Twitter Speaks on AbbVie’s $21bn Play and Other PharmExec Top Tweets

We’re staying tuned to the twittersphere. Here’s another list of some top tweets from the last few weeks. If you have suggestions for more, please send them, or tweet @PharmExecutive or use #PharmExecTopTweets

March 5

In reaction to AbbVie’s massive acquisition of Pharmacyclics, investors who were caught unprepared are looking for ways they could have predicted the deal.

A “tell” re $ABBV- $PCYC that everyone missed: ABBV pulled out of the Cowen conference yesterday.

- Roy Friedman (@DewDiligence) March 5, 2015

But maybe this isn’t a completely reliable tell of a company in late negotiations for a $21bn takeover. Especially with the winter we’re having on the east cost, a lot of cancellations have been due to the weather, as @AndyBiotech points out. There were plenty more articles and tweets on this deal:

@AntoineGara at Forbes called it a red flag for the sector:

For vocal hedge funds, who in many ways are the architects of today’s dealmaking, the risk of a bust looms large http://t.co/HDmVYgqDLT

While WSJ’s Jonathan Rockoff quotes AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez saying that three companies bid til the end in “one of the most competitive” bidding wars he’s ever seen:

AbbVie CEO says 3 cos were bidding for $PCYC till very end. "One of the most competitive" pharma sales ever. http://t.co/sxRYOUcmW6@WSJ

- Jeanne Whalen (@JeanneWhalen) March 5, 2015

Peter D. @Loftus noted that AbbVie’s projections justifying the deal might be a tad grand.

AbbVie CEO throws out huge sales numbers to justify Pharmacyclics price tag - peak Imbruvica sales $7B! Peak ABBV oncology sales $15B!

- Peter D. Loftus (@Loftus) March 5, 2015

Feb 26

A potential setback for biosimilars coming to the US, in late February, the FDA postponed a much anticipated meeting, originally scheduled for March 17. What this means for Celltrion and Hospira’s Remsima is unclear. Reasons for the postponement are unclear and we’ve yet to see a new date for the meeting. We wonder if they just decided they didn’t want to meet on St. Patrick’s day.

#FDA postpones key hearing on #biosimilar copy of blockbuster drug - panel on #Celltrion's #Remsima was due March 17 http://t.co/EUZvedzqCy

- Ben Hirschler (@reutersBenHir) February 26, 2015

Feb 19

In other news, showing that its plan to offer genomic testing direct-to-consumer is progressing, 23andMe tweeted its major announcement in February. The company will now market a test for Bloom Syndrome Carrier Status. The news was quite significant and shows that the FDA will allow it to proceed, with proper evidence and likely in a stepwise fashion.

First of its kind DTC genetic test granted marketing authority by @US_FDA for our Bloom Syndrome Carrier Status test. http://t.co/BMlaM5jxBm

- 23andMe (@23andMe) February 20, 2015

Earlier in February, there were several good tweets from BIO’s BIOCEO conference, #BIOCEO15. When Pfizer CEO Ian Read speaks, people listen. Several were taken by his comments that the insurance system, as it is now, is not set up to pay for cures.

Read: "Insurance plans are not set up for cures; they're set up for chronic disease. Can't calculate value of cure." #BIOCEO15

- Wayne Koberstein (@WayneKoberstein) February 10, 2015

"Insurance models aren't set up to pay for cures. They're set up to pay for chronic disease," $PFE CEO Ian Read says at #BIOCEO15

- Meg Tirrell (@megtirrell) February 10, 2015

Also at #BIOCEO15

Overheard twice today at #BIOCEO15: "...we're going to be starting up a CAR-T company."

- Brad Loncar (@bradloncar) February 10, 2015

And in a rare appearance, Gilead’s COO John Milligan spoke at BIOCEO:

#BIOCEO15 Barclay's analyst Geoff Meacham gets right to it with $GILD's MIlligan - no intro, just a pricing question

- Chris Morrison (@CT_Morrison) February 10, 2015

Milligan: Only 3 yrs ago, we closed Pharmasset deal. Intro'd Sovaldi, then made it obsolete w Harvoni. Put stress on the org #BIOCEO15

- Luke Timmerman (@ldtimmerman) February 10, 2015

And John Maraganore, Alnyam’s CEO on developing RNAi delivery:

"It was sort of a Manhattan project" says $ALNY's JM. #BIOCEO15 $75M a year, collaboration with MIT's Langer. Broad investment in delivery.

- Matthew Herper (@matthewherper) February 10, 2015