? Ranbaxy to Collaborate with Merck on Drug Development
? Pfizer to Allay Chantix/varenicline Concerns

? Ranbaxy to Collaborate with Merck on Drug Development 

MNC pharmas often adversaries to generic makers for various reasons, but in an unsual move, Indian genric maker Ranbaxy has signed a pact with  Merck & Co. to discover and develop new anti-infective drugs.

Ranbaxy will be paid an undisclosed upfront sum, with the potential to receive payments totaling more than $100 million on each drug achieving various research, development and regulatory approval milestones. Ranbaxy will conduct drug discovery and clinical development up till Phase IIa trials, and Merck continue  development and commercialization of drug candidates thereafter.

Last year, Merck had also signed a pact with another Indian generic maker, Nicholas Piramal, for new cancer drugs project.

Ranbaxy also work with GlaxoSmithKline on some development projects a range of diseases. It has been speculated that this is part of the generic makers’ future strategies due to the slimmer profits from their traditional cheap generics, and moving the value ladder of the MNC pharmas seems like a natural reaction in the pharma industry.

? Pfizer to Allay Chantix/varenicline Concerns

In a bid to defend its new anti-smoking drug varenicline (branded as Chantix in US),  drug company Pfizer Inc. is going on a  public-relations campaign to allay the fear related to its new, potential billion-dollar-a-year blockbuster drug which has been laden with safety concerns. Vide our past reporting (http://www.pss.org.sg/main/component/option,com?magazine/func,show?article/id,242/).

US federal regulators, the FDA, together with congress has been very critical of the pharmaceutical industry following a strings of drug safety issues sweeping the US and the rest of the world in today’s highly globalized world.

In Singapore, varenicline is approved for marketing since Aug 2007 and carries a brand Champix.

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