Pharma Roundup: Roche Insulates Against Suitors, Bristol Faces Problems, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Roche's founding family moves to block acquisitions -- In today's feverish climate of M&A speculation, the descendants of Roche's founder indefinitely extended their majority voting stake in the company. This will make it more difficult for a competitor, like Novartis (which already owns 33 percent of Roche), to swoop in and take majority ownership. [Source: Bloomberg, via Corey Nahman]

BMS "string of pearls" questioned -- The New York Times has published an article warning that Bristol-Myers Squibb's current strategy of gradually buying promising biotechs and product lines may not generate sufficient earnings to survive the tough economy, especially considering that the firm's blockbuster Plavix is almost off-patent. BMS should perhaps instead consider the M&A game. [Source: FiercePharma]

Abbott lays off 200 reps for Vicodin CR -- Now that Abbott's long-acting version of Vicodin has failed to get FDA approval, Abbot has cut the reps trained to sell it (BNET's Jim Edwards has the story). Commenters at the WSJ Health Blog, however, wonder whether this decision -- a fairly routine operational move, all things considered -- is quite different from the gloomy recession-motivated cuts at other companies. [Source: WSJ Health Blog]

Pfizer and Wyeth: more, more, more -- The Philadelphia Inquirer wonders whether the Wyeth pipeline is really that valuable to Pfizer, since the much-heralded Alzheimer's treatment in Phase III testing has shown only limited success. In Vivo notes that Pfizer seems to be portraying its corporate culture in a warmer, fuzzier light than before.