| Sprawling global pharmaceutical companies want to evolve into nimble innovators, but getting it right is likely to be harder than it sounds. France's Sanofi this week became the latest multinational drug behemoth to say that it would try to slim down and focus on finding new treatments for cancer and rare diseases, backing away from the diabetes and heart therapies that for years have been its main source of growth. Other large drugmakers, such as Pfizer, Novartis and GlaxoSmithkline, are busy with similar makeovers after decades of selling chronic-disease treatments and consumer-health products to millions upon millions of people. One reason Sanofi is moving that way is price: Innovative drugs command handsome premiums, at times with less political pushback from patients and payers. Further, the chronic-disease blockbusters of the past are fading. Cancer drugs' share of U.S. pharmaceutical revenue almost quadrupled to 28% over the past two decades, while cardiovascular drugs dropped from dominance to 1%, according to Boston Consulting Group. More importantly for patients, advances in science are putting potentially dazzling cures in reach, and that has made pharma willing to stretch its resources like never before. One blockbuster cancer therapy can reshape even the biggest company. For example, Merck has been transformed by Keytruda, its top-selling immunotherapy, which could see annual sales of more than $27 billion in six years, more than any drug ever. Still, the road to success is strewn with peril. For every Keytruda, many other drugs fail in the lab or run into the buzzsaw of competition. For Less-Big Pharma, the race is on.—Tim Annett Here's what else we're watching: DNA deal. A former Illumina unit is buying GEDmatch, the genealogy website that helped crack the cold case of the Golden State Killer. The pact is likely to open a new front in the genetics privacy wars. Surprise strains. Out-of-network doctors at one New York hospital system have inflated a union health plan's cost by millions every year. The fight is a demonstration of what's at stake in the struggle over surprise bills. Inspection ire. Scrutiny of foreign drug manufacturers by the FDA has fallen in recent years despite increasing worry about the safety and quality of generic medications. The GAO findings echo a Bloomberg investigation. Listen up. Want to hear more from Prognosis? Then listen to our podcast, which has explored superbugs, what we share when we share our medical data online, and more. Download it here on Apple devices, and here on Android.  Got this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up to get it every Thursday by clicking here.
We want to hear from you. If you have feedback, questions or potential story ideas, reach out to me at tannett@bloomberg.net | 
Post a Comment