Industry Blog

Private drug tester expands stake in ‘Big Pharma’.

Pharmaceutical companies in the past did all their own research and testing and submitted the results to the Food and Drug Administration for consent to put tablets on the market. The agency’s review was devised to resolve concern about the drug makers’ interest in viewing a pill was harmless and successful.

Since the 1990s or so, Big Pharma has made and sent out more and more of that testing to companies like Quintiles Transnational Corp., which grew quickly to meet the order.

Now Durham, N.C.-based Quintiles is the world’s major contract research association, and more than ever, using their money to twist itself with the pharmaceutical companies, fronting them cash and services for a piece of the proceeds once a drug is official.

Quintiles, which was created in 1982, upped the ante last month said “we want to invest even more in potential drugs as pharmaceutical companies grapple with the down economy”.

Novartis to buy big stake in Alcon

A large swiss company called Novartis said yesterday that it would be taking control of Alcon, Eye Care Company by purchasing a majority stake from Nestle at the amount of $28.1 billion, raising its on to 77%, eventually they would also like to acquire the rest.

Collectively with the $10.4 billion paid by Novartis for it last year and nearly $11.3 billion of its own shares which is presenting minority shareholder for the final 23% of Alcon, it is set to be the biggest most expensive merger in Swiss History.

The company is approaching further into the eye care industry hoping to benefit from Alcons, Pharmaceutical, surgical and consumer eye care business lines which benefitted a $6.3 billion in 2008 sales alone.

Raymund Breu, chief financial officer of Novartis, said in an interview that the eye-care business had “higher growth rates than many other franchises in the health care sector’’ and that the market expected eye care to stay elevated for another five years.

“There is little overlap between the businesses,’’ said Eric Althoff, a spokesman for Novartis, explaining that he did not anticipate antitrust issues because Alcon was more concentrated in surgical treatments, and Novartis in pharmaceutical treatments and consumer products. Among Novartis’s more well-known eye products are GenTeal eye drops, Zaditen Ophtha for seasonal allergies, and Nyogel for ocular hypertension.

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