Inventiv,Quintiles,Publicis, Ashcroft...Lundbeck

Is Lundbeck a contract company? Was it created to last? Will Lundbeck leave a footprint anywhere if we close down the two floors of office space we rent in Deerfield? A few short years ago we were Ovation a neuro- company now Lundbeck is a contract company with a psych division where we have a contract to provide details on two psych drugs where we own 20% of one and 40% of the other and NO pipeline. When our corporate partners say jump we say How high? Neurology was different and the drugs were novel and they had a great thing going until Psych came over. We got a small taste of it with fun meetings and a get the job done attitude.
Now as with all Contract companies it's all about metrics,metrics,metrics...Sales data is a joke and a pretense to give the illusion someone gives a shit about sales when it's more important to hit our metrics to fulfill our contracts and get paid our money and kickers.
Lundbeck will be history in a few more years in the US if the Pharma arm is not cleaved off sooner and sold to one of our corporate partners so they can get their percentage of product back. We exist because they allow us to and contracts can be signed and broken in a days time.
We are The Expendibles part 4.
We get paid mediocre salaries, IC is subpar, Benefits are below industry standard, and everyone feels something is not quite right, turnover has been thru the roof in psych for four years and neuro not much better... Now they have shot across the bow of neuro giving everyone time to bale so by attrition the bloodbath won't be as bad when the axe man cometh.
Pharma is a circus Lundbeck is one of the rings and we are the finale!
I hate the Circus!!!!

 

Nice people; poorly run company. Incestous HQ that refuses to fire poorly performing Danes is part of the problem over past 15 years.

 

Ovation products were not at all innovative (all had been around in other countries for decades) but were commercially successful.

Other than that I agree with your post. How much R@D can Trintellix and Brex fund?

 

This is a management problem, not a people problem. Culture was preached from the beginning. We weren't to be Big Pharma and yet we are everything bad in Big Pharma without the perks. Everyone is disappointed that such a great opportunity was blown, it could have been different.

 

Agree with original poster. If you were an original beta member hire remember how the story went:
When you got your offer, you were told Lundbeck called exclusively on psychs and Takeda was exclusively primary care. By the time we got to the launch meeting in Vegas, Takeda had responsibilities for 9/10s. As time went on, we had to add a gamma sales force, not because it was needed but because we weren't hitting our metrics (# of calls) as per Takeda. By then, Takeda was calling on 7-10s if not all psychs. And just recently, the Takeda psych force came to be which is the beginning of the end as I see it for Lundbeck.
When we launched Rexulti, there were 4 Otsuka reps to 1 Lundbeck. We never had a dog in the fight. We took orders from Otsuka. The original beta reps were mere shadows of what we were at Brintellix launch. Now we answered to 2 Japanese companies.
Psych has 2 drugs of which they don't get even 50 cents on the dollar of sales. Trintellix, although it is a good drug with a novel MOA, its advantages are totally theoretical. The 98% generic market in which it competes has many excellent drugs that all work. Trintellix reps can't differentiate the molecule with anything concrete or that has documented proof. It is a fancy SSRI that works no better or worse than Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.
Rexulti is simply a drug to replace the Abilify sales. Period. It doesn't even have theoretical advantages over or atypicals. When you factor in its outrageous cost and terrible coverage it is simply a dog that won't hunt. The ironic part with Rexulti is that I feel management knows this.
End of story: if you haven't left - why not? If you aren't looking - why not?
Me? When the micromanaging increased over Rexulti, I call my ASM and said; I quit. When asked where are you going? I replied: anywhere but here.

 

Great post. Also:

1. Psych is a dead pharma field until a way to differentiate on efficacy (head to head, not theoretical) is identified. Even then, good luck given generics.

2. Neuro is high risk, but potentially lucrative.

3. Lundbeck has almost zero neuro R and D experience, and no success. All our neuro products were in licensed from others or acquired from ovation and Chelsea.

4. It looks like most of internal neuro pipeline isn't even in phase II. Are we even doing phase 1 studies?

5. Hello fan, my name is shit.

 

I understand that Lundbeck doesn't own the US piece of Trintellix. True?

 

Mostly true. I think we get like 20 percent.

And European companies won't cover it because they don't think it is enough better than SSRIs to pay a decent price.

 

I believe JA once said Lundbeck get 20 cents on the dollar for Abilify Maintena, 33 for Trintellix and 45 for Rexulti

 

The truth is that we will have a major reorg in 12 months or less. Below is a synopsis of what the real problems are at Lundbeck.

