Rare disease drug development has ballooned in just three years, powered by the success of independent biotechs like Alexion, Big Pharma’s entrée into the field, and pressure from regulators and payors that is dis-incentivizing development of traditional primary care drugs. The positive momentum has intensified dealmaking in the orphan drug space and is giving investors confidence to back rare disease-focused start-ups. Some have coined the resulting movement the “orphan drug bubble,” but interest isn’t likely to deflate soon – at least not as long as Big Pharma continues to invest in the area and industry is able to sustain a favorable reimbursement climate for ultra-premium-priced drugs.
If you mentioned “orphan drugs” to a pharma audience even three years ago, just a handful of drug manufacturers would likely have come to mind: the pioneer Genzyme Corp., naturally, along with comrades-in-arms Shire PLC, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., and Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Well, things have changed.
In the last 18 months alone, Genzyme was acquired by Sanofi[See Deal], Pfizer Inc. launched Elelyso...
New report by global law firm Taylor Wessing and Bayes Business School forecasts a steadily increasing volume of major life sciences M&A in the coming five years, but highlights concerns over cybersecurity and unrealistic valuations. Taylor Wessing partner Andrew Edge spoke to In Vivo.
The Chinese appetite for GLP-1s is noticeable. While the market opportunity for western pharma is huge, so are the strategic market access challenges, though not unsurmountable, L.E.K. Consulting told In Vivo.
Many assets do not meet their pre-launch predictions, either exceeding or falling short of their forecast sales. In this article, In Vivo highlights several historic examples and the factors that influenced their unexpected performance.
