Talk:Alza

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: page moved. Vegaswikian (talk) 21:17, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Alza Corporation → Alza — Common name. Shortride (talk) 04:59, 18 October 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Palo Alto
The article mentions the street and number but not the city and state. Is there a reason? It seems odd to me. "950 Page Mill Road" seems rather meaningless with out including Palo Alto, CA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmunroe (talk • contribs) 01:07, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Resolving the question of if ALZA pioneered the field of drug delivery systems
First of all, I'd like to suggest two possible ways to state this before starting.


 * (#1) "ALZA pioneered the field of drug delivery systems"
 * (#2) "ALZA was a major pioneer in the field of drug delivery systems"

Pioneer is defined as "a person or group that originates or helps open up a new line of thought or activity or a new method or technical development" (noun), and "to originate or take part in the development of" (verb). Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pioneer.

In science, new discoveries inevitably ends up building upon the results of other scientists in some capacity. ALZA was a rather major pioneer in the field of osmotic pump implants, and ALZA undeniably pioneered the use of osmotic pumps for oral drug delivery, a major innovation in drug delivery systems.

I want to highlight a Fall 2012 issue of the Life Sciences Foundation Magazine, which can be viewed freely at https://www.biotechhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/LSFMagFall2012.pdf. Page 32 of the PDF (or 30 of the magazine) is the start of a decent history of ALZA, describing how stagnant the field of drug delivery was, how the company started, what some of their innovations were, etc. The story resumes in the Winter 2013 issue, available at https://www.biotechhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/LSFMagWinter2013.pdf. Page 28 of the PDF (26 of the magazine) is where the story resumes, although you may want to skip to page 30 of the PDF (28 of the magazine). This section highlights how influential and unconventional ALZA was, and has a really good overview of some of the company's products on p31 (magazine). One particularly good point here is the number of patents issued to ALZA and its employees. Anyways, moving on, the article mentions something rather important - the transdermal patch developed by ALZA was the first transdermal patch approved by the FDA. This makes them a true pioneer in yet another field.

Here's a quote from the article that's quite relevant here: Alejandro Zaffaroni established himself as [a] mover and shaker in pharmaceuticals in the 1950s and 1960s when he helped Syntex become one of just a handful of new entrants to the industry after the turn of the twentieth century. '''He then struck out on his own and by force of will invented an entirely new industrial sector. ALZA was the first drug delivery technology company.''' Today, there are dozens of companies in the field, marketing hundreds of products. Total revenues from sales exceed $100 billion annually. ALZA pioneered many of the practices that defined the biotechnology industry in its early days. It was a Silicon Valley startup adapted to the peculiar conditions and demands of pharmaceutical development. It mixed science and business in novel ways, relied on a distinguished board of scientific advisors, and attracted public investors long before it had tangible goods and revenues to advertise. Its first products were ideas. Its most valuable assets were knowledge and skill embodied in people. In many ways, ALZA was a model for biotech startups that followed a decade later

The text I highlighted combined with the rest of the stuff mentioned in the magazine and above makes it quite clear that saying "ALZA pioneered the field of drug delivery systems" is entirely accurate. They were not just a "major pioneer", and reducing this to "was active in the field of drug delivery systems" is a 'gross oversimplification of their pioneering contributions to the field of drug delivery systems.

I am going to revert your edit and refer you here. Please read the articles linked above before responding. Garzfoth (talk) 20:16, 10 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Most biotechs get some nice coverage like that at some point. You've cherry picked some good press from writers that bought into the hype.  They may have been the first company to focus on drug delivery and they had some moderately successful products, but the technology was derivative and the science certainly wasn't new.  J&J bought into the hype too and ended up overpaying for ALZA. Osmotic pumps were an innovation in drug delivery with a fleeting impact - they didn't revolutionize drug delivery. J&J soon realized that the technology could not support anything but niche roles and then whole thing collapsed and J&J had nothing to show for the $10 billion they spent.  108.16.82.233 (talk) 01:20, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
 * To be clear, I believe the statement, "ALZA pioneered the field of drug delivery systems" is hyperbole. Drug delivery systems existed before ALZA and the systems they developed are not widely used today.  108.16.82.233 (talk) 01:23, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I only agree with a few of your points, but after reading some older literature I think it's fair to say that they were only a major pioneer in the field instead of saying that they pioneered the field (taken as a whole). I still strongly disagree with your reduction to "was active", as well as with your assertions regarding the company's accomplishments. ALZA's accomplishments include the nicotine, scopolamine, and fentanyl patches, blockbuster drugs such as Procardia XL and Concerta, and several widely-used OTC allergy drugs. They also built some impressive tech relating to implantable osmotic pumps, both for animal research (ALZET), and humans. And the aforementioned stuff. Anyways, I'm going to be WP:BOLD and change the phrasing to "major pioneer in the field". If you still don't like that, then we can continue the discussion. Garzfoth (talk) 02:22, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I won't object. 108.16.82.233 (talk) 10:43, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

ALZA vs. Alza
Some time after the move discussion above, there was an undiscussed move from Alza to ALZA. I had that undone, since the reason given, that the all-caps form predominates, is not even approximately true, and since our style manual says we avoid such stylings. Dicklyon (talk) 05:56, 31 May 2019 (UTC)

Defunct
User:Chefmikesf, it no longer looks like J&J operates this division anymore. Propose moving to the "former subsidiaries" section in the template. Please confirm. - Indefensible (talk) 01:47, 19 June 2020 (UTC)