Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - November/December 2007 - (Page 12) 12 News & Analysis Nov/Dec 2007 Pharmaceutical Executive Europe DATA Mature brands drive 35% of volume sales With fewer NCEs making it to market, pharma companies are under increasing pressure to maintain healthy growth from their existing portfolio. Maximizing the value of every in-line brand — even those reaching the end of their life cycle — is more important than ever. Mature products represent a source of incremental value that can often be overlooked in many companies. No longer the main focus of active promotional and performance management, these potential growth drivers nevertheless account for a sizeable portion of corporate revenues — representing over a third of volume sales in the prescription bound market, according to IMS Health. “Reprioritising active management of the mature portfolio is increasingly valid as external forces continue to squeeze the returns from every marketed product,” notes Alan Morris, senior director, IMS Health. The much stronger role played by generics in major markets as national governments continue their efforts to drive down further increases in healthcare spending is key amongst the forces driving the need to defend and optimize mature product revenues. “The challenge for innovator pharma companies is understanding the local operating environments, selecting and prioritising their key mature brands and developing specific local strategies to protect and even grow revenues in particular geographies and therapy areas,” says Alan. “New metrics are now providing the insights to help them develop more informed portfolio and market strategy decisions successfully to maintain or salvage revenues from their older products.” Volume sales (SU) Protected sales 16% Generic sales 49% No longer protected original brands 35% Source: IMS Health MIDAS Market Segmentation MAT 6/07 Ethical market only. USA, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Top 5 Europe, Scandinavia, Benelux, Austria, Ireland, Portugal and Switzerland. JOINING FORCES Prometheus Laboratories Inc (US) has signed an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (UK) to acquire exclusive rights to Lotronex (alosetron hydrochloride) tablets in the United States. Prometheus will market and sell Lotronex under an exclusive distribution agreement until the acquisition is completed, which is expected in January 2008. Prometheus will continue to offer Lotronex exclusively through the currently established Prescribing Program for Lotronex (PPL). Lotronex may be prescribed only by physicians who have enrolled in the PPL. Ipsen (France) and Debiopharm Group (Switzerland) have announced the extension of their agreement, whereby Ipsen exclusively in-licenses know-how and new patent applications for the commercialization rights of Decapeptyl (triptorelin pamoate) in the world excluding North America, and some other countries (Sweden, Israel, Iran and Japan). This new agreement will last for a minimum of five years, with a two-year termination period, after the patent expiry of the current marketed formulations in July 2010. Under the terms of this agreement, the royalties paid by Ipsen to Debiopharm until July 2010 will remain unchanged. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (Israel) and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology are negotiating to set up a joint stem cell venture at an investment of several million dollars. The venture will create a number of stem cell lines using techniques developed by Jacob Itskovitz-Eldor of the Technion, who runs a laboratory that works with the culture of embryonic stem cell lines. Organon (the Netherlands) has signed an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Endotis Pharma (France) concerning the development and commercialization of several antithrombotic compounds. Under the terms of the agreement, Endotis has acquired exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Org 42675, Org 217609 (a neutralizable follow-up of Org 42675) and Org 224283, three antithrombotic compounds with an innovative dual mechanism of action. Financial details have not been disclosed. Galapagos NV (Belgium) has entered into a worldwide multi-target alliance with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (US) to discover and develop novel small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Under the alliance agreement, Janssen may select up to 12 programmes from Galapagos' internally identified RA targets into the alliance. JADO Technologies (Germany) has announced the licensing of exclusive access to preclinical and clinical data on miltefosine from Æterna Zentaris Inc (Canada) for development of the compound in allergy indications. Access to this data could potentially streamline the clinical development of miltefosine in allergy. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
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