<<So who here has called Vivus lately to find out what is going on?>>
I did, I did.
Allow me to sum up my conversations with ms. Nina. (Conversation transpired Monday, June 15 14:00 PST)
I did not get a lot out of her. Everything was sort of boilerplate cya talk.
What is the selling price to Astra?
"analysts estimate it at about $6 a unit." She wouldn't give me VVUS's numbers. (You'll see this is a recurring theme.")
How much are you producing?
"We are producing 1.8MM units at the old plant and we won't comment on the new plant." She said they are selling all they can produce.
What are the costs per unit at the new plant?
"we won't really know until it is running fully."
Any guesses?
she wouldn't tell me.
Allebra?
"1 yr for the clinical trials, and one more for approval" About 2 years.
Where are we currently selling the product.
"We've had product launch in S. Africa, S. Korea, Sweden and the UK."
At what point are we obligated to ship to our partners?
"Often, they will anticipate the approval in a new country and fill their channels prior to that date."
FDA approval?
"Still in flux. They have been in and out of here many times, but you can never tell with them.
Still expect it by the end of the quarter?
We are very hopeful.
What is in the pipeline?
Alibra and some partnerships with universities. They are looking to do some in-lisencing. (Finding other urological companies without a salesforce and selling their product for them using their existing force.)
She didn't say much on the Gene therapy drug.
Other notables:
1. She said script data makes up 60% of domestic sales. If that is the case we can assume a little less than 8,000 units/week are sold domestically. (4700/.6) Assume 13 weeks in a quarter and we are at 104,000 domestic units/quarter. That means 1.7 MM units are sold internationally? Can that be right?
2. Watching the contracted sales force very carefully. They are under contract for a short period (sorry, I forgot to ask how long) and then they can fire them at any time. She also said they have thought about getting a marketing partner domestically. When I asked her about any talks, she gave me the usual "no comment."
3. Didn't know much about the progress finding a PR firm. She said they have been interviewing a lot of companies.
4. She said the company would provide more information on the July 9 conference call.
That is about all. I guess we'll know more come July. Boy, I hope they finally have a good call. Their CC's seem to be more negative than positive.
That's all folks,
Colby
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