cialis strategy – just charge more!

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Impactiviti‘s new, searchable Pharma Job Board (powered by SimplyHired). Check it out!

JUST FOR FUN

Having a bad day? This little video clip will cure it! Bad Day Cure.

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Impactiviti Daily 092209

See the newly-re-launched Impactiviti Collection e-newsletter! Here’s a link to the on-line sample; you can sign up to receive the Connection (~every two weeks) right here.

TODAY’S NEWS

Pfizer and Wyeth to sell off some Animal Health assets to Boehringer-Ingelheim.

Speaking of B-I, here’s a presentation from them on how they successfully use Twitter. Boehringer is one of the more engaged and interactive companies in the space.

Eli Lilly‘s Alimta improves survival for lung cancer.

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PLUS

Podcast today discussing latest social media in pharma developments, and upcoming Digital Pharma conference in October. Archived here.

JUST FOR FUN

Is it candy? Or medicine? This poster‘s both funny and a bit…scary.

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Impactiviti Daily 091509

Where I’ll be next week: Sept. 23-24 – MedAdNews PharmaMed Marketing and Media conference, Princeton, NJ. I’ll be speaking on social media opportunities in pharma, and live-blogging.

TODAY’S NEWS

Novartis sees positive results with experimental COPD drug – Swiss drugmaker Novartis said a respiratory medicine improved lung function and significantly reduced breathlessness in a late stage trial. The outcome added to data suggesting QAB149 will challenge blockbusters like Pfizer’s Spiriva and GlaxoSmithKline‘s Advair, giving Novartis an edge in one of the industry’s most lucrative therapeutic areas…more

J&J/Elan deal getting the once-over to try to appease Biogen – Elan, the Irish domiciled biotech company, will receive $115m less than previously agreed from Johnson & Johnson as part of a revised investment deal designed to salvage a pivotal partnership with Biogen Idec…more

Eli Lilly to do massive re-org – Eli Lilly announced that it would eliminate approximately 5,500 positions as part of a massive reorganization strategy that’s expected to net the firm reduce $1 billion in costs by 2011. This move will drop the company’s headcount from approximately 40,500 to 35,000. The company hasn’t revealed where the cuts will come from or how many will be real layoffs and how many will simply be reduced positions…more More from the Lilly CEO here.

New MRSA drug approved – Theravance Inc. and partner Astellas Pharma won FDA approval for their superbug-fighting drug telavancin, which will bring the South San Francisco company a $20 million milestone payment…more

GSK will have to share Paxil e-mails in birth defect lawsuit.

An interesting analysis of Qnexa (the next weight-loss drug?) by Jim Edwards. Is it too good??

Metformin as a treatment for cancer??

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PLUS

A new site for accessing medical device/pharmaceutical sales positions listed by recruiters: MedPharmReps.

JUST FOR FUN

Do you know anyone with their internal organs reversed? Turns out that there are such folks…maybe even you!

We had a wonderful and restful vacation last week, touring through Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. I uploaded some pictures along the way on my “twitpic” account – here’s one sample:

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Impactiviti Daily 082009

TODAY’S NEWS

Femara keeps breast cancer at bay better than tamoxifen – Novartis AG’s Femara prevented breast cancer from returning regardless of whether women took the drug for five years or switched to a less expensive, generic medication two years into the treatment, a study found. Initial results from the trial involving 4,922 patients found women who took Femara for five years were less likely to have the cancer return, particularly in another spot, than those who took only the generic drug tamoxifen…more

Eli Lilly stops development of bone loss drug – Eli Lilly & Co. halted development of its experimental bone drug arzoxifene, once one of its most promising new treatments, after a study found it didn’t prevent nonspinal fractures and increased blood clots and hot flashes…more

More good news for Avastin – Swiss-based Roche Holding AG said on Tuesday a study had showed its drug Avastin increased life expectancy for women with breast cancer without the disease getting worse, when used alongside common chemotherapies…more

GSK and Genmab – Arzerra results not so good – A clinical trial of Arzerra, a drug being developed by Danish biotechnology company Genmab and backed by Glaxo, had proven disappointing, Genmab management said yesterday. Among patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that were given a high dose of the drug, only 10pc saw their cancer shrink – a response rate far lower than expected…more

Eyedrops for Claritin and Zyrtec. Neither of which contain the ingredients in Claritin or Zyrtec. Hmmmm….

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Oncology training – some of my training partners specialize in training for oncology groups – product training, account management training, advanced selling skills, and much more. Contact me (stevew at impactiviti dot com, or phone at 973-947-7429) for some brainstorming and vendor recommendations to boost the performance of your oncology sales team.

PLUS

The No Drone Zone. Can you create a company of just top performers? See what Netflix has done (StickyFigure blog post).

JUST FOR FUN

I’ve got a baaaad feeling about this…

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