A fool and his money....
Or should thta be a fool and the shareholders money....

Pascals at medi today for a big press announcement. Site confirmation for the Cambridge movers.

She did a good job establishing a HTS unit but NewOpps was a white elephant.

What is their idea of restructuring? Using a different temp agency to hire scientists from? This place is not to be taken seriously.

ES is still at Lilly. Nice brochure on their website. Search for GERD, Lilly and her name.

On ES... Whatever you want to say on her approach, when she ran New Opportunities, she brought IN tens of millions for various deals with upfront payments, whilst her team cost less than one-tenth of that to run. She might have had a big ego and probably shouted at you, but she built lead gen, astl and then new ops into something successful. I think you'll find it was a man that decided what she was doing wasnt needle moving and to make all of the heads Medics and move away from any real discovery - that's when things started to go badly wrong. I'd love to work for her instead of Mene... And she was scarier. Is she still at Lilly?

A lot of negative comments, some well justified, but was there anyone any good? Did they get out or are they still at AZ

I remember she once went postal when it was jokingly referred to as No Opportunities. She said it was 'unprofessional', an accusation which could also be directed to a person who takes an inflated salary and contributes nothing. I've heard of corporate embezzlers that took less and contributed more than her.

And then there was Elaine Sullivan, ex-VP of New Opportunities. Didn't find enough to justify her mega salary, so is now trying the same approach at Eli Lilly. Any other views on her past and present perfornance ?

Debbie Hartman is now Vice President, Research at Avaxia Biologics

God help them.......

Samantha Budd-Haeberlein VP of virtual neuroscience imed.

There are a lot of ex-AZ senior managers now working as scientific gurus of some sort. I was about to make a list of all the successful drugs they invented but can't find a postage stamp!

What about Debbie H?
Waste of oxygen with the anti-Midas touch - everything turned brown.
I believe she's now some scientific guru.
What a joke.

RM is many things but one thing she isn't is a woman.

When you say competitive position for OA, you mean still within the walls of a research team within pharma ? or the AZ drug for OA - Vimovo !

Hi, Rose!

I'm glad to see that there is at least ONE woman who has managed to achieve something at AZ. Maybe she/you are the exception from the rule.

RM is currently based in Sweden.

Rose Maciewicz's career began when she received her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she worked on the structure and function of chromosomal proteins. She then moved to John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, embarking on her life-long interest in proteinases. In 1983, Rose moved to the UK and as post-doctoral Research Fellow, first at AFRC-Langford and then at the University of Bristol, where she began to apply her scientific skills to diseases involving tissue destruction. During this time, she published her discoveries in novel proteinases and proteolytic pathways in arthritis, cancer and matrix degradation.
Rose joined ICI/Zeneca in 1992, working on proteinase projects in the bone and arthritis area.
Progression via the Scientific Ladder, resulted in Rose being appointed Senior Scientist (Principal Scientist equivalent) in 1997, with promotion to Senior Scientist/Senior Group Leader, two years later.
Acknowledged as AstraZeneca's in-house expert on osteoarthritis, Rose was appointed Senior Principal Scientist in March 2001. Since that time, her strategic and scientific leadership have enabled AstraZeneca to hold a competitive position in the osteoarthritis area and she has forged strong external links with key opinion leaders. Her teams have nominated four CDs and collaborations established by her, have positioned the company at the forefront of medical sciences in osteoarthritis. Rose publishes in leading journals and is recognised internationally as one of the leading scientists in industry in this field.

What are you working on at the moment?
Well let's see… what am I not working on these days? One of my main roles is leading global cross-functional teams such as the Inflammation Disease Area Strategy Team. I also do mentoring for project managers. Working closely with Discovery and Development colleagues, I'm running quite a few large Discovery Medicine collaborations to develop and implement strategies for projects in the osteoarthritis area.

Worked near exclusively in osteoarthritis, closed those projects at AP and she was suddenly a world expert in COPD. One of the chosen few... Is she now running collabs (from Sweden)?

Ha ha, is she still there?

Talked a lot. Don't do much. Rose - You're Fired! If only ....

Talked a lot

Rose Mac - an easy oversight. I was with AZ for over 10 years and never had a clue what she did.

Women at ALL levels? Are you kidding? I worked for AZ in Sweden for more than 10 years and never saw a high-ranking woman except for HR positions.

What about Rose Mac?

Some of us ex-Charnwood workers are aghast at the cost of Pearl.
Is Pascal trying to rebuild the technologies which DB closed down ? It's an expensive gamble.

