07.21.14
Headquarters: London, UK
twitter.com/astrazeneca
www.astrazeneca.com
Top Selling Drugs
The patent cliff had a major impact on UK-based AstraZeneca, which lost over $2 billion in sales for key products, such the acid reflux treatment Nexium, and the asthma therapy Symbicort. The company’s net income dropped from over $5 billion to $2.6 billion, as it dealt with restructuring and other costs.
Then, last quarter, Pfizer launched a bid worth around $120 billion for the company, which was ultimately rejected. Pfizer won’t be able to pursue this acquisition again until late this year, but among the reasons AstraZeneca rejected the offer was the fact that the price was insufficient.
CEO Pascal Soriot has been widely quoted as saying that AstraZeneca can double its annual sales by focusing on core therapeutic groups, particularly oncology therapies, and improving innovation in those areas.
Late last month, FDA reviewers rejected AstraZeneca’s application for olaparib, which would treat a form of ovarian cancer.
Approval of this drug would have been a sign that the changes in AstraZeneca’s approach to R&D are already working.
Just a few days later, Reuters reported that Mr. Soriot increased his own personal share in the company, by spending $3.4 million to add 46,000 shares, bringing his total stake in the company to 197,781, over seven times his base salary.
He projects an optimism about the company that is hard to ignore. As he said in a June interview with Forbes’ Matt Herper, “The whole organization feels that we are back.” He was referring specifically to its oncology R&D, which once led the industry, and is now being invigorated by new approaches. But he might be speaking about the company’s R&D organization.
And AstraZeneca is going well beyond oncology drugs in its future plans. Diabetes is a key focus and the company has strengthened its portfolio earlier this year, buying BMS’s 50% stake in the companies’ joint venture.
Moving to Cambridge
The next few months will tell. However, the company definitely is shoring up its innovative platform. Like many of its competitors, it has moved to the “R&D hub” model, with individual pockets of researchers located near major hospitals and research institutions such as Cambridge’s Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK, where the company’s headquarters will be based by 2016.
AstraZeneca has been restructuring its operations, and in March of 2013 embarked on a job cutting program that will eliminate 5,050 jobs between 2013 and 2016. At the same time, management seems committed to making it a great place to work, fostering more communication through efforts such as its online “culture jam,” an online conversation in which the company’s employees share their thoughts on what it is like to develop medications that can save lives. (Editor’s note: Please don’t roll your eyes, dear readers).
Corporate management appears to be committed to making AstraZeneca’s research programs more effective, and is not afraid to make tough decisions such as discontinuing projects that aren’t getting where they need to go. In 2013, in the spirit of “fail but fail fast,” the company discontinued 15 clinical projects, including one for fostamatinib, for which there had been high hopes of success.
AstraZeneca has set a goal of 5-7 projects per year in Phase III by the end of this year, and two NME’s per year by 2020.
Restructuring was costly to pull off, but the program is expected to deliver $300 million per year by the end of 2016, bringing savings to $1.1 billion.
By the end of 2013, the company had 99 projects in its development pipeline, 85 in clinical, 14 approvals, filings or launches, including 11 NMEs in Phase III, double the number in 2012. Three of these Phase III projects were developed in house, and two through acquisitions, namely that of Pearl Therapeutics and Omthera last year.
The company’s sights are focused on emerging markets, diabetes, respiratory and oncology markets, and efforts are evenly divided between small molecules and biopharma efforts (enabled by its previous acquisition of MedImmune).
Last year, the company built two key facilities, one in China and the other in Russia, and hired 7,800 new full time employees for emerging markets and other key platforms. AstraZeneca also plans to build a new $190-million facility in Macclesfield, UK for Zoladex. It says it had 26 inspections from 10 global regulatory agencies last year without any ill effects.
AstraZeneca has also moved to improve transparency, particularly in the area of clinical research. By the end of last year, half of the company’s 2,241 clinical trials results were reported on, summarized, and posted online, on a dedicated website.
