Apr 25 2014
Record sales of the pricey new drug, Sovaldi, pushed first-quarter earnings of Gilead Sciences beyond expectations. Meanwhile, Novartis' recently announced deals with GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly show manufacturers' swing towards specialization, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times: Gilead Revenue Soars On Hepatitis C Drug
Record sales of a new hepatitis C drug pushed the first-quarter earnings of Gilead Sciences far beyond expectations, the company reported on Tuesday, but could also heighten concerns about the high cost of the drug, known as Sovaldi, and the ability of the health care system to pay for it (Pollack, 4/22).
The Associated Press: Novartis Reshapes Business With GSK, Lilly Deals
The deals unveiled Tuesday are the latest in a string of mergers and acquisitions that have engulfed the industry of late and which, analysts said, could trigger some further activity in the months ahead. (4/22).
The Wall Street Journal: Deal Flurry Shows Drug Makers' Swing Toward Specialization
The companies said the deals aim to focus each firm on specific sectors where it believes it has the size and expertise to generate significant sales growth. But the deals also may leave them more vulnerable to setbacks in their remaining businesses, analysts and industry officials said (Rockoff, Whalen and Falconi, 4/22).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
|