| Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. | |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Founders: | Jean-Paul Clozel, Martine Clozel, Walter Fischli, André J. Müller and Thomas Widmann |
| Location City: | Allschwil, Basel-Landschaft |
| Location Country: | Switzerland |
| Location: | Gewerbestrasse 16 |
| Key People: | Jean-Paul Clozel (CEO) |
| Area Served: | Research and Development of medicines for unmet medical need |
| Industry: | Pharmaceuticals/Biotech |
| Products: | Tracleer, Ventavis, Zavesca, Veletri, Opsumit |
| Revenue: | CHF 2.412 billion |
| Operating Income: | CHF 992 million (2016) |
| Num Employees: | 2,624 (2016) |
| Parent: | Johnson & Johnson |
Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is a pharmaceuticals and biotechnology company established in December 1997, headquartered in Allschwil near Basel, Switzerland.[1]
Actelion focuses on the manufacture of drugs that treat rare and orphan diseases. Some of the drugs it has produced have been used to treat patients with symptoms related to central nervous system disorders, irregular heart conditions, immune system disorders and cancer.[2] One of the focuses of Actelion is treating individuals with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a heart condition that leaves patients with a short life expectancy (7–9 years) even with treatment.
Actelion scientists were among the first to work in the field of endothelian receptor antagonists.[3] Actelion was initially financed with venture capital provided through a syndicate including Atlas Venture, Sofinnova and HealthCap.
Actelion develops and sells drugs in the continents of Asia, Europe and North and South America. Actelion has 29 operative affiliates around the world, including in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and a number of EU countries. The Swiss affiliate is located in Baden, the German affiliate in Freiburg, the Austrian one in Vienna, the French one in Paris and the UK affiliate is located in London.[4]
In 2006, the company established the Actelion Endothelin Research Award program which supports selected clinical research projects.
In January 2017, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would purchase the company for $30 billion.[5] Actelion's research and development unit would also be spun off after the acquisition.[6] The new company Idorsia was created from former Actelion drug discovery operations and early-stage clinical development assets and listed in June 2017 on the SIX Swiss Exchange.[7]
In 2018, Johnson & Johnson announced they would discontinue development of one of the phase III drugs it acquired during its purchase of Actelion.
Actelion was founded in 1997[8] by husband and wife team Jean-Paul and Martine Clozel[9] together with three colleagues after F. Hoffmann-La Roche cut their funding for Martine's cardiovascular program. They founded Actelion to work on a drugs for rare diseases and retained the rights to the intellectual property from Roche, including the molecule leading to the development of Tracleer, a drug for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) which became a billion dollar seller.[10]
| CoTherix, Inc. | |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Foundation: | 2000 |
| Location: | South San Francisco, California |
| Key People: | Donald J. Santel, CEO & Director |
| Num Employees: | 100 |
| Industry: | Pharmaceutical |
| Products: | Ventavis |
| Fate: | acquired by Actelion |
| Revenue: | US$63 million |
| Homepage: | www.cotherix.com |
CoTherix was a biopharmaceutical company located in South San Francisco, California. CoTherix focused on licensing, developing, and commercializing therapeutic products for the treatment of cardiopulmonary and other chronic diseases. The company, formerly known as Exhale Therapeutics, Inc., was founded in February 2000 by Gerard Turino, MD, a past president of the American Thoracic Society, and Jerome Cantor, MD, a pulmonary pathologist.
CoTherix's commercial product was "Ventavis (Iloprost)", an inhaled therapy for pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). It was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in December 2004, two months after the company's initial public offering of 5 million shares of common stock.
On 20 November 2006, CoTherix agreed to be purchased for $420 million in cash by Actelion of Basel, Switzerland. On 9 January 2007, the deal closed with Actelion paying $13.50 for each share of CoTherix stock.