Serious efforts are being made, in any case, by a company and management team that seems committed to improving innovation.
twitter.com/astrazeneca
www.astrazeneca.com
Headcount: | 50,000 | |
Year Established: | 1999 | |
Pharma Revenues: | $25,711 | -6% |
Net Income: | $2,571 | -50% |
R&D Budget: | $4,821 | -19% |
Top Selling Drugs
Drug | Indication | 2013 sales | (+/- %) |
Crestor | cholesterol | $5,622 | -10% |
Nexium | GERD | $3,872 | -2% |
Symbicort | asthma, copd | $3,483 | 9% |
Seroquel | anti-psychotic | $1,682 | -12% |
Synagis | RSV | $1,060 | 2% |
Zoladex | oncology | $996 | -9% |
Pulmicort | asthma, copd | $867 | -1% |
Seloken/Toprol-XL | cardiovascular | $750 | -18% |
Atacand | cardiovascular | $611 | -12% |
The patent cliff had a major impact on UK-based AstraZeneca, which lost over $2 billion in sales for key products, such the acid reflux treatment Nexium, and the asthma therapy Symbicort. The company’s net income dropped from over $5 billion to $2.6 billion, as it dealt with restructuring and other costs.
Then, last quarter, Pfizer launched a bid worth around $120 billion for the company, which was ultimately rejected. Pfizer won’t be able to pursue this acquisition again until late this year, but among the reasons AstraZeneca rejected the offer was the fact that the price was insufficient.
CEO Pascal Soriot has been widely quoted as saying that AstraZeneca can double its annual sales by focusing on core therapeutic groups, particularly oncology therapies, and improving innovation in those areas.
Late last month, FDA reviewers rejected AstraZeneca’s application for olaparib, which would treat a form of ovarian cancer.
Approval of this drug would have been a sign that the changes in AstraZeneca’s approach to R&D are already working.
Just a few days later, Reuters reported that Mr. Soriot increased his own personal share in the company, by spending $3.4 million to add 46,000 shares, bringing his total stake in the company to 197,781, over seven times his base salary.
He projects an optimism about the company that is hard to ignore. As he said in a June interview with Forbes’ Matt Herper, “The whole organization feels that we are back.” He was referring specifically to its oncology R&D, which once led the industry, and is now being invigorated by new approaches. But he might be speaking about the company’s R&D organization.
And AstraZeneca is going well beyond oncology drugs in its future plans. Diabetes is a key focus and the company has strengthened its portfolio earlier this year, buying BMS’s 50% stake in the companies’ joint venture.
Moving to Cambridge
The next few months will tell. However, the company definitely is shoring up its innovative platform. Like many of its competitors, it has moved to the “R&D hub” model, with individual pockets of researchers located near major hospitals and research institutions such as Cambridge’s Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK, where the company’s headquarters will be based by 2016.
AstraZeneca has been restructuring its operations, and in March of 2013 embarked on a job cutting program that will eliminate 5,050 jobs between 2013 and 2016. At the same time, management seems committed to making it a great place to work, fostering more communication through efforts such as its online “culture jam,” an online conversation in which the company’s employees share their thoughts on what it is like to develop medications that can save lives. (Editor’s note: Please don’t roll your eyes, dear readers).
Corporate management appears to be committed to making AstraZeneca’s research programs more effective, and is not afraid to make tough decisions such as discontinuing projects that aren’t getting where they need to go. In 2013, in the spirit of “fail but fail fast,” the company discontinued 15 clinical projects, including one for fostamatinib, for which there had been high hopes of success.
AstraZeneca has set a goal of 5-7 projects per year in Phase III by the end of this year, and two NME’s per year by 2020.
Restructuring was costly to pull off, but the program is expected to deliver $300 million per year by the end of 2016, bringing savings to $1.1 billion.
By the end of 2013, the company had 99 projects in its development pipeline, 85 in clinical, 14 approvals, filings or launches, including 11 NMEs in Phase III, double the number in 2012. Three of these Phase III projects were developed in house, and two through acquisitions, namely that of Pearl Therapeutics and Omthera last year.
The company’s sights are focused on emerging markets, diabetes, respiratory and oncology markets, and efforts are evenly divided between small molecules and biopharma efforts (enabled by its previous acquisition of MedImmune).
Last year, the company built two key facilities, one in China and the other in Russia, and hired 7,800 new full time employees for emerging markets and other key platforms. AstraZeneca also plans to build a new $190-million facility in Macclesfield, UK for Zoladex. It says it had 26 inspections from 10 global regulatory agencies last year without any ill effects.
AstraZeneca has also moved to improve transparency, particularly in the area of clinical research. By the end of last year, half of the company’s 2,241 clinical trials results were reported on, summarized, and posted online, on a dedicated website.
Serious efforts are being made, in any case, by a company and management team that seems committed to improving innovation.