UPDATE - Actelion plays down Viagra threat, CSFB cuts rating
Wednesday January 15, 8:33 am ET
(Adds Actelion comment)
ZURICH, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Swiss biotech company Actelion (Zurich:ATLZn.S - News) played down on Wednesday the potential threat to its flagship drug Tracleer from Pfizer Inc's (NYSE:PFE - News) Viagra and stuck to its sales forecasts, despite a broker downgrade.
Pfizer is working on developing Viagra -- a blockbuster now used by men with erectile dysfunction -- for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a crippling heart and lung disease that Tracleer addresses.
Credit Suisse First Boston cited the Viagra threat in a research report in which it downgraded its recommendation for Actelion to "neutral" from "outperform" and slashed its price target to 64 Swiss francs from 120.
It also cited the dollar's weakness against the franc, the currency in which Actelion reports results.
"We take them seriously but we are not concerned. While the note from CSFB brings forward a valid question, we would tend to disagree with some of the judgements they have made," Actelion spokesman Roland Haefeli said.
Haefeli said the company had "absolutely no reason whatsoever" to change forecasts that Tracleer will generate around 115 million to 120 million Swiss francs in 2002 sales and will have reached about 5,000 paying patients by the end of that year.
Actelion has said in the past that the number of paying patients on Tracleer could rise to 8,000 by the end of this year.
"We see no reason whatsoever to change that number down. If anything we could have a little bit of a better forecast there" when it reports 2002 sales on January 23, he said.
Tracleer belongs to a class of drugs called endothelin receptor antagonists that work on the layer of cells that line the walls of blood vessels. Viagra is a vasodilator that boosts blood flow and thus should in theory help PAH patients.
"The hypothesis is not too bad. The problem is you would have to give (patients) most probably a lot of those Viagra pills," Haefeli said, noting such high dosages could raise safety issues about possible side effects.
"We see a potential competitor developing a drug with another mode of action. If ever it should be successful and if ever it should have an acceptable safety profile, it could potentially complement treatments that go after the root causes of the disease such as Tracleer," he said.
Actelion shares came off session lows but had still lost 4.9 percent to 59.90 francs by 1305 GMT. |
