The Life Sciences in New York State

More on Merck's scorched Earth pricing strategy for Zocor

Ultra-cheap drugs worry generic makers

Merck & Co. is slashing the price of its cholesterol drug Zocor so low for one insurance plan that members will actually pay less for the original pills than for the generic.

Too expensive...no, too cheap

If you look up "drippin with sarcasm" in the dictionary, you are likely to find this quote.

Senator Raps Drug Giant Over Zocor Price

"It appears that Senator Schumer is criticizing us because he says that our prices are too low. That's a new one," said Ian Spatz, Merck's vice president for public policy.

Microdosing start up in the news

I'm a big fan of microdosing. I think this will eventually become routine practice for promising candidates in late Preclinical testing.

Big hopes for small drug tests

Vitalea Science Inc., a three-person startup company in Woodland, is eager to help. The company hopes to capitalize on new FDA rules adopted in January that allow for a drug to be tested in humans at "microdose" levels -- generally a tenth of a milligram or less. Microdose tests are conducted after preliminary tests in rats or dogs, and are seen as a relatively cheap way to catch an unsuccessful drug before it goes into costly full-scale human clinical trials.

Microdosing start up in the news

I'm a big fan of microdosing. I think this will eventually become routine practice for promising candidates in late Preclinical testing.

Big hopes for small drug tests

Vitalea Science Inc., a three-person startup company in Woodland, is eager to help. The company hopes to capitalize on new FDA rules adopted in January that allow for a drug to be tested in humans at "microdose" levels -- generally a tenth of a milligram or less. Microdose tests are conducted after preliminary tests in rats or dogs, and are seen as a relatively cheap way to catch an unsuccessful drug before it goes into costly full-scale human clinical trials.

To buy versus license

Royalties, and royalty stacking (the situation where you have multiple royalties being paid out for a single product) are again becoming an issue in the industry. If you're a mega company, it may make sense in the long run to purchase the entire company, carve out what is not needed, and keep the most valuable parts.

I'm not one at risk of losing a job in this scenario, so this is all easy for me to say. I'm not sure I'd want to be on the "As of this morning, you're a Pfizer (or Novartis of Merck or... employee!" side of the table.

Premiums show big pharma hungry for little biotech

Large take-out premiums are becoming the norm in the sector, as more drugmakers decide that buying young rivals outright can make more sense than signing licensing deals, which would see sizeable future revenues spent on royalties.

Biocon develops cancer antibody

I can't tell if this has been commercialized, but the cost comment is interesting.

The Telegraph - Calcutta : Nation

A promising treatment for cancer at affordable cost...

Getting crowded in here...

Decent overview of the increasingly competitive nature of the cancer market. Interesting to see the Pfizers and GSKs of the world hopping in,

New Drugs for Cancer Could Soon Flood Market

Analysts at Merrill Lynch recently estimated that the market for cancer drugs would double to $50 billion a year in 2010, from $25 billion now. But because of increased competition, the sales potential for each drug would fall 21 percent to 32 percent by then. For many types of cancer, the analysts said, the number of drugs in the final phase of clinical trials exceeds the number already on the market.

How to be Silicon Valley

Interesting essay from Paul Graham. I don't agree with everything he says, but a good read.

How to Be Silicon Valley

What it takes is the right people. If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.