Successful TriLipix Trials Good News For Solvay - Analysts
June 09 2009 - 1:09PM
Dow Jones News
Successful trials of cholesterol-fighting drug TriLipix, taken
in combination with commonly used statins, could translate into
high earnings for Belgian pharmaceutical company Solvay SA
(SOLB.BT), said analysts.
The trials, whose results were presented this week at the
American Diabetes Association's 2009 scientific session, showed the
effectiveness of combining Solvay's cholesterol-lowering drug
TriLipix with an established drug from the statin family to treat
patients with type 2 diabetes and mixed dyslipidemia. Mixed
dyslipidemia is a combination of two or more lipid problems such as
low levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, high levels of "bad" LDL
cholesterol, and high levels of heart-harming blood fats called
triglycerides.
TriLipix was co-developed with U.S. pharmaceutical company
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration last December.
In the trials, conducted across the U.S. by Abbott, combination
therapy proved substantially more effective than single-drug
therapy in helping patients improve their blood cholesterol
levels.
Last week, Abbott and AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) filed for U.S.
regulatory approval for a newly-developed cholesterol drug called
Certriad. Certriad combines Abbott's and Solvay's TriLipix with
AstraZeneca's blockbuster statin Crestor, a marriage that promises
to expand TriLipix's market.
Petercam analyst Jan van den Bossche said statins generated
about $2.5 billion more than alternative drugs like TriLipix last
year. As a result, he said, the new combination drug Certriad
promises "very high sales potential" for Solvay. Although Solvay
has not released the dollar amount of the royalties it receives
from TriLipix sales, Bank Degroof analyst Bernard Hanssens said
that TriLipix constituted a "significant part of Solvay
revenue."
Certriad will also protect Solvay from generic competition,
Hanssens said.
Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd. (TEVA) recently sought approval to manufacture a generic
version of TriCor, TriLipix's $1.2 billion-a-year predecessor.
Approval of Certriad would render TriCor - and its generic
counterparts - increasingly obsolete. "The faster clients switch to
TriLipex or Certriad, the more difficult it'll be for the generic
to penetrate the market," said Hanssens.
-By Elizabeth Bewley, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 1 485;
elizabeth.bewley@dowjones.com