Last week, this newsletter ran a story link regarding AstraZeneca’s announcement that it had improved the performance of its troubled research and development pipeline.
The message aimed at shareholders was designed to show that the long-running strategy of focusing on a few disease areas is working.
Over the years, the company has restructured its R&D as it worked to plug billions of dollars that were lost when blockbuster drugs lost patent protection.
The loss of these drugs contributed to a 60 percent or more drop in AZ jobs over the past decade or so in Delaware
The British-Swedish company moved from London to a campus in Cambridge. In the states, much of the research takes place at the Medimmune campus in Rockville, MD.
Labs in Talleyville that developed the blockbuster schizophrenia drug Seroquel have since been razed despite the pleas of state officials who hoped the space could be used by another company.
AstraZeneca has also exited R&D in the mental health space as it focuses on a few areas, the biggest being cancer.
The question is whether AZ is making progress in refilling a pipeline.
The Endpoints website/newsletter says the evidence is mixed. Endpoints says CEO Pascal Soriot has improved prospects for the company, but still faces major challenges. Not helping on the PR front was an apparent flirtation over moving to a troubled Israeli pharma company.
Pharmaceutical research remains a crapshoot, even for the best companies.
Luckily, Incyte Corp., based near Wilmington, is one of the companies that beat the odds. The company continues to hire as it works to build its product line beyond the blockbuster blood cancer drug Jakafi.
Enjoy your day. The newsletter returns tomorrow. – Doug Rainey. Publisher
