Pharmaceuticals

Pepsi has long way to go to win Ozempic challenge

10 Oct 2023

The $222 bln maker of Mountain Dew and Cheetos increased operating profit 14% after its seventh consecutive quarter of jacking up prices by at least 10%. Volume is slumping, however, and anti-obesity drugs are just starting to make their mark. Growth is bound to get tougher.

Capital Calls: Sandoz

4 Oct 2023

Concise views on global finance: Shares in the generic drugs maker, which Swiss pharma giant Novartis has handed to investors in a spinoff, have started trading in Zurich.

Covid-induced Nobel Prize is on brand

2 Oct 2023

Two scientists won the award in a relatively quick 18 years after publishing seminal work for vaccines that helped stop the pandemic. Global disasters often speed up scientific advances. The balance in pushing for rewards and possible consequences changes when more is at stake.

Anti-obesity drugs can shrink more than patients

20 Sep 2023

Wegovy and other weight-loss treatments could transform public health. That may hurt medical, food and fitness companies, while potentially affecting activities from drinking to gambling. This shrinking revenue demands a new investment concept: total unaddressable markets.

Bausch pushes debt escape plans to extremes

19 Sep 2023

BHC’s CFO just quit as the drugmaker mulls a dicey plan to spin off its $5.5 bln Bausch + Lomb stake. Such engineering increasingly pits creditors against shareholders, in this case Carl Icahn and John Paulson. Stronger covenants would help, but CEOs keep getting more creative.

AstraZeneca succession sickness demands urgent fix

15 Sep 2023

The drug giant’s shares lost $9 bln after a report that Pascal Soriot will retire next year. His track record of drug discovery, savvy dealmaking and a 448% return since 2012 suggest investors are right to be worried. A clearer plan for his replacement would help.

Smucker takes big fat chance on anti-obesity drugs

11 Sep 2023

The peanut butter and jelly company is paying an unhealthy $5.6 bln to buy Twinkies maker Hostess. Boss Mark Smucker makes no bones about doubling down on sweet snacks. As Ozempic and other treatments threaten demand, it’s a strategy that would work if it weren’t so expensive.

Novo Nordisk heft worsens Danish surplus disease

8 Sep 2023

Sales of the pharma group equal 8% of Danish GDP and its $440 bln market value is Europe’s highest. Hosting corporate behemoths can be a problem for small countries, as shown by Finland’s Nokia. But Copenhagen can use the drug bounty to spend more on the rest of the economy.

Drugstores lack obvious remedy for what ails them

5 Sep 2023

Walgreens boss Roz Brewer is leaving after her efforts to diversify the $20 bln company, including in-house doctors, delivered only spotty results. Rivals had the same idea, lifting the cost. Online retailers also are squeezing the business. More urgent care looks necessary.

Novartis $16 bln spinoff starts on a sickly note

5 Sep 2023

The $229 bln drugmaker is handing shareholders Sandoz, its generic-medicine unit and perennial problem child. High growth targets may work if the newly listed group revives its US business. But intense competition gives investors a reason to sell the stock they’re about to get.

The obesity drug boom is just getting started

5 Sep 2023

Over 1 bln people are obese, the WHO reckons. Denmark’s Novo Nordisk is ahead of the pharma pack with its Wegovy weight-loss drug. In this Exchange podcast, recorded in August as a Reuters Newsmaker, CEO Lars Jorgensen says the market will be big enough for other players too.

UK biotech sale offers cautionary spin on US pivot

29 Aug 2023

Abcam, a Cambridge-based maker of proteins for research, is selling to Danaher for $5.7 bln. Shifting listing venues from London to New York, as the seller did recently, is in vogue. But given its US buyer has got a good price, it’s a sign that doing so is far from a panacea.

Capital Calls: Pharma’s ills

28 Aug 2023

Concise views on global finance: The Biden Administration will announce 10 drugs that face Medicare price negotiations on Tuesday. The hits to individual firms will be manageable, but new announcements every year means over a $250 billion blow to the industry.

Opioids expose unhealthy bankruptcy addictions

11 Aug 2023

Mallinckrodt may file for Chapter 11 again, wiping out most of a $1.7 bln settlement over the painkillers. The insolvency also shielded executives from lawsuits, just as the Sacklers want to do. Such legal protections and undercapitalized restructurings discredit the process.

Obesity drugs take brakes off Big Pharma’s growth

8 Aug 2023

Eli Lilly’s diabetes treatment helped lift quarterly revenue 28%, while increased production will spur the $500 bln drugmaker’s top line. Evidence that rival Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug reduces the risk of heart attacks will persuade insurers and governments to foot the bill.

Capital Calls: Uber’s road trip to redemption

1 Aug 2023

Concise views on global finance: The $95 bln ride-sharing firm notched its first operating profit and more than doubled free cash flow, but its valuation is lagging.

Biogen’s $7 bln deal goes smaller and safer

28 Jul 2023

The biotech firm’s purchase of Reata will gift it a portfolio targeting rare diseases. With the US government’s Medicare insurance program recently freed to bargain down prices on best-selling drugs, such niche therapies have become more appealing versus potential blockbusters.

Drug scarcity and freak storms are nightmare combo

21 Jul 2023

A tornado that ripped through a Pfizer plant raises the specter of disruptions in an industry already stricken by shortages. Market forces aren’t much help at replacing lost supply in the drug trade. Avoiding future shocks means more slack in the system, and maybe higher prices.

Capital Calls: AMC’s meme investor backlash

18 Jul 2023

Concise views on global finance: A new lawsuit looking to force a shareholder meeting adds to growing antagonism between $2 bln movie theater chain AMC and the retail investors who buoyed its business during the pandemic. For boss Adam Aron, meme stock stardom comes at a cost.

Capital Calls: Luxury’s US test

17 Jul 2023

Concise views on global finance: Switzerland’s $93 billion Richemont drops sharply on U.S. luxury slowdown fears that could apply to its rivals too.