Tuck, I can't say anything bad about NKTR as I made a nice profit when it ran to $25.00 back in January when they got the FDA approval. I guess what I don't understand is as late as last fall they kept reporting on how they were building inventory in PFE's Indiana warehouse. Now they indicate they will have a "limited" launch and the launch will be delayed. So I guess I don't understand why six months will have passed since FDA approval and inventory supposedly created and now merely a "limited" launch. No doubt that PFE has a great interest in this product selling, since they have over $1B invented in its success....But from the PR today, it seems that the difficulty in the process of creating the product is maybe something that wasn't fully appreciated earlier. June launch, July launch and now we find out September.
CHICAGO, July 20 (Reuters) - Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday raised its revenue outlook for Exubera, even as co-developer Pfizer (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) announced that supplies of the first-ever inhaled insulin will be delayed slightly.
New York-based Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, said that because the manufacturing process for the product is so complex, Exubera will not be available until the beginning of September.
Many stock analysts had expected Pfizer to begin shipping the product to pharmacists and wholesalers this month.
The much-anticipated product faces hurdles to adoption by patients, from insurance companies over its price and some doctors unsure of its clinical superiority over conventional insulin, analysts said.
"We expect a limited launch, as Pfizer reps initially target endocrinologists and specialists before they go out to the broader GP (general practitioner) community," Morgan Stanley analyst Jami Rubin said in an investor note.
Several analysts estimate it could cost up to $5 per day or about $1,600 per year. Others wonder whether diabetes patients will use the product, a large oblong pump that is substantially bigger than more discrete insulin injection pens, for example.
Pfizer also said it is starting an education program with doctors next week.
Nektar, which makes the inhaler used to deliver the diabetes treatment, raised its revenue outlook for Exubera manufacturing and royalty revenue to a range of $70 million to $90 million, from its prior range of $60 million to $80 million.
Nektar said most of the revenue would be generated by manufacturing. |
