Sankyo invented Pravachol, one of the earliest statins, but licensed it in the U.S. to Bristol-Myers.
History may be repeating itself as Sankyo develops a new medicine for cardiovascular disease.
Sankyo, Japan's second-largest drug firm, had the longest record among all the 10-10 performers.
Acquisitions often go wrong, too: Daiichi Sankyo must surely regret paying so much for Ranbaxy.
Almost immediately after Daiichi Sankyo acquired a majority stake in Ranbaxy, problems sprang up.
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Pills like Pfizer's cancelled avasimibe and Sankyo Pharma's pactimibe try to keep cholesterol from sticking--another intangible.
As the owner of Ranbaxy, Daiichi Sankyo now shares interests with other foreign makers of generic drugs.
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Daiichi Sankyo is developing edoxaban, and Merck and partner Portola have an interesting candidate, but its years behind.
As a result, Takeda, Astellas and Daiichi Sankyo all expect a steep drop in operating profits this year.
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But the Sankyo-Daiichi deal is seen partly as a way to prevent a Western firm from scooping them up.
Eli Lilly 's most important pipeline drug is prasugrel, a Plavix-like pill being invented by Japanese drug giant Sankyo.
"Daiichi Sankyo is currently pursuing its available legal remedies and cannot comment further on the subject at this time, " it added.
Ranbaxy shares dropped only 3% on this news today, but both Ranbaxy and Daiichi Sankyo shares have fallen since the two have paired up.
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Lilly and Sankyo paid for a Harvard-run study of 14, 000 patients that showed prasugrel prevented more heart attacks than Plavix, from Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Nongamblers know company as sponsor of Sankyo Ladies Open golf tournament.
Atul Sobti, boss of Ranbaxy, an Indian generics firm bought last year by Daiichi Sankyo, a Japanese pharmaceutical giant, offers a different reason for scepticism.
John Alexander, global head of research at Daiichi Sankyo, says the FDA asked for an analysis of whether a lower five-milligram dose could help these patients.
One big hope for Lilly and Sankyo is that prasugrel has been tested entirely in angioplasty, a procedure in which a balloon is used to open a clogged artery.
Eli Lilly 's (nyse: LLY - news - people ) most important pipeline drug is prasugrel, a Plavix-like pill being invented by Japanese drug giant Sankyo.
While a market fall and global recession have happened in the intervening years, it is safe to say that Ranbaxy has not turned out nearly as well as Daiichi Sankyo had hoped.
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"Daiichi Sankyo believes that certain former shareholders of Ranbaxy concealed and misrepresented critical information concerning the U.S. (Justice Department) and (Food and Drug Administration) investigations, " the company said in a statement late Wednesday.
How difficult is it for new drugs to get to market in the U.S.? A new heart drug from Daiichi Sankyo and Eli Lilly is likely to be seen as a test case.
For other heart medicines that don't affect cholesterol levels, like a drug being developed by Japan's Sankyo to keep plaque from sticking to the artery wall, IVUS may be the only way to evaluate effectiveness.
Lilly and Sankyo have high hopes for the drug, and are testing in a big trial to prove that prasugrel is better that Plavix in preventing heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events in patients at high risk.
In a bid to acquire a foothold in low-cost generics, the Japanese firm paid 737 rupees a share last June, forking out a premium of 31% to the company's stock price at the time. (See Daiichi Sankyo Decides Generics Are Healthy Biz).
Fibrogen's other approach, a joint effort with Japan's Sankyo , is to screen thousands of small-moleculeproteins on their shelves and those of other firms to see whether one or two will block CTGF from binding with receptors or knock out one of the collagen-producing signals that CTGF sends into a cell nucleus.
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