Author Archives: Oriana Schwindt

Judgment Day for Avandia

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: July 14, 2010

Judgment Day has finally arrived for GSK’s Avandia. FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committees met July 13 and 14 to finally recommend, after months of deck-stacking against GSK, that the drug be severely restricted, if not outright pulled from the market. In the vote, 12 of 33 panelists [...]

Posted in FDA, Regulatory | Tagged Avandia, Diabetes mellitus, Diabetes mellitus type 2, Food and Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline, Myocardial infarction, Thomas Marciniak, United States Senate Committee on Finance | Leave a comment

Merck to Close Eight Plants

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: July 8, 2010

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Over the next two years, Merck will shut down eight manufacturing plants, as well as eight research sites, as part of the ongoing Schering-Plough merger process. The company said in a statement that the various site exits will help “create a flexible R&D organization.” Taking a page out of Pfizer’s book [...]

Posted in Strategy | Tagged business, Canada, Factory, Infectious disease, Merck, Research and development, Schering Plough, South America | 3 Comments

Johnson & Johnson Slammed Over Manufacturing Practices, Phantom Recall

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: June 2, 2010

In 1982, Johnson & Johnson garnered an enduring amount of goodwill when, seemingly without any thought of lost profit, it immediately yanked Tylenol from the shelves nationwide after learning someone was slipping cyanide into bottles in Chicago. The company’s sure and swift PR response became the model for crisis management for the corporate world. But in [...]

Posted in Corporate Responsibility | Tagged Congressional hearing, FDA, House Oversight Committee, J&J, Johnson & Johnson, Manufacturing, McNeil, Motrin, phantom recall, recall, Tylenol | 3 Comments

Abbott Shells Out $3.7 Billion for Piramal

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: May 26, 2010

In July 2009, judging solely by total revenue, Abbott was assigned the rank of the eighth-largest pharmaceutical company in the Fortune Global 500. Nearly a year later, the company is looking to move up at least a few notches. On May 21, Abbott acquired Indian generic giant Piramal for a cool $2.12 billion up front, [...]

Posted in Strategy | Tagged Abbott, branded generics, Diabetes, Eli Lilly, Emerging Markets, generics, india, Merck, Oncology, Piramal | Leave a comment

Judgment Day for Pfizer Factories

By Oriana Schwindt | Published: May 19, 2010

For once, pharma sales reps and R&D guys can breathe a sigh of relief. The latest round of industry layoffs comes from Pfizer, but this time it will affect the manufacturing force, which will be downsized by 6,000 employees by 2015. In 2006, the company announced plans to save $4 billion to $5 billion, and after [...]

Posted in Europe, Global, Manufacturing, News, Strategy | Tagged Cuts, exit strategies, injectables, Ireland, Manufacturing, Pfizer, solid-dose | Leave a comment