Affymax

This doesn't look good for us......

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/business/deal-assures-market-for-anemia-drug.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fbusiness%2Findex.jsonp

 

Is that you Par? Her team made their goals. How about you?

 

LOL....that doesn't change the fact that you are locked out of Davita. Guess they didn't feel your impending approval and contract value proposition was good enough even if you get FDA approval.

 

We are also unable to get into Fresenius, is this what happened at AMAG? I thought it was this teams job to get us access at Dialysis Centers? WTF

 

Looks like 70% of dialysis patients are off the table. Even with approval, we're in BIG trouble.

 

Where was our group Leslie when Amgen negotiated with davita?

 

You people are stupid. Must be Amag people posting here. Please do your homework before posting on matters your not involved in and don't understand. Oh wait you work for Amag. This explains so much.

 

Affymax is DOA. Who is in charge of the commercial operation? Ans. No one competent.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

Dont even think the pegicrapinide will be anything but a bust.

 

It truly amazes me how many people go from one unsuccessful company to another with the new company execs thinking "they will be different here and be successful". How do they not see past performance is a strong predictor of future performance??? why would they not hire people who have been SUCCESSFUL and is able to create success under their leadership. Not just part of a successful team???

Some of these folks went from Oscient > Amag > to now Here all showing little to no success. What company were these folks with prior to Amag? Even worse is once one of them is hired they bring over all of their past colleagues who worked with them at these past companies where NOBODY has had success and instantly you have a leadership team at various levels and in various departments full of people who 1) have very little success in their past positions 2) they must now follow their "leader" and not voice their opinions to the person who brought them over due to loyalty for this person giving them a job and bringing them to the new company. Its a vicious cycle. There really should be a Harvard business case study done on this sort of thing. It happens consistently in the pharma world...not sure about other industries. You would think folks at the exec levels would be more intelligent and learn. I don't understand how this goes on and on....

 

People don't need to work here to understand that Affymax has dug themselves into a tremendous hole by letting Amgen sign that deal with Davita. Once a deal is signed with FMS (which will most likely happen) this company will lose 75% of it value and struggle to make it in the marketplace. Look for Davita and FMS to continue to acquire new clinics over the next few years to lock Affymax out of even more opportunities for business. This is exactly what happened at AMAG where they were never going to get into FMS since they own Venofer and Davita and FMC have a good relationship therefore they were never able to truly break in and generate and real profits from Davita. Will be interesting to hear what takes place on the year end call to the street. I think this company will significantly struggle to have any real success here in the US mkt place. I would be very afraid if I were working at this company right now.

 

The scariest part is having Leslie and her team here running things! from the looks of it, It was a disaster at AMAG so we bring her here to make things similar to AMAG. better sell the stock now, check AMAG's stock price when they hired here (hire date?) and when they left....would bet the company lost MILLIONS....sad sad day! Someone should have met with Davita and negotiated a deal before Amgen did...whom could that have been?

 

The problem in pharma is that sales people are promoted up to mgmt. Sales people just know how to maximize a yearly quota and usually don't have a strategic bone in their body as to real business planning.

Affymax screwed this up. The head of commercial is too anal to be dynamic.

What dialysis clinic will want to take a risk with this product? I would be wary if I were a smaller dialysis chain. This may be a fly by night company. You don't want to get pts on this joke of a product only to have them leave for a bigger dialaysis chain.

 

Agreed

 

LC and her team are gov't experts and good at it. How does that team suddenly become competent at negotiating contracts with the big boys in dialysis. There is no need for Medicare policies in the dialysis bundle. Guess we have a lot of baggage right now.

 

This is not only in Pharma but this happens in EVERY single industry on average. It makes complete sense to place someone up into mgt from a sales position as long as it is the RIGHT person. Where else do you expect pharma to get the large numbers of managers from? Just create them oto of this air. This is not part of the problem you are completely wrong. This is an excellent business practice that has been used forver with success most of the time. The key is to promote the RIGHT sales person not the person with the best sales numbers.

 

Actually incorrect. This is a business practice that has been used a lot, but it isn't excellent. Sales people in mgmt roles are why there are consultants- real business people who help dumb sales people mistakenly promoted into management roles not ruin companies. and I bet if you look at the top performing companies, most leaders aren't sales people, and if they were, it would be a temporary role to check a box.

Sorry but there are not that many sales people that are the RIGHT person. Why do you think we have the PHARMA code and increased government sructiny? All the hyper aggressive sales techniques used by "sales magmt"- sales management is a group that mistakenly were given keys to the ride that should be driven by smart people who can truely manage.

Sales serves a role: to obtain goals determined by smart people who really have a grasp on the business.

It's why all the top business schools have a focus in marketing, finance etc and not sales...it's because sales is not really a true competency. You want to get smart business leaders who can sell...not a sales guy who thinks he can be a real business person after he drops off a few samples and gets a signature. ROTFL

And that doesn't discuss the fact that pharma sales people aren't really anything more than sample droppers. It is why medical device hates pharma reps. They really aren't worth anything.

 

School 101.. You cannot do a deal until you have a FDA approved drug! Also, every contract has an out! This is why you have lawyers. Whoever is bashing LC should take a step back and look what she did over at Amag. You would never have received a code as early as you did without her. Amags problem was listening to people who knew nothing about the markets they where in.. Dialysis, Hospital, Oncology. BP is a good doctor but has no idea about sales and marketing. Even the consultants they hired did not know what they were doing. Once a price was put on the drug, the company was doomed! Dialysis was not going to use because of Bundling. Hospitals are not using because the high price (DRG) and the reimbursement of infusion in the outpatient. Oncology not using because no indication for most patients (80%). Yes you are getting some business from each market but very little. This is why Amag is failing plain and simple! This is why the stock is sitting at 16 and the reason why BP is fired and the reason the company is for sale. The one thing BP did do right, he sold shares to get more cash! As far as affymax goes, they do not have a drug approved!

 

The problem with your approach is, like many who are in positions of power in this industry, you do not think outside of the box. There are other ways to communicate with potential customers that you are willing, able, and going to deal with them when the prodcut become avaialble. This happens ALL the time when contracts will be expiring with prodcuts through the clinical (not promotion) teams. These types of discussions keep customers from committing or signing long trem deals with competitiors to see what you will be able to offer. At the VERY least Davita and FMS should have signed SHORT term contracts not long term contracts if we have been in there actively communicating with them consistently. The fact is the signed LONG term contracts.

Oh, and your idea of getting out of a contract....School 101: there are almost ALWAYS significant penalties (millions and millions of dollars) to get out of contracts and the longer the contract is the more is costs to get out of it. Let me know if you need any further education on the area of manufacturing/contracting/distribution as its obvious you have relatively little knowledge in this area.

 

These are only agreements! You buy this much product you get this discount. You don't buy you get no discounts. It's not a binding agreement where you can only use amgens ESA. It does not shut out competitors! Wait, watch and learn my friend. Keep a copy of your post. You'll be eating those words.

 

This place is a dog. FDA will reject based on higher cardio safety data