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Biotech / Medical : QLT PhotoTherapeutics (QLTI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (946)	7/19/2000 9:48:14 AM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1321

Zeev, Most of the info you requested is near the end of the story that appeared in today's National Post. Note that Cibavision and QLT share 50% of the profits. Exactly what those profits are, has not been disclosed. Ian. +++++++++++ For Wednesday, July 19, 2000 QLT sticks by contentious revenue figures Concerns 'overblown' By PAUL BAGNELL The Financial Post QLT Inc. is sticking to its prediction that sales of its Visudyne blindness treatment can reach at least US$600-million by 2003, a senior executive said yesterday. The company also believes threats of competition to Visudyne and concerns about gaps in U.S. health insurance coverage are overblown, said Kenneth Galbraith, the company's chief financial officer. Some analysts have recently downgraded their ratings and revenue forecasts for QLT, saying Visudyne's grip on the market for treating age-related macular degeneration (AMD) -- a common form of blindness in elderly people -- may prove to be less commanding than earlier believed. QLT shares (QLT.TO) have taken a pounding this month, falling 28% from record close of $115 a share on June 30. Yesterday, they fell $3.20 to $82.50. QLT and its partner in Visudyne, CIBA Vision, have agreed to split worldwide revenue from sales of the drug. The US$600-million revenue forecast assumes 25% of the total number of cases of wet AMD will be treated with Visudyne by 2003, Mr. Galbraith said. A single case of AMD is defined as one eye with the disease, not one person. About 500,000 new cases of wet AMD arise each year, and a case takes between one and three years to treat fully. About half that number have "classic" wet AMD, the type Visudyne has received approval for in the United States and Canada. Visudyne has also been approved for use in Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina and Malta and approval by the European Union is expected before the end of September. (FP Investing incorrectly said yesterday that Canadian approval had not yet occurred.) Depending on the outcome of further testing, QLT and CIBA Vision may seek approval for the drug to be used to treat other, less common forms of the disease. On average, wet AMD patients will receive 3.4 Visudyne treatments during their first year of therapy. Tests have show the average patient received 5.5 treatments over a two-year period before the deterioration of eyesight was halted. For each treatment of Visudyne administered in the U.S., QLT and CIBA Vision will share US$1,228 as their fee. Doctors' fees will bring total treatment cost to US$2,000 to US$2,500. It is still unclear how much of that cost will be covered by the U.S. health-care system. Mr. Galbraith believes 20% to 25% of patients will be required to pay about 20% of the cost themselves. Being the first companies to hit the market with a proven treatment for the disease will prove a formable advantage for QLT and CIBA Vision, he predicted.