I wonder how arformoterol compares?
Reuters
UPDATE - US approves Boehringer, Pfizer smoker's lung drug
Monday February 2, 2:46 pm ET
By Ransdell Pierson and Sitaraman Shankar
NEW YORK/FRANKFURT, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Monday approved the first once-daily, inhaled treatment for smoker's lung, and its maker, Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim, said the drug could eventually generate sales of $2 billion a year.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - News) , the world's largest drugmaker, is co-marketing the drug worldwide.
Smoker's lung, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), is a progressive disease that ultimately affects an estimated 20 percent of smokers, and can cause shortness of breath, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Alessandro Banchi, chief executive of privately held Boehringer, said he expects Spiriva, the once-daily inhaled drug, to have eventual annual sales of $2 billion, with revenue hitting over $600 million this year and $1 billion by 2007.
"A number of other big firms are also trying to develop COPD drugs because they have so much commercial potential. But Boehringer and Pfizer could be the top act for quite awhile," said David Saks, manager of the independent Saks MedScience Fund.
Spiriva moderates symptoms of COPD, allowing some patients to breathe more easily and engage in more activities, but it has not been shown to delay progression of the disease.
Boehringer said 24 million Americans suffer from the disease, which is the No. 4 killer in the United States, although only about 10 million have been diagnosed.
Spiriva is among a number of new products that New York-based Pfizer is counting on to ensure continued strong earnings growth. Pfizer's shares rose 2.2 percent in afternoon trade.
Boeringer sells two older inhaled COPD drugs, Atrovent (ipratropium) and Combivent, which combines Atrovent with a widely used asthma drug called albuterol. Both products must be taken three or four times per day.
Spiriva has the same mechanism of action as Atrovent, but is expected to prove far more popular because it only has to be taken once a day. It is an anticholinergic medicine, meaning it blocks certain receivers on nerves, and thereby lessens muscle spasms in the lungs.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (News - Websites) , however, said it could not endorse use of Spiriva for shortness of breath, although it said the medicine appeared to lessen contractions of the airways that can hamper breathing.
PFIZER INVOLVED IN 2ND COPD DRUG
Pfizer is cooperating with another German company, Altana AG (XETRA:ALTG.DE - News), for another COPD treatment called roflumilast, or Daxas. Altana is expected to seek European approvals for that drug in February and to seek U.S. approval at the end of this year.
Some analysts think Daxas, a once-daily tablet, may have annual sales of over $1.5 billion by 2008, if it is approved.
Daxas is designed to block lung inflammation by inhibiting the phosphodiestrase-4 (PDE-4) enzyme. It would be the first PDE-4 inhibitor on the market. Two similar drugs being developed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc. (London:GSK.L - News) and Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK - News) failed in trials last year.
"Pfizer is hoping that by having two COPD drugs on the market, it will be able to target a broader range of patients, such as those with different severities of the disorder as well as those with earlier and later stages of the disorder," Saks said.
There are other once-daily tablets already on the market, an older class of drugs called theophyllines, but they are not widely prescribed because they do not greatly alleviate symptons and can cause serious side effects.
Boehringer CEO Banchi said a large part of the company's 3,000 U.S. sales representatives would be used to promote Spiriva and that the drug could be launched in Japan, another major market, by late 2004 or early 2005.
Boehringer had sales of $9.4 billion (7.58 billion euros) in 2002. Pfizer, which also sells impotence treatment Viagra and cholesterol fighter Lipitor, had 2003 revenues of $45 billion.
Pfizer's stock was up 80 cents to $37.43 on the New York Stock Exchange (News - Websites) , amid a moderate gain for large U.S. drugmakers. |
