Strategic focus allows Novartis to raise sales targets (CNBC)
In light of the announcement of Novartis’ and Reckitt Benckiser’s (RB) Q3 results, John Rountree, was invited on CNBC to discuss how their differing approaches affect their Q3 results respectively. John highlights the continued strategic drive towards an innovative medicine focus at Novartis, with the spin off of Alcon earlier this year and GlaxoSmithKline’s acquisition […]
New chief aims to revive Sanofi (Bloomberg)
Sanofi has appointed a new CEO, Paul Hudson, to revive its slumping stock price and a pipeline that’s been slow to deliver. Hudson highlighted a few of the areas he will focus on at Sanofi cancer, RSV vaccine and China opportunities, and Bloomberg asked Novasecta for their opinion on how he can achieve his goals: […]
Private Equity: An opportunity biopharma should seize
Private equity investment in biopharma Private equity investment in biopharma is surging. Although private equity firms have been investing in biopharma for years it is the nature of this surge that is interesting. Private equity is increasingly focusing on two activities: Providing growth capital – biopharma companies reaching critical late-stage development or growth juncture seeking […]
Patent Panic Gives Green Light to Deals (Financial Times)
The recent announcement of pharma’s latest mega-merger has not been received well by many people, except perhaps Allergan Shareholders. The deal has been highlighted as another defensive mega-merger to protect against patent expiry. In light of this the Financial Times asked John Rountree for his views on the deal: “Continuing to boost top-line growth when […]
AbbVie and Allergan: not an A* Deal (CNBC)
With the announcement of the latest pharma mega-merger, AbbVie’s move to buy Allergan for $63bn, John Rountree, was invited on CNBC to discuss the deal and the continuing trend of pharma mega-mergers. John questions where the value is in the deal, with Allergan’s shareholders being the only likely benefactors. He highlights the defensive nature of […]
European entry – How Biotechs Can Succeed in Europe
The European pharmaceutical market is the second largest globally after the US. In 2017 the markets accounted for 22.2% and 48.1% of world pharmaceutical sales, respectively, and for sales of new medicines launched between 2012-2017 the trend continues – 64.1% for US compared to 18.1% for the top 5 markets in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, […]
GSK: Vaccine Business Helps Beat Analyst’s Expectations (Reuters)
GSK’s Q1 2019 results were released today (1st May) with their vaccine business driving growth past analyst’s expectations. Reuters asked John Rountree for his thoughts: “They are really refocusing into oncology and that’s going to take some time – to make that transition – so I think its going to be a difficult time for […]
AstraZeneca: Big Pharma to Big Biotech (Bloomberg)
AstraZeneca’s Q1 2019 results were released today (26th April) with their oncology portfolio helping drive profits past analyst’s expectations. Bloomberg asked Novasecta for their thoughts: “They’ve got a whole raft of approvals in the pipeline, their transition from big pharma to big biotech is happening.” The new initiatives of Pascal Soriot are clearly bearing fruit […]
Brexit poses threats beyond supply chains (Bloomberg)
As the timeline for Brexit shifts and no clear statement on the future of trade, Bloomberg, revisits the perennial question for pharma of supply. They highlight Novo Nordisk keeping an inventory of insulin at more than twice normal levels and asked for John Rountree’s opinion on this crucial topic: “Keeping extra supplies on hand is […]
Mega-mergers are not the solution for pharma (CNBC)
With the publication of the Novasecta Global 100, John Rountree, was invited on CNBC today to expand on some of the trends in our report, and in particular how attitudes towards M&A are changing in the sector and for investors. John highlights the low revenue growth for 6 of the top 10 companies and how […]