
5 Things Happening in the Pharmacy World Today
In case you missed it...
In case you missed it:
1. Chantix’s Boxed Warning Could Be Removed
Varenicline (Chantix) is a popular smoking cessation drug that has generated $671 million in sales. In 2009, the FDA added a Boxed Warning to its label concerning serious neuropsychiatric events, including depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, and completed suicide.
The EAGLES study compared the neuropsychiatric safety risk and efficacy of Chantix and bupropion (Zyban) with the nicotine patch in 8000 smokers with and without psychiatric disorders. The results showed neither Chantix nor Zyban raised the risk of those adverse effects.
An independent advisory panel recently voted in favor to
2. FDA Rejects Eliquis Antidote
Warfarin has always been the gold standard for venous thromboembolism treatment and stroke/systemic embolism prophylaxis in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. In the past few years, novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) like edoxaban (Savaysa), apixaban (Eliquis), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), and dabigatran (Pradaxa) have emerged as alternative treatment because of their favorable pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and minimal adverse events.
Vitamin K has been the antidote for warfarin for a long time, but the only available antidote for the NOAC class is
Interim results of the ongoing Phase 3b/4 ANNEXA-4 study demonstrated
3. Terror Tactics Being Used in Vaccine DTC Ads1
Some pharmaceutical companies have started to employ fear-mongering strategies for advertising their vaccines. For example, Pfizer’s ad for its meningitis B vaccine, Trumenba, first shows a little boy celebrating his birthday party, but the next scene shows the little boy pale and weak in the hospital bed because his mom just thought he had the flu. Meanwhile, an ad for GlaxoSmithKline’s whooping cough vaccine, Boostrix, shows a sick grandmother as a wolf holding a baby.
Although I don’t support this strategy, I’m hoping these ads will finally
4. Another Biosimilar Approved
Biologics and biosimilars have become increasingly popular over the last few years. They’ve been used to treat a variety of diseases and ailments, like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and diabetes.
In 2014, 10 of the top 25
The FDA recently approved Novartis’
Hopefully, the emerging biosimilars market will decrease the price of these specialty medications.
5. Bayer Will Buy Monsanto for $66 Billion2
Bayer announced that it will buy Monsanto for $66 billion yesterday, which is the biggest takeover of 2016. Monsanto is the largest agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology company in the world. If this deal goes through, Bayer will control more than a quarter of the world’s market for seeds and pesticides.
This may be bad news for Bayer’s pharma future, since it won’t have enough funds to invest in both pharmaceuticals and agriculture. However, Bayer still has time to position itself as competitive in both industries. The company’s blockbuster drugs, including Xarelto, won’t lose their patents until the 2020s,
References
- Pasquaderlli A. Halloween already? Big pharma marketers try terror tactics to scare up sales. adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/big-pharma-marketers-terror-tactics/305784/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1474256550. Published Septempber 12, 2016.
- Roumeliotis G, Burger L. Bayer clinches Monsanto with improved $66 billion bid. reuters.com/article/us-monsanto-m-a-bayer-deal-idUSKCN11K128. Published September 15, 2016.
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