From MTSL - May 6, 1999
"In the discussion of cardiovascular disease in our last issue, we compared in considerable detail the attributes of Cor Therapeutic's Integrilin with Centocor's ReoPro. To summarize, Integrilin is approved for use in patients with unstable angina and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction, and in conjunction with angioplasty. ReoPro is only approved for the last indication. Integrilin has a much shorter half-life that ReoPro, therefore resulting in less adverse side effects, like internal bleeding. cor's historically conservative management has just upped dramatically its estimates for Integrilin sales for this year and the two following. in the pipeline, Cor's thombin inhibition and oral GPIIb/IIIa antagonist programs address the major markets of blood clot reduction and chronic heart disease, respectively. Centocor has a "clot buster" already on the market. Centocor's market cap, at $3.2 billion, is over ten times that of Cor, yet Centocor seems poised to lose market share to Cor in the cardiovascular area and to Isis in Crohn's disease. Curiously, both Cor and Centocor have been speculated to be the targets of merger and acquisition activity this year. Cor has strong ties to Chiron, which has money to burn and a desire to expand their programs for cardiovascular disease and cancer." |
