Author Archives: Andrew Sheivachman

Merck, Schering-Plough Merger Boosts Global Profile, but Questions Linger

By Andrew Sheivachman | Published: November 5, 2009

Image via Wikipedia After Merck & Co. officially announced its $41.1 billion merger with Schering-Plough yesterday, CEO Richard Clark made it clear his company is still looking to expand through further acquisitions and mergers. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog: Clark told us today that the newly combined company is “actively looking” for biotechs to [...]

Posted in Strategy | Tagged business, Fred Hassan, Merck, Merck & Co, Pfizer, Richard Clark, Schering Plough, Wall Street Journal | 2 Comments

AZ’s First Corporate Blog Falls Flat

By Andrew Sheivachman | Published: November 4, 2009

Currently, if patients or doctors look for specific drug information on AZ Health Connections, AstraZeneca’s new corporate communications blog, they won’t find any. And that’s exactly how AZ—along with pretty much every other pharma company engaged in the social media sphere—wants it. “The one area we’re trying not to engage is specific questions about disease state,” [...]

Posted in E-Media | Tagged AstraZeneca, Community, Company, Food and Drug Administration, Health care, social media, Virtual community, Washington DC | 3 Comments

Pharma Celebrates its Own

By Andrew Sheivachman | Published: October 7, 2009

At the gala ceremony for the 2009 Prix Galien USA award on October 1, a paradigm shift in drug development took center stage. “The most successful new [cancer] therapies will be based on a precise molecular understanding of disease basis—that’s exactly what we did with Gleevec,” said keynote speaker Brian Druker, director of the Oregon Health [...]

Posted in Events | Tagged American Museum of Natural History, business, Clinical trial, Columbia University, Elie Wiesel, GlaxoSmithKline, Harvard School of Public Health, Health, Health care, Jeffrey Sachs, Pharmaceutical drug, Prix Galien, Public health, United States | Leave a comment

Prix Galien Push for Private/Public Collaboration

By Andrew Sheivachman | Published: October 6, 2009

Preceding the presentation of the 2009 Prix Galien USA prizes, last Tuesday, a round table discussion was conducted at the American Museum of Natural History on the subject of how public and private collaboration can increase innovation and contribute to saving lives around the world. The talk included Leonard Bell of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Barry Bloom [...]

Posted in Events | Tagged Africa, American Museum of Natural History, GlaxoSmithKline, Harvard School of Public Health, Jeffrey Sachs, Novartis, Prix Galien, Public health, United States | Leave a comment