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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Bernard Poussot, President, Chairman and CEO of Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) (Madison, New Jersey), one of the world's largest health and pharma companies, recently spoke at the Goldman Sachs-hosted conference "Healthcare CEOs Unscripted: A View from the Top." Poussot discussed the changing face of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, as well as new developments involving the company's blockbuster Prevnar vaccine.
Wyeth currently operates in three major sectors: pharmaceuticals, general healthcare products and animal health products. While labeled a "pharmaceutical" company, within the company's pharmaceuticals sector is a large and growing biotechnology research and development segment. Poussot discussed the blurring of the lines between traditional pharma and biotechnology, pointing out that Wyeth branched into biotechnology and biologicals earlier than most of the company's competitors. Poussot stated the belief that biotechnology and pharma actually existed on more of a healthcare continuum than as separate entities, saying "The only way forward for big pharma is to get into biotechnology."
At the moment, traditional core pharma makes up about 40% of Wyeth's total sales. Nutrition and animal health account for 25%, while biologicals and vaccines represent 40% of the company's sales. "We are called a large-cap pharma, but 60% of our revenues are actually derived from non-pharma," said Poussot. "We believe that in four to five years, 75% of our revenues will be non-pharma generated."
One of the company's blockbuster products, the Prevnar vaccine, is set to be released soon in a new and improved form. Prevnar protects against various forms of the Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) bacterium, which causes such diseases as pneumonia and meningitis. Currently 94 countries have approved the use of Prevnar for vaccination in infants and young children. Poussot points out that 29 of these countries have national immunization programs that use Prevnar. These alone account for about 12 million doses of the vaccine, which is expected to show total sales of about $2.8 billion for 2008. Currently, Prevnar helps protect against seven serotypes or forms of the pneumococcus bacterium. A new formulation, referred to as Prevnar-13, will protect against 13 serotypes, accounting for perhaps 92% of infections caused by the pneumococcus bacterium.
Additionally, the product will be formulated for adults who wish to be vaccinated or revaccinated, opening up an entire vaccination market that currently does not exist for Prevnar, which at the moment can only be administered to infants. Poussot stated that Wyeth is planning to apply for "fast track" approval status in the U.S. by the end of March and that Prevnar-13 could perhaps be available for infants by the end of the year. The adult formulation will be introduced later.
Industrial Info is currently monitoring $158 million of current and planned projects of Wyeth and its subsidiaries. It should come as no surprise that one of the company's largest projects involves the increased manufacturing capacity for Prevnar. The company's vaccine-manufacturing plant in Sanford, North Carolina, is currently undergoing an expansion requiring an estimated total investment of $50 million. The expansion involves adding 200,000 square feet to the existing 650,000-square-foot site, in part to install new equipment to support the increased production of Prevnar. Construction began in July 2007 and is expected to be complete in the first quarter of this year. In addition, a two-month, sequential-unit maintenance shutdown is scheduled for the plant's existing units in April. Information on these and other projects in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industries can be found at Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database.
View Plant Profile - 1011658
View Project Report - 15002351 15002608
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.
Wyeth currently operates in three major sectors: pharmaceuticals, general healthcare products and animal health products. While labeled a "pharmaceutical" company, within the company's pharmaceuticals sector is a large and growing biotechnology research and development segment. Poussot discussed the blurring of the lines between traditional pharma and biotechnology, pointing out that Wyeth branched into biotechnology and biologicals earlier than most of the company's competitors. Poussot stated the belief that biotechnology and pharma actually existed on more of a healthcare continuum than as separate entities, saying "The only way forward for big pharma is to get into biotechnology."At the moment, traditional core pharma makes up about 40% of Wyeth's total sales. Nutrition and animal health account for 25%, while biologicals and vaccines represent 40% of the company's sales. "We are called a large-cap pharma, but 60% of our revenues are actually derived from non-pharma," said Poussot. "We believe that in four to five years, 75% of our revenues will be non-pharma generated."
One of the company's blockbuster products, the Prevnar vaccine, is set to be released soon in a new and improved form. Prevnar protects against various forms of the Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) bacterium, which causes such diseases as pneumonia and meningitis. Currently 94 countries have approved the use of Prevnar for vaccination in infants and young children. Poussot points out that 29 of these countries have national immunization programs that use Prevnar. These alone account for about 12 million doses of the vaccine, which is expected to show total sales of about $2.8 billion for 2008. Currently, Prevnar helps protect against seven serotypes or forms of the pneumococcus bacterium. A new formulation, referred to as Prevnar-13, will protect against 13 serotypes, accounting for perhaps 92% of infections caused by the pneumococcus bacterium.
Additionally, the product will be formulated for adults who wish to be vaccinated or revaccinated, opening up an entire vaccination market that currently does not exist for Prevnar, which at the moment can only be administered to infants. Poussot stated that Wyeth is planning to apply for "fast track" approval status in the U.S. by the end of March and that Prevnar-13 could perhaps be available for infants by the end of the year. The adult formulation will be introduced later.
Industrial Info is currently monitoring $158 million of current and planned projects of Wyeth and its subsidiaries. It should come as no surprise that one of the company's largest projects involves the increased manufacturing capacity for Prevnar. The company's vaccine-manufacturing plant in Sanford, North Carolina, is currently undergoing an expansion requiring an estimated total investment of $50 million. The expansion involves adding 200,000 square feet to the existing 650,000-square-foot site, in part to install new equipment to support the increased production of Prevnar. Construction began in July 2007 and is expected to be complete in the first quarter of this year. In addition, a two-month, sequential-unit maintenance shutdown is scheduled for the plant's existing units in April. Information on these and other projects in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industries can be found at Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database.
View Plant Profile - 1011658
View Project Report - 15002351 15002608
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.
