http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/126813058.html
"Research and development is the lifeblood of any pharmaceutical organization," said Dr. John L. LaMattina, a former president of Pfizer Global Research and Development and now a senior partner at Puretech Ventures in Boston. LaMattina wrote about the negative effects of mergers and acquisitions this week in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
In a phone interview, LaMattina said consolidation disrupts or destroys the scientific exploration required to produce new medicines. After one company acquires another, time, effort, and brain cells are spent deciding which researchers will work on what, which company's testing methods to adopt, and, often, who gets laid off.
"I might not be doing justice to salespeople, but they can go from selling one kind of drug to another kind of drug more easily," LaMattina said, referring to the possible differences among divisions in adjusting to new owners.
At a congressional hearing in July, Janet Woodcock, the FDA's director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said the agency recognized the industry was in "crisis" over prospects of the pipelines not producing blockbusters to replace the mega-profit drugs that will soon lose patent protection from generic competitors. But she said the FDA also saw fewer submissions of new-drug applications.
LaMattina, like others in the industry, said the FDA wanted to see more research before approving drugs, but he said the industry consolidation meant there were fewer companies to submit new drugs. That can mean fewer research jobs and fewer medicines for patients.
"In your part of the world, there are a lot of companies that are no longer there," LaMattina said of Philadelphia. "In the old days, you'd have five or six companies coming up with a new drug for something and race to get it to market. Now, it's one or two."
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/126813058.html#ixzz1UBheUpGr
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"Research and development is the lifeblood of any pharmaceutical organization," said Dr. John L. LaMattina, a former president of Pfizer Global Research and Development and now a senior partner at Puretech Ventures in Boston. LaMattina wrote about the negative effects of mergers and acquisitions this week in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
In a phone interview, LaMattina said consolidation disrupts or destroys the scientific exploration required to produce new medicines. After one company acquires another, time, effort, and brain cells are spent deciding which researchers will work on what, which company's testing methods to adopt, and, often, who gets laid off.
"I might not be doing justice to salespeople, but they can go from selling one kind of drug to another kind of drug more easily," LaMattina said, referring to the possible differences among divisions in adjusting to new owners.
At a congressional hearing in July, Janet Woodcock, the FDA's director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said the agency recognized the industry was in "crisis" over prospects of the pipelines not producing blockbusters to replace the mega-profit drugs that will soon lose patent protection from generic competitors. But she said the FDA also saw fewer submissions of new-drug applications.
LaMattina, like others in the industry, said the FDA wanted to see more research before approving drugs, but he said the industry consolidation meant there were fewer companies to submit new drugs. That can mean fewer research jobs and fewer medicines for patients.
"In your part of the world, there are a lot of companies that are no longer there," LaMattina said of Philadelphia. "In the old days, you'd have five or six companies coming up with a new drug for something and race to get it to market. Now, it's one or two."
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/126813058.html#ixzz1UBheUpGr
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else