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Shire goes after MORE $$$$$$$ while drugging more people
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/b...-vyvanse-.html
By Mark Potter REUTERS 12:50 a.m. June 28, 2007 LONDON - Britain's Shire Plc is challenging its sales force to capture 50 percent of the U.S. market for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by early next decade with its biggest ever drug launch. "I have challenged my marketing and sales people," Chief Executive Matthew Emmens told Reuters from Hollywood, Florida, where he is preparing around 560 sales representatives to launch Shire's new ADHD drug, Vyvanse, on Monday. "It's best in the class," he said in a telephone interview. The U.S. market for treating ADHD, which is characterised by impulsive behaviour and difficulty in concentrating, is worth around $3.5 billion a year and is growing at about 6 percent. Shire already has a market-leading share of just under 30 percent with a series of treatments led by Adderall XR, which racked up $864 million of sales in 2006. But Adderall XR faces cheap, generic competition from mid-2009 and Shire is relying on Vyvanse to take its place. Emmens said he was "very confident" of switching Adderall XR patients to Vyvanse, citing a company survey of 500 ADHD physicians which showed 43 percent picking Vyvanse as their drug of choice. Vyvanse and Adderall XR are both stimulants but the newer drug is longer-acting, has a more consistent delivery and, because it is not metabolised until it reaches the stomach, is less open to abuse, Emmens said. He added that Shire would sell Vyvanse at the same price as Adderall XR - around $3.40 a day - which some analysts said was effectively a small discount given that patients will get a short free trial and will probably need fewer doses. Emmens declined to forecast how quickly the switch would occur, but said analysts were expecting a similar pattern to the move to once-daily Adderall XR from its predecessor, Adderall, when 70 percent of patients converted in the first 18 months. "In some ways the market is more favourable now than it was then," he added, noting Adderall XR had only four months to establish itself before generic Adderall was launched and that it was also up against a recently launched rival treatment, Concerta from Johnson & Johnson. Concerta, which has a market share of about 20 percent, is now facing potential generic competition itself and Emmens said Vyvanse was well placed to take some of its sales. If previous drug launches were anything to go by, Vyvanse could also boost growth in the U.S. ADHD market, he added. "We're thinking it could add 2 percent, 3 percent. It's not science, though, just a gut feel." Shire is launching a string of new medicines, including alternative ADHD treatments such as a skin-patch called Daytrana, and other drugs like Lialda for ulcerative colitis and Elaprase for genetic disorder Hunter Syndrome. Last week, it agreed a deal worth up to $825 million to buy anti-scarring drug Juvista from Britain's Renovo as it looks to diversify, and Emmens said it had plenty more firepower for acquisitions. "We have right now about $1.2 billion in debt ceiling which we can use. We are very cash generative. We're doing about $150 million a quarter ... and we have a very strong share price, too, which is always a consideration if you want to do a deal." Emmens said Shire would look at adding other woundcare products and also at a further one or two therapeutic areas. "It may not be imminent. It may never happen. But certainly from a management perspective we think we can handle that." |
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