YEAR IN PHARMA PHARMACEUTICALS
A WHIRLWIND YEAR FOR THE DRUG INDUSTRY Against the backdrop of a rising biotech stock index, the pharmaceutical industry juggled an unpredictable Administration, breathtaking technological advances, modest deal-making, and the never-ending conversation about drug prices
1/6 Ipsen kicks off year with $1 billion purchase of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals
6/8 1/23 The trade association PhRMA unveils a PR campaign aimed at improving the drug industry’s image
2/10
4/3
3/22
Tom Price is conirmed as Health & Human Services secretary
Emma Walmsley oicially takes over as CEO at GlaxoSmithKline, becoming the irst woman to lead a big pharma irm
March for Science takes place in cities across the globe, and some biotech companies take part
FDA asks Endo Pharmaceuticals to take its long-acting opioid, Opana ER, off the market, saying risks of abuse outweigh the drugs beneits
iShares Nasdaq biotech stock index 350 340 330 320 310 300 290 280 270 260 1/3
2/3
3/3
4/3
1/9 Takeda pays $5.1 billion for cancerfocused Ariad Pharmaceuticals
3/7 Trump claims to be working on drug pricing
5/3
6/3
3/24
5/9
Led by Paul Ryan, Republicans withdrew their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act
Scott Gottlieb conirmed as head of FDA
1/11 President Trump says in a press conference that drug companies are “getting away with murder,” sending stocks tumbling
2/13
1/31 President Trump meets with pharmaceutical executives, promising to speed up drug approvals and cut regulations
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | DECEMBER 4, 2017
Days ater getting FDA approval for a steroid for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Marathon Pharmaceuticals became the latest face of drug price gouging
6/5 Data from Loxo Oncology’s TRK inhibitor larotrectinib grabs the spotlight at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting
10/18 Gilead’s Yescarta is approved, making it the second CAR T-cell therapy on the market
8/16
10/12
President Trump disbands manufacturing council, which had already lost nearly half its members
FDA panel votes unanimously to approve Spark Therapeutics’ gene therapy for a rare form of blindness
8/30 FDA approves irst CAR T-cell therapy, Novartis’s Kymriah
8/14 Merck CEO Ken Frazier resigns from Trump’s manufacturing council, prompting others to follow suit
8/4 Martin Shkreli is found guilty on three counts in federal fraud case
10/26 John Kapoor, founder of fentanyl spray manufacturer Insys Therapeutics, is indicted on racketeering charges
9/8
7/17
9/29 Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigns amid criticism over chartered lights
11/16 Alnylam begins the process for asking FDA to approve patisiran, a treatment for familial amyloid polyneuropathy that could become the irst RNAibased drug on the market
Republican health bill dies
7/3
8/3
9/3
7/18 A threedrug combo from Vertex Pharmaceuticals improves lung function in people with cystic ibrosis, potentially expanding treatment to 90% of patients
7/24 Mitsubishi Tanabe pays $1.1 billion for neurosciencefocused NeuroDerm
10/3
11/3
8/28
10/30
Gilead pays nearly $12 billion for CAR T-cellfocused Kite Pharma
Novartis says it will pay $3.9 billion for radiopharmaceuticals irm Advanced Accelerator Applications
9/26 Axovant Sciences’ 5-HT6 agonist intepirdine fails a Phase III study in people with Alzheimer's disease
11/13 As anticipated, former Lilly executive Alex Azar is nominated as secretary of Health & Human Services
8/3 Bristol-Myers Squibb pays up to $2.3 billion for immunologyfocused IFM Therapeutics
11/28
10/11 Merck & Co. lets go of anacetrapib, one of a long line of CETP inhibitors for cholesterol to drop out of the drug pipeline
10/16 Drug stocks drop ater Trump says that drug prices “are out of control. The drug prices have gone through the roof.” DECEMBER 4, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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C R E D I T: WI K I ME D I A CO MMO N S ( TRU MP, RYA N, GOT T LI E B , P R I C E) ; S H UT T ERSTO CK (AI R P L A N E ); J Y L L I A N K E M SL E Y/CE & N (M ARCH ); CO N O R RA LP H /R E UT E RS /N EWS CO M ( KA P O O R ) ; WA L MS L EY ( GS K ) ; CO MPA N I ES (LO GO S ); YO U T U B E (GO B O L DLY )
Allergan strikes deal with the Mohawk Tribe with the goal of preventing challenges to patents on its blockbuster eye drug
