Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Watch

19 November 2001 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

ABGENIX Inc. has acquired privately held Hesed Biomed Inc., a firm specializing in catalytic antibodies.

AMERICAN Biogenetic Sciences Inc. (ABS) will reacquire from Abbott Laboratories the license rights for ABS' neurological compound ABS-103.

AMGEN's Kineret (anakinra) has received FDA approval for treating rheumatoid arthritis.

FINANCIAL Schering AG reported a 23 percent increase in net income to á331 million ($301 million) in the first nine months of 2001 on net sales of á3.578 billion.

GPC BIOTECH AG has formed a five and a half-year alliance with BYK Gulden Lomberg Chemische Fabrik GmbH, the pharmaceutical division of Altana AG, to establish a genomics research center owned by Altana, which has committed $120 million for the project.

MERCK & Co. Inc. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, a unit of the Israeli-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Zenith Goldline Pharmaceuticals Inc. Teva and Zenith submitted an abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) with the FDA for a generic daily version of Merck's osteoporosis drug Fosamax (alendronate), which had 2000 global sales of $1.2 billion. Merck has also filed lawsuits against Teva and Barr Laboratories for filing ANDAs for once-weekly alendronate.

MIZA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Canadian pharmaceutical contract manufacturing company, has agreed to acquire the pharmaceutical manufacturing business of Ireland-based Antigen Holdings Ltd., which specializes in sterile pharmaceutical products. NOVARTIS AG has received European approval for its oral chronic myeloid leukemia drug Glivec (imatinib).

PHARMACIA Corp. has reduced its shareholding in its biotechnology venture Biovitrum AB to 19 percent through sales of shares to venture capital investors Alta Partners of San Francisco and HBM BioVentures of Switzerland.

PFIZER Inc. has settled for an undisclosed amount a $20 million claim that its diabetes drug Rezulin (troglitazone) caused liver damage. The drug was withdrawn from the market in March 2000. Pfizer also received a recommendation for FDA approval for Zithromax (azithromycin) for pediatric acute otitis media.

SYNTHON Chiragenics Corp. has signed an agreement with Harvard University-affiliated The Brigham and Women's Hospital, to research antibacterial candidates.

TAKEDA Chemical Industries Ltd. has sued American Home Products Corp. (AHP) and a unit of German-based Altana AG for alleged patent infringement of AHP's ulcer drug Protonix (pantoprazole sodium). Protonix was developed by BYK Gulden Lomberg Chemische Fabrik GmbH and is marketed in the US by AHP's Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories. Takeda does not sell a pantoprazole product but licenses its patents. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against AHP and BYK and damages. US sales for Protonix for the first nine months in 2001 were $453.9 million.

THERATECHNOLOGIES, a biopharmaceutical company, and Bachem, a peptide manufacturer, have agreed to develop a large-scale manufacturing process that would enable Peptix, Theratechnologies' peptide synthesis subsidiary, to develop the active ingredient ThGRF at a competitive cost.

VIROPHARMA Inc. and AHP's Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, will stop development for a hepatitis C compound, VP 50406, in favor of structurally distinct follow-on compounds that the companies expect to begin entering clinical trials in 2002.

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