ON YAHOO TODAY ARTICLE on PAIN FEB. 1 2010?
Question by steven: ON YAHOO TODAY ARTICLE ON PAIN FEB. 1 2010?
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Answer by Charles K
Glaxo to Stop Pain Research, Start Rare-Disease Unit
By Trista Kelley
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — GlaxoSmithKline Plc will halt research into drugs for depression and pain and begin making treatments for rare diseases as the U.K. company tries to squeeze more products out of its laboratories.
Glaxo will also focus on discovering new medicines for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and multiple sclerosis, the London-based company said today in a statement. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty said an expanded cost-savings program would bring job cuts affecting “hundreds rather than thousands” of positions in the U.K.
Britain’s biggest drugmaker is seeking new products to keep sales rising after revenue from swine flu vaccine falls and older medicines lose patent protection. Fourth-quarter sales surged 17 percent, helped by sales of H1N1 flu vaccine, Glaxo said today. Glaxo is trying to weed out compounds from its 3.95 billion pound ($ 6.25 billion) research budget that are expensive to develop and provide little return on investment, Witty said.
“This really all revolves around realities about doing research in this field,” Witty said of depression and pain projects on a conference call with reporters. Developing a drug that’s significantly better than existing medications is difficult and “they’re very expensive trials. That’s what drove the decision.”
Orphan Status
Treatments aimed at rare diseases can get so-called orphan status from regulators, giving the medicines a speedier review and up to seven years of market exclusivity in the U.S. and making them more attractive to develop. Moncef Slaoui, Glaxo’s head of research, told Bloomberg News in September that the company planned a move into orphan medicines.
“If you want to save money in R&D, that’s a sensible area to go,” Jeffrey Holford, an analyst at Jefferies International Ltd., said in an interview. “Depression hasn’t delivered very many great medicines in the recent past for anyone full stop.” Orphan drugs “are a very profitable area.”
Paxil, a Glaxo antidepressant that’s already on the market, has proved costly. The drugmaker has paid almost $ 1 billion to resolve lawsuits for over the drug since it was introduced in 1993, including about $ 390 million for suicides or attempted suicides, according to court records and people familiar with the cases. The drug brought in 513 million pounds of sales last year.
Witty said fewer than 10 percent of rare diseases have treatments. Glaxo in October agreed to pay as much as 460 million euros ($ 637 million) to develop drugs from closely held Dutch biotechnology company Prosensa aiming to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aOfbCLHQqhsY
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