Actelion, headquartered in Switzerland, managed to earn 18.2% more in the year of 2016 than it did in 2015 while reporting an earning of 2,417.9 million Swiss Francs at the end of 2016. After accounting for all costs of production such as raw materials and wages, the company calculated its operating margin (operating profit to net sales ratio) to be 0.5% more in 2016 than it was in 2015.
Tracleer was one of the main drugs manufactured and sold by Actelion. It has been used to treat excessively high blood pressure that affect arteries in the lungs and heart. In the years of 2014 and 2015, before Johnson & Johnson acquired the pharmaceutical company, Actelion was accused of pushing up the prices of Tracleer. According to a website known as Goodrx, sixty tablets (one month's supply) of this drug are sold for an average of $14,500.[13]
Actelion was able to do this by illegally providing money to Medicare patients in order for them to be able to fulfill their co-payments for the drug Tracleer. Medicare is a healthcare program for adults who are 65 years and older. Most patients have their prescriptions covered by Medicare, but they must still pay a portion of the amount of the prescription, known as a co-payment. By making sure Medicare patients are still paying a certain amount, drug companies are unable to raise their prices to inordinately large amounts.
However recently many large drug companies, such as Pfizer, Lundbeck, United Therapeutics and now Actelion have been found to be illegally providing cash assistance to charities that help patients with their co-payments in order to increase the demand for their products. Actelion was able to use the charity organization by the name of Caring Voice Coalition to send money only to those people who were receiving prescriptions of Tracleer. When law enforcement was able to catch onto the illegal activities occurring with this organization with relation to two pharmaceutical companies (Actelion and United Therapeutics), it was banned from partaking in any further Medicare related matters.
By ignoring the laws and regulations set by Congress, to prevent pharmaceutical companies from increasing the demand and prices of their drugs, and using information obtained from Caring Voice Coalition to financially support patients who were buying only its own drugs, Actelion was able to increase its drug prices to extraordinarily high amounts (nearly 30% of the inflation rate).
Actelion was also complicit in referring patients to Caring Voice Coalition. Many unknowing patients who were gathering information about organizations that might cover their medical needs were being sent to CVC. Illegally, furthering the high demand for their drug.
While investigations were taking place, Actelion refused to accept that any criminal activity or misconduct had occurred. It has been forced to pay a $360 million as a settlement to the United States government for the malpractice relating to kickbacks to Medicare patients.
As of October, 2018, it was also caught in two lawsuit by drug buyers who claimed that Actelion was preventing a generic version of Tracleer to be manufactured so that it could stay in charge of the market as the sole supplier of the drug.
Analytics 4 Life is a company that uses artificial intelligence to develop solutions for medical illnesses while focusing its efforts on coronary artery disease. Actelion has been reported to start working with Analytics 4 Life to use imaging technology with regards to pulmonary hypertension.[14] A study, involving 500 individuals is being conducted to solve this widespread illness. These companies are hoping to be able to accurately assess an individual's cardiac health using imaging technology and thus avoiding the need for an invasive test. Actelion hopes that using this technology will help detect pulmonary hypertension in more people at an earlier age and thus leading to higher chances of success in the treatment.
Actelion currently has 10 compounds in its pipeline – including 3 in late-stage development – and 4 medicines on the market for orphan diseases:
Some other drugs that have been produced by Actelion's to provide for the PAH (Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension) market include:
Late-stage drugs in development by Actelion include:
By January 2011, Actelion had a total of 2,467 employees, 392 in research, 640 in development and 1017 in sales and marketing. In 2010, Actelion's sales amounted to 1,929 million CHF.[24]
Actelion's shares have been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol ATLN) since 2000 SWX Swiss Exchange Swiss Leader Index. In September 2008, Actelion shares began trading as part of the Swiss Market Index.[25] [26] [27]
Actelion received the "Prix Hermès de l'innovation" (Hermès Award for Innovation) in April 2011:[28] The "European Institute for Creative Strategy and Innovation", the creator of the Prix Hermès, was founded in 2003 in France.
The "performance report for Swiss pharma websites" awarded Actelion the first Prize in the second consecutive year:.[29]