Big Pharma ad spending edges toward $7B with Sanofi, Regeneron and Novo Nordisk leading the way

March 22, 2022 12:05 PM EDT

Big Pharma ad spending edges toward $7B with Sanofi, Regeneron and Novo Nordisk leading the way

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Drugmakers spent close to $7 billion on consumer advertising in 2021. The exact final US media tally – $6.88 billion – is up just slightly from the $6.86 billion spent in 2020, according to Kantar’s media tracking data.

Topping the list of drug spending brands is a new leader for the first time in years. Sanofi and Regeneron’s multi-indication asthma and eczema med Dupixent took the top spot from AbbVie’s perennial big spender brand Humira which has been No. 1 since 2015. AbbVie, facing Humira generic competition next year, has taken its foot off the gas and redistributed spending to other brands including Skyrizi and Rinvoq.

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Biotech investors and CEOs see two paths to growth, but are they equally viable?

Noël Brown

Head of US Biotechnology Investment Banking, RBC Capital Markets

The dynamic in the biotech market has been highly volatile in the last few years, from the high peaks immediately after the COVID vaccine in 2021, to the lowest downturns of the last 20 years in 2022. This uncertainty makes calling the exact timing of the market’s turn something of a fool’s errand, according to Dr. Chen Yu, Founder and Managing Partner of TCG Crossover (TCG X). He speaks with RBC’s Noël Brown, Head of US Biotechnology Investment Banking, about the market’s road ahead and two possible paths for growth.

Casey McPherson shows his daughters Rose (left) and Weston around Everlum Bio, a lab that he co-founded to spark a treatment for Rose and others with ultra-rare conditions. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

October 4, 2022 06:00 AM EDTUpdated 11:21 AM

People

Pharma

In Focus

Father starts lab after intellectual property issues stymie rare disease drug development

Jared Whitlock

Features Editor

Under bright lab lights, Casey McPherson holds his 6-year-old daughter, Rose. His free hand directs Rose’s gaze toward a computer screen with potential clues in treating her one-of-a kind genetic condition.

Gray specks on the screen show her cells that scientists reprogrammed with the goal of zeroing in on a custom medicine. McPherson co-founded the lab, Everlum Bio, to spark a treatment for Rose — and others like her. A regarded singer-songwriter, McPherson never imagined going into drug development.

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Fireside chat between Hal Barron and John Carroll, UKBIO19

October 5, 2022 07:38 AM EDT

Bioregnum

It’s time we talked about biopharma — live in London next week

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Zoom can only go so far. And I think at this stage, we’ve all tested the limits of staying in touch — virtually. So I’m particularly happy now that we’ve revved up the travel machine to point myself to London for the first time in several years.

Whatever events we have lined up, we’ve always built in plenty of opportunities for all of us to get together and talk. For London, live, I plan to be right out front, meeting with and chatting with the small crowd of biopharma people we are hosting on October 12 at Silicon Valley Bank’s London headquarters. And there’s a lengthy mixer at the end I’m most looking forward to, with several networking openings between sessions.

ENDPOINTS CAREERS

Senior Quality Assurance Compliance Specialist

Lonza

Houston, TX, USA

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Pfizer and BioNTech's original Marvel comic book links evolving Covid vaccine science to Avengers' evolving villain-fighting tools.(Source: Pfizer LinkedIn post)

October 5, 2022 02:23 PM EDT

Pharma

Marketing

Pfizer, BioNTech partner with Marvel for Avengers and Covid-fighting comic book

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Pfizer and BioNTech are collaborating with Marvel to celebrate “everyday” people getting Covid-19 vaccines in a custom comic book.

In the “Everyday Heroes” digital comic book, an evolving Ultron, one of the Avengers’ leading villains, is defeated by Captain America, Ironman and others. The plotline and history of Ultron is explained by a grandfather who is waiting with his family at a clinic for Covid-19 vaccinations.

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Kaile Zagger, Infinant Health CEO

October 5, 2022 02:00 PM EDT

R&D

Pharma

UC Davis microbiome spinout rebrands infant supplement business with nature focus

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

When Kaile Zagger took the helm of UC Davis spinout Evolve Biosystems several months ago, the company billed itself as a probiotic maker.

However, she believes the company’s Evivo supplement designed to help infants develop a healthy gut microbiome is “so much more” — and that, she said, calls for a rebrand.

Evolve has, well, evolved into Infinant Health, the company announced on Monday. The new name is a mash-up of the words “infant” and “infinite,” representing the company’s goal of expanding beyond infant care. While its sole product, Evivo, is intended for newborns, Infinant is “quickly developing” an option for kids through the age of two.

October 4, 2022 10:00 AM EDTUpdated 10 hours ago

Manufacturing

Takeda to pull key hypoparathyroidism drug from the market after years of manufacturing woes

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Takeda on Tuesday morning made an announcement that almost 3,000 people with the rare disease known as hypoparathyroidism were fearing.

Due to unresolved supply issues and manufacturing woes, Takeda said it will cut its losses and discontinue its hypoparathyroidism drug, known as Natpara (parathyroid hormone), halting all manufacturing of the drug by the end of 2024, but the entire inventory will be available until depleted or expired, a company spokesperson said via email.

October 5, 2022 03:20 PM EDT

Pharma

Law

Eli Lilly and Teva prepare for court battle over migraine med rivalry

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

It looks like Eli Lilly and Teva Pharmaceuticals are going to trial.

A federal appeals court on Monday refused to invalidate three of Teva’s patents for its migraine treatment Ajovy, while also declining to issue a summary judgment in favor of either company, which would effectively end the case without a full trial.

Teva filed suit against Lilly back in 2018, alleging that the company infringed upon nine patents with its rival migraine drug Emgality. The rival drugs were both approved in September 2018 for the preventative treatment of migraine, and are designed to block calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a protein associated with the onset of migraine pain.

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ENDPOINTS CAREERS

Head of Quality Systems

Lonza

Lexington, MA, USA

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Leo Tarkovsky, Fingerpaint Group's new chief commercial officer

October 5, 2022 12:27 PM EDTUpdated 02:07 PM

Pharma

Marketing

Fingerpaint Group taps former WPP and McCann Health exec for new commercial role

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

Healthcare agency veteran Leo Tarkovsky has joined Fingerpaint Group as chief commercial officer to oversee its growing portfolio of pharma and healthcare agencies and communications companies.

Tarkovsky came to Fingerpaint from WPP where he was EVP for global healthcare growth over the past year. Before that served at McCann Health for seven years including as president overseeing the New York agencies with pharma clients including AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen.

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In AstraZeneca's latest campaign, wild eosinophils called Phils personify the acting up often seen in uncontrolled asthma

October 4, 2022 02:54 PM EDTUpdated 7 hours ago

Pharma

Marketing

AstraZeneca debuts annoying purple ‘Phil’ creatures, personified asthma eosinophils ‘behaving badly’

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

There are some odd-looking purple creatures lurking around the halls of AstraZeneca lately. The “Phil” character cutouts are purple, personified eosinophils with big buggy eyes and wide mouths, and they’re a part of AZ’s newest awareness effort to help people understand eosinophilic asthma.

The “Asthma Behaving Badly” characters aren’t only on the walls at AZ to show the new campaign to employees, however. The “Phils” are also showing up online on the campaign website, and in digital and social ads and posts on Facebook and Instagram.