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Immunex Sees No Market-Share Loss Due to Enbrel Supply Constraints
Friday March 9 5:30pm EST
By Paula L. Stepankowsky Dow Jones Newswires
SEATTLE -- Immunex Corp.'s blockbuster rheumatoid-arthritis drug Enbrel may be in short supply until next year while the company builds more manufacturing capacity, but Chief Executive Edward Fritsky said the company won't lose ground to competitors during the wait.
In an interview following a presentation at a U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray conference in Seattle, Mr. Fritzky said there is no drug that is directly comparable to Enbrel in its clinical profile.
The closest competitor at the moment is a drug called Remicade, marketed in the U.S. by Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Centocor unit, which must be used in combination with another drug, Mr. Fritzky noted. He went on to say that he understands why some new patients may have to use other drugs until Enbrel's supply increases, but felt that once Enbrel is available to new patients again, they will switch.
"Because Enbrel is the best, when more Enbrel is available people are going to want to go on it," Mr. Fritzky said. Because demand for Enbrel will outstrip supply in 2001 based on current projections, Immunex (IMNX) has registered about 70,000 current users and established a queue system for new patients, who will receive the drug when it becomes available.
Immunex is remodeling a facility in Rhode Island that will double the company's Enbrel-making capacity. The new plant is projected to begin producing Enbrel by mid-2002. Mr. Fritzky said there is also room at the Rhode Island plant to expand. He added that a manufacturing collaboration in Germany is also expanding capacity and that Immunex is investing to increase yields at existing plants.
Immunex said earlier this year that Enbrel's 2001 sales will be limited to about $750 million because of capacity constraints.
At the conference, Mr. Fritzky reiterated that the company expects Enbrel to be a "multibillion dollar" product, not only because of its use for early and late-stage rheumatoid arthritis but also because of potential new applications, such as in the treatment of congestive heart failure.
"The key issue we face is more on the supply side rather than the demand side, " he said.
The outlook for the company's other drugs, including Leukine and Novantrone, continues to be strong, Mr. Fritzky told investors.
He declined to comment on analysts' earnings expecations. The mean estimates of analsyts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial are for first-quarter and 2001 earnings of seven cents and 27 cents a share, respectively. Earnings a year earlier were six cents and 28 cents a share, respectively.
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