Pascale Witz (Head of Diabetes Div) leaving Sanofi

[mnholdem]

PARIS, France, May 23, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Olivier Brandicourt, MD, announced today a number of changes to the company's Executive Committee, supporting Sanofi's recently announced 2020 Strategic Roadmap.

The company has also announced that Pascale Witz, Executive Vice President, Diabetes & Cardiovascular, will leave the company on June 1. Since joining Sanofi in July 2013, Pascale has been a champion for driving a patient-focused, integrated-care approach to how Sanofi operates. She was instrumental in signing important strategic collaborations, including those with Verily Life Sciences (a subsidiary of Google) and Hanmi Pharmaceuticals.

Source: www.biospace.com/News/sanofi-loses-three-top-execs-reshuffles-executive/420455/source=TopBreaking

---

Pascale was a big supporter of former and ousted CEO Chris Veihbacher who, it is believed, approved the original MannKind/Sanoii deal for global marketing and sales of Afrezza, so it would seem that MNKD shareholders aren't the only ones who don't like the new CEO Olivier Brandicourt.

[liane]

Hmmmmm.... 

[kball]

Certainly some fallout from this potentially, though who can be sure of reason..

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-23/fda-staff-questions-usefulness-of-sanofi-s-diabetes-drug-combo?cmpid=yhoo.headline&yptr=yahoo

[mnholdem]

I posted links to articles relating to upcoming FDA Advisory Meetings for both Sanofi and Novo combination diabetes drugs - see Articles. I also included links to FDA briefing materials. I'm not sure what the potential threat for either of these diabetes drugs would be to Afrezza, but it seems that the FDA is not impressed with initial trial results...

[tjones0899]

Fitting if Pascale joined MNKD

[peppy]

May 23, 2016 10:40:02 GMT -5 tjones0899 said:

Fitting if Pascale joined MNKD

I bet he understands the process to have the European union approve a drug, and marketing a diabetic drug in Europe.

Perhaps he would be associated with outinsulin, afrezza international.

(let me out)

[kbrion77]

May 23, 2016 10:46:18 GMT -5 peppy said:

May 23, 2016 10:40:02 GMT -5 tjones0899 said:

Fitting if Pascale joined MNKD

I bet he understands the process to have the European union approve a drug, and marketing a diabetic drug in Europe.

Perhaps he would be associated with outinsulin, afrezza international.

(let me out)

*She*

[avichen]

She's the key person working with Verily... I believe she might have problem with Brandic.

[avichen]

A year ago, Google aim to bring revolutionary solution to diabetes patients with Sanofi's help.
Article: Wired
Then, after Brandicourt become CEO, he just want to stay safe and trying tweek around with existing products with his 5 years plan. 
I can feel this woman is hunger for innovation, and can't work with the traditional play safe Brandicourt.
If she leave Sanofi, will verily move along with her? I believe verily also hunger for life changing innovation.

[lakon]

Looks to me like Brandicourt's plan is to play it safe and enrich himself to early retirement. Meanwhile, the underlings are restless. Google used to have a mandate to: Fail FAST! Wonder how long they stick with SNY before they leave the dark side and join the rebellion at MNKD...

Does that make Al, Obi-Wan?

Come to think of it, Matt kind of looks like Luke. Am I wrong?

[kbrion77]

Safe to say Sanofi's diabetes platform is an absolute mess.  She was supposed to innovate their diabetes portfolio and lasted hardly 3 years.  She will join Verily at some point in my opinion.

[Deleted]

How would this affect Mannkind negotiations on exit? With a new head , usually the negotiations don't go well.

With Mannkind it's always something

[trondisc]

I truly feel the is the most significant direct/indirect move related to MannKind since the termination contract beginning 2016.  Who knows what chain of events and domino effect this will have with Verily.  Verily's top priority upon their public creation was with diabetes.  It would be poetic justice to see her join Verily and partner with MannKind to defy Sanofi's lame attempts to help the diabetic community for the greater common good.

[mnkdorbust]

May 23, 2016 15:34:44 GMT -5 @iam2sekc4u2002 said:

How would this affect Mannkind negotiations on exit? With a new head , usually the negotiations don't go well.

With Mannkind it's always something

Would love to see her blow the whistle on SNY.

[cm5]

Posted on another thread on May 21---

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-13/bayer-s-brandicourt-said-to-be-a-frontrunner-for-sanofi-ceo-post-i63mzqnl

Brandicourt would be taking the helm at a company that has said the sales growth at its key diabetes division will be tepid through 2018. The Paris-based drugmaker fired its former chief Chris Viehbacher, 54, on Oct. 29, a day after he surprised investors by forecasting flat sales this year for its best-selling Lantus insulin.

