August 2009
August 30, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: JNJ
, CHTT
, KG
On August 27th Hisamitsu (Japan) announced the closing of its $428MM all-cash deal to acquire Noven Pharmaceuticals of Miami, FL. Noven will remain a wholly owned, independent subsidiary of Hisamitsu. This continues Hisamitsu's quiet but steady consolidation of its Salonpas topical analgesic business in the US at a time when conventional players like Ben Gay (JNJ), Wellpatch (Mentholatum), and Icy Hot (CHTT) remain vulnerable to legal, technology, and regulatory challenge in the parity market defined by the FDA monographs... read more at: [more]
August 26, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: GSK
The FDA announced today that orlistat, the active ingredient in prescription Xenical (Roche) and OTC Alli (Glaxo), is under review for its safety in use. The precipitating event was the collation of 32 adverse event reports all involving serious liver disease; six of these resulted in fulminant liver failure. Most of the 32 were hospitalized. We offer a general medical perspective to our readers. [more]
August 26, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: JNJ
, CHTT
, KG
Margaret Hamburg, Obama's FDA commissioner continues to ratchet up enforcement across many regulated health businesses. Last week the product purge hit eight web-based suppliers of OTC topical pain crèmes that contain ibuprofen. Topical forms of ibuprofen, while popular in Europe, are not approved in the US... [more]
August 17, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: PG
, ACV
In May we commented on the scorching warning letter FDA sent to P&G alleging product defects and quality assurance failures in its Olay skincare line [FDA’s Warning Letter Excoriates P&G; Sugges....]. Unexpectedly and independent of that action Alberto-Culver has filed suit last week against P&G in Chancery Court in Illinois alleging that product defects are evident in the Noxzema brand sold to it by P&G in 2008. P&G is also their current contract manufacturer. Culver is claiming breach of contract and failure to disclose among other contentions. As noted in our recent commentary on Olay the P&G Puerto Rico manufacturing site has a history of quality control failures dating back decades to when Richardson-Vicks owned it. Not surprisingly Noxzema is manufactured at this same site.... [more]
August 12, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: PG
, CHTT
Received wisdom proclaims, as recently as this weekend's Wall Street Journal, the death of jazz, opera, and other "high-art" forms. As if not disturbing enough AdWeek now reports a sponsored internet survey that infers that celebrity endorsement is at best irrelevant and at worse dead. If true the secular forces in play may be the same. Primary is the fragmentation of media channels, and pari passu the consumer's attention, all of which seem to be changing exponentially, to wit even rumors of Twitter's death now abound. To be sure this fragmentation co-varies with demographics rendering optimal media planning a challenge. So the putative irrelevance of celebrity endorsement is to be expected and perhaps embraced. AdWeek asked nearly 4,800 consumers whether a celebrity helps influence a purchase decision, or not [http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/47171/aoqcb]. [more]
August 12, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: WMT
For years Walmart and other mass merchandisers relied on manufacturers of branded products to use their ad dollars to deliver consumers to their doorstep. Traditionally manufacturers need a convincing story about their advertising and media commitment just to gain entry to the shelf. Then once on the shelf brands that don't sell through are at risk of removal, or destocking. Walmart and others, parlay the investment made by suppliers to switch shoppers once in the aisle to higher margin store brands thus creating a leveraged play on the underlying brand's investment while improving their margin mix. Sixty percent of purchase decisions are made in the aisle according to MillerZell, [2009]. Recently traditional promotional tactics such as price roll backs, have increased intensively at Walmart which together with recent accounting changes have confounded manufacturers' top-line sales and gross margins.... [more]
August 12, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: JNJ
, CHTT
, ENDP
As of 6 July 2009 the LecTec patent infringement suit dragged on as yet another joint motion for extension of time was granted by the Court in the case of LecTec v. Chattem et al. However, the docket date for commencement of a jury trial remains early January, 2011, a critical point at which likely regulatory and legal scenarios reach conclusion. No descision is yet evident in the FDA action to exclude or include patches in the final external analgesic monograph. [more]
August 03, 2009 –
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RELATED TICKERS: CL
, JNJ
, CHTT
On July 31 Colgate filed suit in federal district court against J&J {Listerine) and Chattem (ACT) alleging trademark infringement and dilution. The basis for the action claims that the term 'Total" is a registered trademark of Colgate oral care products and that the use of the term within a trademark of Listerine, or ACT, Total Care infringes the mark. Presumably they seek at least injunctive relief against competitors' sales... [more]
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