Gearing Up for 2007
Centocor did $3.5 billion in sales last year, mostly on the success of its chief product, Remicade (infliximab), a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor with 14 indications for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. But Centocor's parent company, Johnson & Johnson, has recently downsized subsidiaries. Last year the company laid off about 500 researchers and other employees at two California-based subsidiaries, Scios and Alza, in an effort to "streamline" certain programs. Those pressures may get worse as patents expire on two of J&J's top sellers: its schizophrenia drug Risperdal (risperidone) in 2008 and its epilepsy drug Topamax (topiramate) in 2009.
Despite his professed willingness to talk about the moose on the table, Fowler refuses to speculate on whether the axe may ever fall at Centocor. Fowler's plan for the future is straightforward: make enough profit so that Johnson & Johnson won't consider his company for downsizing should hard times hit. "Johnson & Johnson tries to let companies have their own destiny and do their own thing," he says. "Like I tell our people: If we are growing, if we are aspiring and achieving greater things, the chance that somebody is going to come in and want to wreck our business is pretty small."
Fowler's hopes for the future rest partly on two pipeline drugs slated to launch this year or next. With both drugs in Phase III trials, Fowler expects to soon have "the three best drugs in the marketplace" for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, he says. One of the drugs, golimumab, is a fully human anti-TNF monoclonal antibody. The company is pursuing indications for rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and psoriatic arthritis. The other drug, CNTO 1275, is a first-in-its-class monoclonal antibody that targets both interleukin-12 and interleukin-23. Centocor is seeking an initial indication for psoriasis.
Centocor has 10 other candidate drugs in development, all targeted at immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. In addition, Centocor is pursuing partnerships such as the once announced in January with a San Francisco-based biotech company, Five Prime Therapeutics. Under this agreement, Five Prime will receive $15 million in exchange for screening its protein library for proteins that may have activity in treating osteoarthritis or pulmonary fibrosis. Centocor will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any promising candidates discovered.
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