NEWS OF THE WEEK BUSINESS
J&J ACQUIRING ALZA Leading health care company finds a fit with drug delivery specialist
J
OHNSON & JOHNSON, THE
giant manufacturer of health care products, is acquiring (if) A Q Alza Corp., a leader in WlWtOncal^^ drug delivery technoloV 0 gies, for $10.5 billion in I a stock-for-stock exchange. The deal gives J&J access to JOHNSON & JOHNSON AT A GLANCE
ALZA AT A GLANCE
Headquarters: New Brunswick, N.J. Sales: $29.1 billion Earnings: $4.8 billion R&D funding: $2.9 billion Major products: Band-Aids, Tylenol, Neutrogena, Stayfree, Motrin, Retin-A, Risperdal (antipsychotic), Procrit (for anemia)
Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. Sales: $988 million Earnings: $233 million R&D funding: $191 million Major products: Concerta (for ADD), Ditropan XL (for incontinence), Doxil (anticancer)
Note: Alt figures are for 2000.
RESEARCH
Alza's technologies and pipeline of drugs and provides Alza with access to J&J's worldwide marketing power. "Becoming part of J&J opens a huge window of opportunity for us," says Ernest Mario, chairman and C E O of Alza, which last year called off a merger agreement with Abbott Laboratories after antitrust objections by the Federal Trade Commission. The acquisition, expected to close early in the third quarter of 2001, comes amid a wave of consolidation throughout the pharmaceutical industry Examples of this trend are megamergers such as those between Pfizer and Warner-Lambert and between Glaxo and SmithKline Beecham. ButJ&J has, until now,
shown a preference for midsize deals, as evidenced by its 1999 $5 billion purchase of Centocor, a biotechnology firm that sells an anticlotting drug used in angioplasty Though it is best known for its consumer products such as BandAids, Tylenol, and baby oil, J&J has become increasingly dependent on income from its pharmaceutical line: Drugs account for about 4 0 % of overall sales but about 60% of profits. Alza brings to the party its newest drug, Concerta, a timerelease treatment for attention deficit disorder launched last August; Ditropan, an incontinence drug; and Doxil, an anticancer agent. Also, Alza drug delivery technology is expected to enhance existing J&J products. J&J's association with Alza is particularly apt, observers say, since severalJ&J drugs have failed in development and some of its blockbusters are about to encounter tough competition. — KAREN WATKINS
weigh about 10% less and have only half as much fat throughout their bodies. That means they are burning more calories, "a physiological state that humans try to attain through exercise," the researchers write. Because ACC2 is found primarily in the mitochondria of heart, muscle, and I lar biology; Salih J. Wakil, a proliver cells, the researchers professor in the same department; and their colleagues [Science, 291, pose that the mice oxidize more fatty acids in these organs, which 2613(2001)]. somehow signals to the rest of the In b o t h humans and mice, body to mobilize stored fat. ACC synthesizes malonyl coenzyme A, a molecule long thought But other explanations of how to play a key role in the synthesis the enzyme's loss could keep the of fatty acids and in their oxidaanimals lean are also possible, tion to release energy ACC exists note Neil B. Ruderman of Boston in at least two forms; mice lackUniversity School of Medicine ing ACC1 die as embryos, inand Jeffrey S. Flier of Harvard dicating that this form of the Medical School in a commentary enzyme is critical to normal that accompanies the publicadevelopment. But mice lacking tion. Whatever the mechanism, ACC2 "seem very happy, live, inhibiting ACC2 is now a promising target for the design of new and breed well," Wakil says. antiobesity drugs, the commenThey also eat 20 to 30% more, tators note. —REBECCA RAWLS I on average, than normal mice but
SKINNY MICE
Mice lacking gene for key enzyme stay thin despite hefty appetites
R
MORE IS LESS Mice minus one enzyme burn more calories than this normal specimen.
10
C&EN
/ APRIL
2,2001
ESEARCHERS AT BAYLOR
College of Medicine, Houston, have identified a new target for drugs to control obesity Mice that have been genetically modified so that they lack one form of the enzyme acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC2) appear to be just like normal mice in all ways but one: Even when they eat 2 0 to 30% more food than other mice, they stay thin. The work was done by Lutfi A. Abu-Elheiga, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecu-
HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
