Pharmacia's Hassan Underscores Company Push in Cancer Research
By Theresa Waldrop
Sat, 27 May 2000, 6:50pm EDT
New Orleans, May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Pharmacia Corp. Chief Executive Fred Hassan surprised veteran researchers at a cancer conference this week by spending two days shaking hands with doctors, roaming exhibit floors, and answering questions from patient advocacy groups.
Medical conferences rarely attract top company executives. This one opened within weeks of Pharmacia & Upjohn's merger with Monsanto Co., to become Pharmacia. Hassan's visit underscored the combined company's determination to become a major player in cancer drugs, analysts said.
Pharmacia is gaining a higher profile in the market at the same time the global market leader, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., is facing competition for its best-selling cancer product Taxol, which had $1.5 billion in sales last year. AstraZeneca Plc is No. 2 in cancer drugs and its leading product, breast cancer drug Nolvadex, loses patent protection in 2002. Pharmacia's encouraging cancer drug presentations and Hassan's appearance at the conference made an impression.
``We were tickled by the opportunity to talk to Hassan,'' said Alan Sandler, an associate professor of medicine and oncologist at Indiana University, who met Hassan at the New Orleans conference. ``His presence showed a commitment on their part'' to cancer treatments.
Rising sales of cancer drugs Pharmacia & Upjohn brought to the merger, such as the colon cancer treatment Camptosar, could boost annual sales of Pharmacia's oncology franchise to $1.2 billion by 2003, compared with $800 million last year, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst James Kelly said in a report.
Cancer Drug Portfolio
Pharmacia & Upjohn introduced Camptosar in 1996 -- the first new treatment for colon cancer in decades. It was approved for use in treating patients who had little success with earlier treatments. Last month, the drug won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a first-line colon cancer treatment.
Last year, the company introduced two breast-cancer treatments in the U.S. and bought biotechnology company Sugen Inc. in a $650 million stock swap. Some of Sugen's cancer products target cancer cells, sparing healthy cells the older drugs attack.
Pharmacia presented data this week on another type of experimental cancer treatment from Sugen, SU5416, which starves tumors by cutting off their blood supply. The company plans to begin testing SU5416 in June, in combination with Camptosar, as a treatment for colon cancer.
``What's going on in cancer now is really exciting,'' said Richard Stover, an analyst at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, Inc. ``Within that, Pharmacia really has an exciting, meaningful position in a lot of the new areas.''
Blockbuster Celebrex
Pharmacia saw opportunities in the merger with Monsanto, including the chance to work with Monsanto's Searle drug unit. After Searle introduced the painkiller Celebrex, designed to be gentler on the stomach than older painkillers, the drug had record- setting 1999 sales of $1.5 billion. New research indicates Celebrex may help prevent colon cancer, and if the new use wins U.S. approval, sales would expand.
``With every passing month I'm more bullish'' about Celebrex's potential in the cancer area, Stover said. ``It really does appear that they have a role to play in prevention and treatment'' of cancer.
Adding Celebrex to Pharmacia's cancer portfolio in addition to the new treatments in development at Sugen means that Pharmacia now has a complete array of drugs in that area, from prevention to new drugs that work by specifically targeting the cancer cells.
``Pharmacia's full, integrated cancer franchise has emerged as one of the strongest in the pharmaceutical industry,'' analysts at Credit Suisse First Boston wrote in a note to investors this week.
Lung Cancer Treatment
Pharmacia brought other encouraging results to the cancer conference this week.
A Japanese study comparing Camptosar with older chemotherapy drugs found it so effective in treating advanced small-cell lung cancer that the trial was halted so all patients could be offered Camptosar, Pharmacia said. Sixty percent of patients who received Camptosar were alive after a year. Only 40 percent of those on a combination of older chemotherapy drugs survived that long.
``Camptosar is clearly in the process of establishing itself as a major cancer drug,'' said oncologist Sandler. Sandler will lead a U.S. study that will replicate the Japanese trial. ``I suspect its use (by doctors) will go up even before'' the U.S. trials are completed, he said.
Pharmacia said this week that it would double its cancer drugs sales force to 160 people this year. Pharmacia & Upjohn company created an oncology unit in November to consolidate research, sales and marketing of its cancer drugs under one roof.
Jeffrey Buchalter, head of Pharmacia's oncology division, said, ``The unit is now a really focused group of people,'' from discovery to marketing cancer drugs.
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The best biotech that I don't own. Yet.
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