Hey there. Stop dozing at your desk and think for a minute about
GlaxoSmithKline plc's deal with Swiss biotech Actelion Ltd. The pharma giant may pay up to $2.7 billion for rights to develop almorexant, a promising drug for insomniacs. The high price partly reflects the competition for the potential sleeping pill -- which in turn is partly reflective of all the trouble people are having with their sleep rhythms these days.
For all the inherent uncertainty in pharma and biotech deals, there's also something wonderfully tidy and sequential about them. That headline sum is of course payable in increments if and when almorexant hits a series of milestones; late-stage clinical trial results are anticipated in the second half of next year. And at the end of that well-ordered sequence of signposts is (as is also typical in the sector) a well defined market need. This isn't like trying to come up with the next hot cell phone.
Sleep disorders are a big problem these days. As Renee Cordes
writes in The Daily Deal (subscription required):
The companies estimate that 150
million patients worldwide suffer from insomnia, resulting in
significant health consequences including a higher rate of mental
health problems, drug and alcohol abuse. In the U.S. alone, the direct
and indirect costs of sleep disorders are estimated to be around $35
billion a year.
Several economic trends are driving this, from the need to work across time zones to the need to get the most from expensive plants and equipment by running them 24/7 to the fact that we like to be able to shop for shoes at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday night. And GSK and Actelion aren't the only ones who see opportunity here. Check out the
consultants at Circadian, who will help your company operate in this kind of world. -
Kenneth Klee
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Juergen Lasowski
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