| (9/5/2006 7:50:05 AM): Biogen IDEC, Inc. (BIIB) - Will Tysabri be ooh-la-la in France? The Following is the public link to the document : View Document We spoke with a MEDACorp MS consultant who practices medicine in France to assess the potential for Tysabri in that country. Recall that MEDACorp consultants have suggested that France, Germany, Italy and Spain may be countries where early European adoption is strongest. The French MEDACorp consultant expects the drug to become commercially available by late 2006 or early 2007. According to the physician, the French national health service department is in the process of determining reimbursement price and the appropriate target population. TheMEDACorp physician consultant does not believe any issues will arise regarding reimbursement, as the French medical system currently covers MS biologic agents at no charge to patients. The MEDACorp consultant expects Tysabri will be approved for patients who are failing available MS therapies or those with aggressive disease. Of the 70,000 MS patients in France, he estimates 20-30% would constitute Tysabri's target population. Although the MEDACorp consultant was not aware of specifics for the launch, he suggested the roll out would be somewhat slow, given the referral system for MS patients within the regions, with perhaps 300-400 patients treated initially. While this estimate implies initial revenues of $11MM (assuming an annual price of $27,000), the opportunity for the drug in this market could be as much as ~$380MM-$570MM. The French MEDACorp consultant echoed his German counterpart regarding moderate concern over the risk of PML as he viewed risks associated with Novantrone to be greater than that of developing PML. We believe Tysabri adoption in Europe might be more robust than in the U.S. (once reimbursement hurdles are cleared) and that utilization could exceed that in the U.S. (on a percentage of patients treated basis). Upcoming ECTRIMS meeting, Sept. 27-30 in Madrid Spain, should provide opportunity to expand Tysabri enthusiasm among European |
