From WSJ: MedImmune CEO: Dropped Price Of FluMist By Half
online.wsj.com
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
September 27, 2004 12:08 p.m.
By Hollister H. Hovey
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -- MedImmune Inc. (MEDI) expects to have four products in late-stage human studies next year, including the follow-up to its top-selling product, Synagis, Chief Executive David Mott said Monday.
Speaking from the UBS Global Life Sciences Conference, which was simultaneously broadcast over the Web, Mott said that the company would also be in late-stage studies of the follow-up to FluMist, the company's inhaled flu vaccine that flopped last year.
With the newer version, Mott said that the company hopes that it will be approved for use by children and the elderly. The Food and Drug Administration only approved FluMist for people ages six to 49 - the exact group of people who don't really need flu shots. The newer version of FluMist would also be easier for doctors to store because it won't need to be frozen.
This large late-stage efficacy trial, which will start this fall, compares the reformulated version of the inhaled vaccine to the shot form. Mott said he expects results of that trial to come out before the 2007 flu season.
The company had targeted its FluMist marketing at consumers, stressing the fact that it's easier to inhale a vaccine than to get a shot. But the approved patient population wasn't right and FluMist was much more expensive than the shots.
MedImmune has dropped the price of FluMist to $23.50 from $46, Mott said. The company has said this for some time.
The company will now stress the scientific benefits of the vaccine to physicians, rather than to consumers, he said.
The other drugs it plans to have in late-stage trials next year include a potential human papillomavirus vaccine and an experimental cancer drug.
-By Hollister H. Hovey, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5287; hollister.hovey@dowjones.com |