Just a follow-up on the Pearl acquisition. They have sites in CA, NC and NJ. Not particularly close to any AZ real estate. How does this square with the co-location argument ?
There's going to be a lot of travelling for some folk !

"I lived and worked in Sweden for AZ as a non-Swede and had a completely different experience - plenty of women, non-Swedes and over 50's were gainfully employed at all levels. Yes, there was the Jack Welch forced-ranking, as there was in the UK and US, but it didn't go as far as firing the bottom 10%."

Women at ALL levels? Are you kidding? I worked for AZ in Sweden for more than 10 years and never saw a high-ranking woman except for HR positions.

but sadly it makes no money.
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Not yet. - but it will once it is marketed properly. I have it on good authority that the marketing organisation totally screwed Brilinta, hence the departure of Zook et al. Once it is marketed properly and supplies are available (that's another example of AZ Iincompetance), Brilinta will make money - analysts predict billion dollar sales

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competing against generic Plavix it doesn't stand a chance. Here's a quote from Tim Anderson analyst from Bernstein back in 2011:

"In July, for example, when AstraZeneca ($AZN) finally gained FDA approval for its blood thinner Brilinta, he candidly wrote that "we continue to believe that the product will disappoint commercially" and forecast that it would generate underwhelming sales because of generic competition.

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-reports/25-most-influential-people-...

but sadly it makes no money.
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Not yet. - but it will once it is marketed properly. I have it on good authority that the marketing organisation totally screwed Brilinta, hence the departure of Zook et al. Once it is marketed properly and supplies are available (that's another example of AZ Iincompetance), Brilinta will make money - analysts predict billion dollar sales

Charnwood had plenty of development products as good as these that AZ are buying in - they flopped in development in just the same way. That's attrition!

I thought Charnwood had bugger all. Am I wrong?
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Where did the last AZ product out of internal R&D originate ?.....oh yes, now I remember, Charnwood !

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but sadly it makes no money.

I thought Charnwood had bugger all. Am I wrong?
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Where did the last AZ product out of internal R&D originate ?.....oh yes, now I remember, Charnwood !

I thought Charnwood had bugger all. Am I wrong?

Brilliant, buying in the programmmes that were scrapped when Charnwood was closed, and for roughly the amount of cash closing Chw would save.

Boston 10yrs + , pipeline?

To be fair, there's a hell of a gap between completing phase 3 and getting approval for inhaled projects.

Most projects require several review cycles.

.but 'will be late to market' (5th to market!) and 'is taken twice a day rather than once a day for competitors'.
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They must know something we don't.......

Exemplifies the post made earlier about the same people doing deals who failed to create a pipeline from their own R&D efforts, they have no clue.

AstraZeneca buys Pearl for LABA/LAMA product.....but 'will be late to market' (5th to market!) and 'is taken twice a day rather than once a day for competitors'. What's that saying about 'first in class or best in class'?!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/10/us-astrazeneca-pearl-idUSBRE95...

(Reuters) - AstraZeneca is to buy U.S. respiratory drug specialist Pearl Therapeutics for up to $1.15 billion as Britain's second biggest drugmaker steps up a drive to rebuild its product pipeline via deal-making.

The acquisition of the privately held company secures AstraZeneca a position in the emerging market for a new class of lung treatments known as LABA/LAMA drugs that promise improved patient compliance and disease control, without steroids.

Some industry analysts believe that LABA/LAMA inhalers are set to dominate future therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which causes debilitating breathlessness and affects an estimated 210 million people worldwide.

Buying Redwood City, California-based Pearl fills a gap in AstraZeneca's respiratory portfolio, although it will still be behind rivals including GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis in the race to develop the new type of inhaled drug.

AstraZeneca said on Monday it will pay an initial $560 million plus up to $450 million if certain development milestones are hit as well as sales-related payments of up to a further $140 million.

The transaction is an important bet by new chief executive Pascal Soriot, who took over last October, on the British company's respiratory business, which he has identified as a core therapy area.

AstraZeneca's sales and profits are falling as older medicines lose patent protection and the company badly needs new products to replace former big sellers like the antipsychotic Seroquel, which lost exclusivity last year.

The deal is Soriot's second bolt-on acquisition in two weeks, following an agreement to buy Omthera Pharmaceuticals for as much as $443 million to build up its cardiovascular drug business.