(1) The "culture" is now Big Pharma, plain and simple
(2) Micromanagement is rampant. Field rides are now every 3 weeks or sooner.
(3) Otsuka (and I'm sure Takeda) literally has our management on puppet strings. Lundbeck makes us ANSWER TO THEIR MANAGEMENT! My manager almost pisses themselves when Otsuka wants to meet
(4) We have NO pipeline
(5) There is NO accountability when spending money, i.e. spend on speaker programs when you know there is no real business need . Just spend the damn money!
(6) There is NO retirement plan whatsoever outside our 401K
(7) Bonus/quota calculation is a joke
(8) Morale is in the toilet
(9) I don't know of anyone that thinks they have a real future here
(10) Bad and ineffective ASM's are protected with management looking the other way when they KNOW there is a problem

I could go on, but there really is no need to do so. Ask yourself why you are still here. Is it because you are scared to make a move, and you have become too "comfortable"? Look down the road. Where do you think you will be if you don't face reality now? The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to make a life change in your situation.

 

Your past paragraph made me think really hard about where I am with Lundbeck. I loved the company when I first joined. It was great! But as things changed, especially in Neuro and Beta, I began to realize as our drugs go generic, key people leaving, pipeline failures, no real company support, or the products simply aren't growing, the pressure is non-stop with a "no excuses" attitude. Sabril's will sales drop will be quick. Rexulti is simply in a market where there is no real need for it. Trintellix seems to be doing ok, but it's in a 99% generic market, worse than that of Rexulti. Onfi's patent loss will be horrible on the bottom line in 2018.

What then for us still at Lundbeck? What future do we have? Will Otsuka and Takeda have some sort of option where they can take over Rex, AM (especially AM), and Trintellix? Think about it.

 

When Kare arrived and stated emphatically that we would not be acquiring additional assets under any circumstances, many of us were shocked given how thin our pipeline was. Then Idalopirdine failed, and it was clear neuro would be gutted within 2 years, except for a small crew managing Northera.

For those that survive the inevitable reorg, life at Lundbeck will be bleak. No money to do anything novel, extreme penny pinching, shrinking or eliminated bonuses, and super stressed managers.

All good things come to an end. Time to find your next adventure.

 

It's all beginning to be too much. All I hear is, "what are you going to do differently than before?" The question is, what is the COMPANY going to do to keep the boat afloat. Look at the psych portfolio. Rex is totally a me-too drug, but it's a good drug along with the others, but has poor access. Trin is a good drug, but then there are a lot of good MDD drugs out there. Both are in a 98% generic market. AM is just another injection trying to compete, and when they get the BP indication, they will be competing with the orals that have been used successfully for 25 + years to treat BP, and are dirt cheap.

This ship has to change course. The question is when, and how big a crew will be needed. Not a great situation here.

 

[QUOTE="anonymous,

This ship has to change course. The question is when, and how big a crew will be needed. Not a great situation here.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure that's true. The foundation could just make as much as they can from neuro until profits drop below zero with LOE. Then sell the psych drugs to partners and divest all physical assets.

There is a reason they are sitting on 20 billion cash and no debt but are letting the epilepsy franchise and infrastructure rot into the ground.

 

I'm not sure that's true. The foundation could just make as much as they can from neuro until profits drop below zero with LOE. Then sell the psych drugs to partners and divest all physical assets.

There is a reason they are sitting on 20 billion cash and no debt but are letting the epilepsy franchise and infrastructure rot into the ground.[/QUOTE]

$20 billion cash? Not U.S. dollars that's for damn sure! Maybe Danish Kroner , but I doubt it.

 

the micromanaging has become harassing. i think managers should be mandated to work each of their reps territories for one full week with the final day as a field ride with their regional director. these micromanagers need to be humbled and grateful that we are staying on with this sinking ship in hopes of receiving a nice severance package.

 

Would't hold my breath for a "nice severance" package from Lundbeck, if that's your motivation for staying. There are a lot of companies looking to hire, and most offer better packages. You just have to find them. As far as manager working your territory by themselves, that would be a disaster! They have lost the ability to judge what's happening in an office, and their expectations of what should happen on every call is so far from reality that it's laughable! Start looking now.

 

Everyone is looking but most are not serious about it. Human nature is to follow the path of least resistance- "Someone will set this great paying job in my lap because I'm this great sales person". We all know reps like that- Reality check - the industry has over hired for twenty years and the number of unemployed reps is scarey and most want back in for money and benefits. We have all lost our gumption to this industry and been crippled to the real world of looking- even though most of us have been laid off at least one.
Lundbeck is only temporary. The industry as we know it is running out of gas. Technology can do most of what reps currently do. To few new drugs coming out and everyone is milking their job waiting for a severance. The jobs have become mundane, routine, mind numbing waste of energy with 4-6 doing the work of one. Fucking crazy- industry stooges never learn.

Lundbeck is cheap- A
severance will be 2-4 weeks for every year of employment. Most of us are 4 years or less- 2-4 months of money. Better have a contingency plan the Gravy Train is leaving the station.