BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

Eisai Inspired to Morph

December 21, 2009 8:00 AM UTC

With more than a decade gone by without a homegrown NME reaching the market, Eisai Co. Ltd. decided early in 2008 that it needed to make some drastic changes. Inspired by its recently acquired Morphotek Inc. subsidiary, in July this year the pharma created 13 smaller units to speed product creation by eliminating layers of bureaucracy and increasing communication.

The company's last internally discovered NMEs to gain approval were Aricept donepezil for Alzheimer's disease in 1996 and Pariet (US-AcipHex) rabeprazole for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in 1997...