LATE TO MARKET

AstraZeneca already has a successful existing inhaled respiratory drug in Symbicort but had risked losing out in the long term by not having a LABA/LAMA inhaler.

Pearl's lead product, PT003 is in final-stage Phase III clinical trials and is a fixed-dose combination of formoterol fumarate, a long-acting beta-2-agonist (LABA) and glycopyrrolate, a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA).

It also has another product called PT010 that is a triple-combination medicine, combining the LAMA and LABA components of PT003 with an inhaled corticosteroid. AstraZeneca said this triple combination drug could be accelerated into Phase II clinical development.

Industry analysts at Berenberg Bank said PT003 would be late to market, with Novartis likely gaining first regulatory approval for its LABA/LAMA product in Europe later this year, with GSK not far behind in the Europe and the United States.

Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim and Forest Laboratories, working with Almirall, should also complete their Phase III programs before the end of this year, ahead of PT003, making AstraZeneca potentially fifth to market.

PT003 is also taken twice-daily, rather than once a day for some competitors, but AstraZeneca hopes Pearl's pressurized metered dose inhaler device may give it an edge.

Berenberg said the greatest upside from the Pearl deal could come from the triple combination product, where AstraZeneca may be second to market, behind GSK.

The acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013, will have no impact on AstraZeneca's financial guidance for the year, the drugmaker said.

Pearl's backers, who stand to gain from the sale, include 5AM Ventures, Clarus Ventures, New Leaf Ventures and Vatera Healthcare Partners.

what about CAT? 7yrs on they've not delivered anything either

Thank goodness we have kept the SPBD genius !! Arrow, MedImmune, Rigel, Targacept - 4 GIGANTIC LOSERS
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You forgot to add Kudos to that list....

Handbags.

Thank goodness we have kept the SPBD genius !! Arrow, MedImmune, Rigel, Targacept - 4 GIGANTIC LOSERS - oops sorry we're still pretending that MedImmune has something - sorry - uh like they uh have oh yeah that posh nasal vaccine and did get one antibody approved -uh yeah that was like a million years ago..please dont ask questions... MedImmune is FANTASTIC ! there I said it

"So the answer to the bonuses is simple. Award them as shares in trust for at least five years. If the horses they backed are still looking good five years down the road, then the shares are released. If not, they are taken back by AZ. It's not unlike the issue of bankers' bonuses, but perhaps with a longer timescale."

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even that is a one-way bet: if it comes off you get the bonus, if not you don't lose anything just don't get the bonus, so still incentivised to make as many deals as possible regardless of risk.

The answer is not to have a bonus culture and let people make decisions for the right reasons not because they are cornered by having to meet objectives. What proportion of targets would be progressed or collaborations signed if the decision was made purely on scientific reasoning and not compromised by objectives or bonuses?....

I work in R&D in Sweden, and I can assure you that past job performance has nothing to do with whether you are maintained or not. The organization is restructured, some people are mapped into positions regardless of their individual performance/competence, and others must apply within a pool of candidates in which actual performance or competence play no role. HR-driven "soft" competences, such as "influencing skills", not whether or not you can actually do your job are what matter.

If only the guys who did 'due diligence' were smart enough to need blinkers to make their misjudgements AZ might be in a better position.

Unfortunately, San Francisco is an expensive city for ex-biology majors and old folks take up space and time. If you are over 40, you can expect a pink slip.
The old folks gotta go. Those at the top know the cost of everything and adult diapers are expensive.

So the answer to the bonuses is simple. Award them as shares in trust for at least five years. If the horses they backed are still looking good five years down the road, then the shares are released. If not, they are taken back by AZ. It's not unlike the issue of bankers' bonuses, but perhaps with a longer timescale.

Cambridge seems so very far away.....

"Due diligence seems to have been done with blinkered eyes."

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more likely it's done by people who have objectives to sign up external collaborations to get their bonuses. By the time reality strikes the bonuses are banked and it's someone else's problems. HR's performance-based bonus culture in action....

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I totally agree - one other thing, the people who did the scientific due diligence on Fostamatinib were the same ones who failed to deliver an R&I portfolio from internal R&D so why is it they were considered capable of spotting winners from external companies when they clearly could not do so with their own internal R&D projects ? Amazingly most are still there.......

"Due diligence seems to have been done with blinkered eyes."

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more likely it's done by people who have objectives to sign up external collaborations to get their bonuses. By the time reality strikes the bonuses are banked and it's someone else's problems. HR's performance-based bonus culture in action....