NEW HEALTHCARERELATED PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND COMPANIES
Avista Capital Partners, which acquired BristolMyers Squibb Medical Imaging in January, has relaunched the business as Lantheus Medical Imaging. Lantheus continues the unit’s halfcentury tradition of providing innova tive medical imaging prod ucts for nuclear and ultra sound cardiovascular diagnostic imaging proce dures. “Lantheus Medical Imag ing’s heritage and strong position in the field of diag nostic medicine provides a solid foundation on which to build a dynamic and vibrant company focused on meeting the needs of customers and patients,” says Larry Pickering, execu tive chairman of Lantheus and Avista’s healthcare industry partner. As part of the relaunch, Don Kiepert has joined Lantheus as president and CEO.Mr.Kiepert was pre viously chairman, CEO, and president of Point Thera peutics, which recently merged with Dara Bio Sciences. In addition, David Mann was promoted to VP, sales and marketing, from VP, sales. Additional members of the management team include: Peter Card,VP,strategy and business development;William Dawes, VP, manufacturing and supply chain; and Scott Edwards,VP, global R&D. Independent Medical Education (IME) is the new, organization formed by three continuing medical education companies based in the north eastern United States. The three companies that make up IME are Acumentis, North Wales, Pa.; Emeritus Educational Sciences, Berkeley Heights, N.J.; and Imprint Sci ence, New York.The companies continue to oper ate from their respective sites. Lisa Emusov has been appointed managing director of IME, from her previous position as director of Emeritus. “Those of us in the CME community have faced many challenges over the recent years, and we, as part of a network of medical education companies who are truly committed to quality and compliant medical edu cation, have been continuously proactive in implementing the right measures to ensure the independence, integrity, and purity of our educational practices, methods,and initiatives,” Ms.Emusov says. IME continues to explore, assess, and employ whatever actions are needed for these CMEs to remain in compliance with all professional association and regulatory agency guidelines.The company also incorporates an approach that includes emerging best evidence, adult learning principles, and instructional design to enhance learning and practical application of knowledge. Three pharmaceutical industry groups have teamed together to launch Global Health Progress, an initiative to bring researchbased biopharmaceu tical companies, global health leaders, and policy makers together to build on current partnerships to improve health in the developing world. Serving as a convening point for the industry and its partners, Global Health Progress will facilitate interaction between the private sector, NGOs, and governments to share research and best practices; raise awareness of global health challenges; and build partnerships to improve global health. “Researchbased biopharmaceutical companies contribute hugely to health partnerships for the developing world through their unique expertise in R&D, regulatory affairs, manufacturing, logistics, and many other fields, but we can’t work alone,” says Dr. Harvey Bale,director general ofThe International Fed eration of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associa tions (IFPMA). Also instrumental in this initiative are the Euro pean Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Global Health Progress leverages strengths in pri vate industry to form new partnerships to further access to medicines;build capacity of health workers in developing nations; advocate for global action to address health challenges; and continue research and develop ment to develop new tools to fight diseases that plague the developing world. “Researchbased biophar maceutical companies have a longstanding commitment to improving global health; this initiative is a recognition of our unique role and desire to accel erate progress in fighting dis ease and strengthening health care systems in developing countries,”says Billy Tauzin,pres ident and CEO of PhRMA. “As individual companies and a united industry, we recognize that our efforts to address universal health challenges are best realized through partnerships with governments and NGOs that are dedicated to saving lives throughout the world.” Global Health Progress also unveiled its Website, globalhealthprogress.org, which houses a database of researchbased biopharmaceutical companies’ global health programs, including information on more than 300 partners,400 programs,and ongoing investments of billions of dollars. Those of us in the CME community have faced many challenges over recent years, and we have been continuously proactive in implementing the right measures to ensure the independence, integrity, and purity of our educational practices, methods, and initiatives, says Lisa Emusov, Managing Director of IME. LANTHEUS MEDICAL IMAGING Makes Its Debut THREE CME PROVIDERS Consolidate Corporate Structure The companies are nowaligned according to their expertise within therapeutic centers of excellence under anew independent structure. Global Health Progress Launches to Improve WORLDWIDEHEALTH Don Kiepert has joined Lantheus as President and CEO. This initiative is a recognition of our unique role and a desire to accelerate progress in fighting disease, says Billy Tauzin, President and CEO of PhRMA. PV0608 Layout FINAL2 5/20/08 12:48 AM Page 94 WHAT’S new 95 PharmaVOICE J un e 200 8 Follow up THE EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES AND ASSOCIATIONS (EFPIA), Brussels, represents the pharmaceutical industry operating in Europe.For more information, visit efpia.eu. INDEPENDENT MEDICAL EDUCATION (IME) LLC,Berkeley Heights, N.J., develops and implements scientifically rigorous, clinically relevant medical education through a wide array of traditional, as well as innovative educational formats based on the needs and preferences of the learner audience.For more information, visit imeedu.com. THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURERS &ASSOCIATIONS (IFPMA),Geneva, is the global nonprofit NGO representing the researchbased pharmaceutical,biotech,and vaccine sectors. For more information, visit ifpma.org. LANTHEUS MEDICAL IMAGING,North Billerica, Mass., is a leader in cardiovascular imaging.For more information, visit lantheus.com. THE PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH ANDMANUFACTURERSOFAMERICA (PHRMA),Washington,D.C., represents the country’s leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. For more information, visit phrma.org. GALDERMA LABORATORIES, the Fort Worth,Texasbased holding company of Galderma Pharma,has completed its acquisition of dermatology specialty company CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, which is now a wholly owned sub sidiary of Galderma Laboratories. Galderma Pharma, Lausanne, Switzerland, is a global specialty pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology. CollaGenex’s innovative products complement and enhance Galderma’s port folio for rosacea. CollaGenex’s Oracea is the only oral product indicated for the specific treatment of the inflammatory lesions of rosacea,while Galderma’s Metro Gel 1% is a topical drug for rosacea treatment. CollaGenex, Newtown, Pa., also is developing brimonidine,a product to treat erythema associated with rosacea. For more information, visit galderma.com. GLAXOSMITHKLINE, London, has agreed to acquire Sirtris Pharmaceuti cals, a biopharmaceutical company, for about $720 million in cash. Sirtris becomes part of GSK’s drug discovery organization, while continuing to operate from laboratories in Cambridge, Mass., as an autonomous drug discovery unit. Christoph Westphal,CEO and vice chair of Sirtris, continues to lead the unit. GSK enhances its metabolic, neurology, immunology, and inflammation research efforts by establishing a presence in the field of sirtuins, a recently dis covered class of enzymes that are believed to be involved in the aging process. The company’s focus to date has beenon the development of SIRT1 activators for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. For more information, visit gsk.com. Global pharmaceutical company NOVARTIS has agreed to acquire Nestl’s 77% stake in eyecare companyAlcon in a twostep cash transaction valued at an estimated $39 billion. The move strengthens Novartis’ existing ophthalmic product portfolio, which includes the Ciba Vision contactlens business. Both Novartis and Nestl are based in Basel,Switzerland,while Alcon has headquarters in Hnenberg,Switzerland. Novartis is paying Nestl about $11 billion for 74 million Alcon shares, giving Novartis a 25% stake in Alcon. In the second step,Novartis has the right to acquire Nestl’s remaining 52%majority stake in Alcon between Jan.1,2010,and July 31, 2011, for a fixed price of about $28 billion. Following completion of the transac # # # # tion’s first step, Alcon and Novartis remain separate, inde pendent companies, with Novartis having a representative on Alcon’s board of directors.Once majority ownership of Alcon is transferred to Novartis, the companies plan to identify the best way to realize synergies from combining their complementary eyerelated businesses. For more information,visit novartis.com. PEERVIEW,a provider of medical publishing solutions based in Newtown,Pa., has completed the acquisition of the Veritas Clinical Trials Register (VCTR) platform from privately held Veritas Medicine,Cambridge,Mass.Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition extends PeerView’s PubSTRAT suite of publication planning applications. VCTR is the only enterprisescalable online compliance platform available to support the increasingly complex clinical data disclosure process for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. For more information, visit epeerview.com. ROSKADIRECTADVERTISING,parent company of Roska Healthcare Adver tising, has acquired Mueller &Wister,bringing a new level of online and elec tronic capabilities to Roska’s clients. Financial terms were not disclosed. Mueller & Wister provides ebusiness solutions that enable clients to reach physicians and patients on levels that surpass more traditional approaches. For more information, visit roskahealthcare.com. Global pharmaceuticals company TAKEDA PHARMACEUTICAL CO. LTD., Osaka, Japan, and biopharmaceutical company MILLENNIUM PHARMA CEUTICALS have entered an agreement under which Takeda is acquiring Millennium for about $8.8 billion in cash, accelerating Takeda’s mission to become a leader in the global oncology market. Millennium continues to operate in Cambridge,Mass.,as a standalone busi ness unit and wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda. Millennium markets Velcade in the United States as a secondline therapy for multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma and is developing several novel product candidates in the oncol ogy and inflammation therapeutic categories. For more information, visit takeda.com. M&AACTIVITY # # PV0608 Layout FINAL2 5/20/08 12:48 AM Page 95