Brandicourt, a doctor trained in Paris, has been CEO of Bayer’s health-care business since 2013, after rising through the ranks at Pfizer Inc. to lead the U.S. company’s emerging markets and established products units. Earlier in his career, he was a malaria researcher in Paris and spent two years working as a doctor in the Republic of Congo

www.biospace.com/News/sanofi-under-fire-over-new-ceos-incomprehensible/365567

Market watchers have already been analyzing his resume. Brandicourt, 59, originally started out as a researcher of tropical and infectious diseases, but has climbed his way up the corporate ladder, eventually finding himself at Pfizer Inc. (PFE).

There he focused on the best selling drug of all time, cholesterol treatment Lipitor, helping the company transition it after it came off patent--a situation he may face again at Sanofi, when its insulin pen Lantus, which accounts for over 30 percent of Sanofi's profits, loses its patent later this year.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-29/sanofi-cuts-three-year-forecast-for-diabetes-sales

Sanofi Cuts 3-Year Diabetes Sales Forecast as Lantus Slides

Diabetes sales will probably drop between 4 percent and 8 percent through 2018 at an average annualized rate and at constant exchange rates, the Paris-based company said in a statement Thursday. Last November, it had forecast slight growth at best. Sanofi shares fell as much as 5.3 percent, the biggest drop in more than two months.

Chief Executive Officer Olivier Brandicourt is banking on new therapies such as Praluent, a powerful new cholesterol treatment that first went on sale in July, and Aubagio and Lemtrada for multiple sclerosis, to help make up for the sales slide in ageing best-sellers like Lantus. That worked last quarter: even as diabetes suffered, new products helped profit beat analysts’ estimates.

www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/04/07/cholesterol-statin-heart-atack/

When the first injectable medicines for lowering cholesterol were launched last year, Wall Street was looking for blockbuster sales. Instead, the products have, so far, been a disappointment. The price tags are high and some patients still resist injections.

So what will it take for these drugs, which are known as PCSK9 inhibitors, to ring registers?

The manufacturers are running clinical trials to measure the extent to which their medicines lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes. But cardiologists are more likely to prescribe the drugs if the trials show cardiovascular risks drop by at least 20 percent, according to a survey conducted last month by the Leerink brokerage firm.

www.news.sanofi.us/2015-09-29-Sanofi-New-Drug-Application-for-Lixisenatide-Accepted-for-Review-by-FDA

SANOFI NEW DRUG APPLICATION FOR LIXISENATIDE ACCEPTED FOR REVIEW BY FD

- First New Drug Application for a GLP-1 receptor agonist to include CV outcomes data -

PARIS, Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing the New Drug Application (NDA) for lixisenatide, an investigational once-daily prandial GLP-1 receptor agonist for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

"The FDA filing notification for lixisenatide is an important milestone for Sanofi," said Pierre Chancel, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Diabetes at Sanofi. "Sanofi's integrated portfolio of marketed products provides treatment, monitoring and support at every stage of the diabetes journey. Lixisenatide is a critical element of this portfolio, and we look forward to working with the FDA during the review process with the goal of bringing lixisenatide to patients in the U.S."

A clinical review of GLP-1 receptor agonists: efficacy and safety in diabetes and beyond
Lalita Prasad-Reddy and Diana Isaacs
Drugs Context. 2015; 4: 212283
Published online 2015 Jul 9. doi: 10.7573/dic.212283

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing at an astounding rate. Many of the agents used to treat type 2 diabetes have undesirable adverse effects of hypoglycemia and weight gain. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists represent a unique approach to the treatment of diabetes, with benefits extending outside glucose control, including positive effects on weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and beta-cell function. They mimic the effects of the incretin hormone GLP-1, which is released from the intestine in response to food intake. Their effects include increasing insulin secretion, decreasing glucagon release, increasing satiety, and slowing gastric emptying. There are currently four approved GLP-1 receptor agonists in the United States: exenatide, liraglutide, albiglutide, and dulaglutide. A fifth agent, lixisenatide, is available in Europe. There are important pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic, and clinical differences of each agent. The most common adverse effects seen with GLP-1 therapy include nausea, vomiting, and injection-site reactions. Other warnings and precautions include pancreatitis and thyroid cell carcinomas. GLP-1 receptor agonists are an innovative and effective option to improve blood glucose control, with other potential benefits of preserving beta-cell function, weight loss, and increasing insulin sensitivity. Once-weekly formulations may also improve patient adherence. Overall, these are effective agents for patients with type 2 diabetes, who are either uncontrolled on metformin or intolerant to m

Read more: mnkd.proboards.com/thread/5583/point-beginning-wonder#ixzz49WQrtHsM