亞培西藥事業部獨立出來!! AbbVie~~~

Abbott Drug Unit Embarks on New Life Without Parent By CHRISTOPHER January 2, 2013, 7:09 p.m. ET WEAVER Drug maker AbbVie began life on its own Wednesday, 14 months after Abbott Laboratories said it would spin off its medicines unit, leaving it to face the challenges of the pharmaceutical business without the shelter of its corporate parent. Like other drug makers, AbbVie hopes its pipeline of potential new medicines will offset a string of patent expirations that will wipe out more than $1 billion in cholesterol-drug sales next year alone. The company also faces pricing pressure from health plans and government programs. Its biggest blow could come in 2017, when competing versions of its $9-billion-per-year arthritis treatment Humira may enter the market. AbbVie shares began trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange."We will drive the strategy to expand our pipeline," said Richard Gonzalez, AbbVie's newly minted CEO, in an interview at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Mr. Gonzalez said the company would steer 14% of its $18 billion in sales into research next year, and that he expects the percentage to climb. He also said AbbVie's cash flow—driven largely by Humira—would allow it to acquire promising medicines developed by other companies. "We have the focus and passion of an innovation-driven biotech, but we're combined with the financial strength, stability and shareholder return of a well established [pharmaceutical] company," Mr. Gonzalez said. Abbott Laboratories announced its plan to spin off the drug division in October 2011, earning a boost from investors who saw the move as benefiting Abbott by separating its device, nutrition and generic-drugs businesses from the higher-risk pharmaceutical unit. Mr. Gonzalez, 58 years old, joined Abbott more than 30 years ago as a sales representative in the company's diagnostics division and survived a brief flap last year over misstatements about his educational credentials in Abbott's regulatory filings. Before the split, he led Abbott's drug unit. AbbVie's stock opened Wednesday, its first day on the open market, at $34.40 before rising to $35.12 at the close, giving the company a market capitalization of $55.8 billion. The split has refocused investors on AbbVie's pipeline and raised questions about its ability to deliver drugs from its laboratory to the open market. Those concerns are amplified by AbbVie's outsized dependence on Humira, which accounts for half its revenue and at least 70% of its profits, analysts estimate. "There is clearly pressure to deliver on the pipeline," said Jami Rubin, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, which does business with AbbVie. Abbott abandoned a kidney-disease treatment in November that had blockbuster potential, and AbbVie will lose several top-sellers to patent expirations in the next three years, she said. Though the company must gain new products to climb out of Humira's shadow, she said, Humira "is the most durable asset in the industry," and will support AbbVie's price and dividends. The key test of AbbVie's pipeline will come over the next few years as it develops a new hepatitis-C treatment. AbbVie's combination treatment could reach $2.3 billion in sales by 2018, according to Goldman Sachs. But it may have to fight for market share with Gilead Sciences Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which are also developing new, oral hepatitis regimens with fewer side effects than current treatments. "We believe it will be a two-company market for some period of time," Mr. Gonzalez said Tuesday, anticipating a neck-and-neck race with Gilead. "Our strategy is to drive cure rates as high as we can for all patients," he added, noting AbbVie's treatment cocktail has more data than competitors, showing effectiveness for patients who haven't responded to traditional medicines. Still, Humira's 2017 U.S. patent expiration looms. Abbott built Humira into a sprawling franchise with indications ranging from arthritis and psoriasis to Crohn's disease. But companies including Boehringer Ingelheim are beginning work on would-be competitors. "Our industry runs around looking for blockbusters," said Mr. Gonzalez. "This product has grown a billion dollars a year," he said, "and we believe that growth is sustainable" given Humira's deep penetration and obstacles competitors face entering the complex market for biologic medicines. Competition could modestly lower share and cut prices, he said.

 

吳碧芬領軍艾伯維Abbvie‧三年後躋身前10大2012/12/24  ■王慰祖／撰稿■ 由亞培公司西藥事業部獨立出來的艾伯維（AbbVie）藥品公司，即將於102年1月2日在紐約掛牌上市。由於艾伯維擁有居領導地位的抗腫瘤壞死因子的生物製劑、全球第二大藥品與九項適應症的Humira（復邁），以及AIDS治療藥物（Kaletra）等關鍵性產品，這家全新的跨國藥廠未來發展備受矚目。談到艾伯維公司，2011年3月加入亞培西藥事業處，也是艾伯維藥品公司第一任總經理的吳碧芬，對於艾伯維今後的發展充滿期待。吳碧芬在製藥業的資歷17年，前15年任職於禮來藥廠，歷練包括藥品查驗登記、業務、行銷、人力資源等不同工作，去年才卸下禮來泰國分公司總經理職務，正式加入亞培公司，是少數在藥廠歷練所有工作的專業經理人。吳碧芬說，其實她加入亞培之前，並不知道西藥事業處會獨立出來，只是認為亞培是一家很好的企業，不僅有好的產品，最重要是亞培能夠真正將「以病人為中心」的企業宗旨落實，而非只是口號。以艾伯維第一大產品-Humira為例，雖然上市時間比另一個競爭品牌晚，但是艾伯維經營這項治療類風濕性關節炎、僵直性脊椎炎與乾癬等全球9項、台灣6項適應症的產品，是將病人擺在第一位，並且在3年前開始導入「骨骼肌肉超音波」應用在輔助醫師診斷病人關節變化，並且協助中華民國風濕病醫學會推出「風濕免疫科-骨骼肌肉超音波示範教學」光碟，說明如何運用超音波檢查來加強對風濕病人的診斷與服務，藉此提高風濕免疫科醫師的學習興趣，對於臨床治療帶來很大的貢獻。吳碧芬強調，艾伯維的企業宗旨並不是在賣藥，而是提供病患一個希望，就像是類風濕性關節炎的疾病治療，並非只有提供藥物治療，讓患者的關節不痛不腫就好，而是藉由好的產品，以及導入先進的超音波診斷技術，協助醫師治療病人讓發炎狀況穩定下來，確保患者的關節不會變形、進而造成殘廢，這就是艾伯維強調「以病人為中心」的企業宗旨。談到艾伯維未來的發展計畫，吳碧芬說，今後除了將現有的生物劑製、愛滋病用藥等產品「深化」，持續相關的布局計畫，艾伯維可望在近年內引進包括C型肝炎（HCV）、阿茲海默症等產品，並且持續向總部爭取將台灣納入參與全球大型臨床試驗的地區。吳碧芬也訂下3年後躋身台灣前10大藥廠的目標，全力衝刺、深耕市場。