From Pharmalot...
Less than a month after AbbVie quietly disclosed that its chief scientific officer is unexpectedly retiring, the drugmaker is now shaking up R&D and will layoff approximately 100 scientists from its pain discovery program in neuroscience, according to sources. And an AbbVie spokesman confirmed the move.
The R&D changes, which the spokesman says will also involve adding some 90 jobs in such therapeutic categories as dermatology, gastroenterology and renal, are part of a larger transformation that AbbVie is undergoing after being split off earlier this from Abbott Laboratories.
Faced with patent expirations on big-selling cholesterol medicines, the drugmaker is laying off hundreds of sales reps. The TriCor pill, which generated nearly $1.4 billion in sales last year, recently lost patent protection and Niaspan, which notched $976 million in 2012 sales, faces generic rivals in a few months.
The various moves reflect the challenges with which AbbVie ceo Rick Gonzalez was saddled as a result of the spin-off. Although dubbed as a research-based pharma unit for investor consumption, the drugmaker has portfolio issues that extend beyond its aging cholesterol franchise.
Notably, AbbVie is also dependent on the Humira rheumatoid arthritis treatment, an $8 billion-a-year seller with a 2016 patent expiration. To what extent continued sales growth is assured is unclear. The treatment is a complex biologic, suggesting a biosimilar will not appear immediately, but a citizen petition was filed with the FDA last year to thwart rivals.
As noted previously, the AbbVie pipeline is otherwise is overly dependent on the competitive hepatitis C market, which underscores the need for Gonzalez to remake R&D. In fact, sources say that he has repeatedly emphasized the need for a ‘culture change’ and the departure of chief scientific officer John Leonard coincides with that dictate.
Less than a month after AbbVie quietly disclosed that its chief scientific officer is unexpectedly retiring, the drugmaker is now shaking up R&D and will layoff approximately 100 scientists from its pain discovery program in neuroscience, according to sources. And an AbbVie spokesman confirmed the move.
The R&D changes, which the spokesman says will also involve adding some 90 jobs in such therapeutic categories as dermatology, gastroenterology and renal, are part of a larger transformation that AbbVie is undergoing after being split off earlier this from Abbott Laboratories.
Faced with patent expirations on big-selling cholesterol medicines, the drugmaker is laying off hundreds of sales reps. The TriCor pill, which generated nearly $1.4 billion in sales last year, recently lost patent protection and Niaspan, which notched $976 million in 2012 sales, faces generic rivals in a few months.
The various moves reflect the challenges with which AbbVie ceo Rick Gonzalez was saddled as a result of the spin-off. Although dubbed as a research-based pharma unit for investor consumption, the drugmaker has portfolio issues that extend beyond its aging cholesterol franchise.
Notably, AbbVie is also dependent on the Humira rheumatoid arthritis treatment, an $8 billion-a-year seller with a 2016 patent expiration. To what extent continued sales growth is assured is unclear. The treatment is a complex biologic, suggesting a biosimilar will not appear immediately, but a citizen petition was filed with the FDA last year to thwart rivals.
As noted previously, the AbbVie pipeline is otherwise is overly dependent on the competitive hepatitis C market, which underscores the need for Gonzalez to remake R&D. In fact, sources say that he has repeatedly emphasized the need for a ‘culture change’ and the departure of chief scientific officer John Leonard coincides with that dictate.