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Thursday October 29, 4:42 pm Eastern Time
Centocor says mature ReoPro sales may hit $2.2bln
NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Biotech company Centocor Inc. (Nasdaq:CNTO - news) on Thursday said its heart medication ReoPro could ultimately generate annual sales of $2.2 billion and that its anti-inflammatory drug Remicade could be headed for annual sales of $1.2 billion.
Centocor officials declined to say when the prescription drugs would hit those sales targets, but said they reflected their mature market potential.
The company projected ReoPro would post global sales of $350 million in 1998 and $400 million to $440 million in 1999.
It predicted Remicade would generate between $120 million and $160 million of sales in 1999.
ReoPro, which prevents blood clots, is approved for use in patients undergoing angioplasty, a procedure in which surgeons open clogged coronary arteries by threading through them a tiny balloon.
It is also approved for patients with unstable angina, chest pains that often precede a heart attack, who have not responded to conventional treatment and plan to have angioplasties or related procedures.
The Malvern,Pa.-based company said at a news conference here it was considering new uses of ReoPro, an anti-platelet drug with 1997 U.S. sales of $254 million, including treatment for acute myocardial infarction, stroke, peripheral vascular disease.
Centocor said ReoPro's potential sales for treating strokes could reach $1 billion, assuming the drug is eventually tested and approved for that condition.
The company said potential sales from use of the drug with growing numbers of unstable angina patients could reach up to $1 billion, with another $200 million possible from treatment of peripheral vascular disease.
It said it also hoped to possibly broaden the use of Remicade, approved earlier this year in the United States for treatment of Crohn's disease, to asthma, colitis and psoriasis.
The company said it saw Remicade generating sales of $1.2 billion from treatment of Crohn's disease alone. The company based that figure on the fact that Remicade could be used on 252,000 patients with the inflammatory bowel disease.
Centocor said data from Phase III clinical trials of Remicade for another condition, rheumatoid arthritis, would be presented on November 12 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in San Diego.
Looking at drugs in the company's pipeline, Centocor said it had developed two monoclonal antibodies designed to attack Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-12, proteins linked to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as colitis and asthma.
Centocor said researchers would explore possible therapeutic uses of the two antibodies with clinical trials likely to begin in 2000.
The company also projected that Retavase, a heart medication known as a ''clot buster,'' would generate sales of $55 million in 1998 and $80 to $90 million in 1999.
The company is now conducting Phase II combination clinical trials using Retavase and ReoPro to treat acute myocardial infarction. Data from those Phase II trials will be presented on November 8 at the American Heart Association in Dallas.
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