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Biotech / Medical : Elan Corporation, plc (ELN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IRWIN JAMES FRANKEL who wrote (6267)	1/18/2005 9:54:33 AM
From: Biomaven	Respond to of 10345

But the antibody issue addresses combination usage - I suspect that will be a second-order effect, and most combination use will happen later, after solo Tysabri, except perhaps for some patients with very aggressive disease. Clearly if you are going to go with a combination it has to be Avonex, as that is the only one that has been studied. I hadn't realized that copaxone scripts had been growing quite so rapidly: Copaxone® During the third quarter of 2004, global in-market sales of Copaxone®, Teva’s leading drug, totaled $242 million, an increase of 34% over the comparable quarter of 2003. In U.S. dollar terms, Copaxone® became the fastest growing MS therapy worldwide this quarter. This growth was driven by increased sales both in the United States, where sales increased by 32% to $163 million, and outside the U.S. (mainly in Europe) where sales increased by 39% to $79 million. U.S. sales presently account for 67% of global Copaxone® sales compared with 68% in the comparable quarter of 2003. In terms of total prescriptions in the U.S., Copaxone® reached according to IMS, its highest quarterly share of 30.5% in the third quarter of 2004. In addition, Copaxone® was launched in pre-filled syringes in Austria, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK, benefiting sales in those countries. And I saw an unverified claim on the web that new scripts were much higher than 30% - perhaps nearing 50%. But dollar sales seem small compared with the interferons - I guess it's quite a bit cheaper? Rebif still seems vulnerable to me - their sales pitch was efficacy at the cost of convenience and side effects. The patients who went with that must have efficacy at the top of their list, and would be naturals to switch to T. Peter