Author: Kevin Grogan

In his first speech as Roche’s new chief executive, Severin Schwan has said that the Swiss healthcare giant intends to focus more on personalised medicine.

Denmark’s Lundbeck has posted its strongest-ever set of financial results for 2007, boosted by a couple of two one-off payments from Japanese partner Takeda, but fears still remain regarding the strength of the firm’s pipeline.

The major players are always on the look–out for value-adding acquisitions and Germany’s Bayer is no exception, though its next foray could be into consumer health rather than pharmaceuticals.

The surprising decision by US regulators to give the green light to Genentech’s blockbuster Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer has both delighted and outraged observers.

Fourth-quarter earnings at Shire have more than tripled, while revenues climbed 46% to $724.5 million, helped by a much better-than-expected performance from Vyvanse, the follow-up to the UK firm’s old attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall XR.