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Biotech / Medical : Serono successfull competitor to Biogen -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Duke of URL© who wrote (1)	6/9/2002 4:01:56 AM
From: Alfred W. Post	Respond to of 10

Biogen vs. Serono (this actually is the end of my introduction of Serono, but there was not enough room) When Biogen introduced AVENEX, as so far the only drug against multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1996, the FDA gave the firm for 7 years a practical monopoly unless a much better product would be invented. With "REBIF " Serono has now such a product and expects to increase its sales from now $380 mio/y til 2005 to become its first billion $ product with a 20% share of the MS market. In the fierce battle between Rebif and Avenex Serono has recently scored a major victory when the FDA forbid Biogen to use unfair and misleading advertising in comparing the two products. This clearly shows that in the eyes of the FDA, Serono's Rebif is a valid if not superior competitor to Biogen's Aventex. The loss in this battle could well be one reason for the bad performance of the shares of Biogen. Sales of Aventex accont for appr. 90% of total sales. And what is the loss for Biogen might just as well be the gain for Serono whos stock has fallen along with the market from a high of $30 to now only $19.