UPDATE:Lilly Drug Launch Seen Sluggish But CFO Sees Progress
September 21 2009 - 1:52PM
Dow Jones News
Sales of Eli Lilly & Co.'s (LLY) and Daiichi Sankyo Co.'s
(4568.TO) new anti-clotting drug Effient appear sluggish, a Wall
Street analyst said Monday, but Lilly's finance chief said the drug
maker is making progress convincing health plans to pay for it.
The latest data for U.S. prescription volumes "reinforce our
view that Effient's U.S. launch will be muted," Leerink Swann
analyst Seamus Fernandez wrote in a research note Monday.
Fernandez, citing data from health-information provider IMS
Health, said there have been 1,823 new prescriptions written for
Effient since shortly after its August launch, which puts it
significantly behind the most successful new drug launches of the
past seven years.
The analyst said possible demand was hampered by the vacation
season, and that the next four to six weeks may provide a clearer
picture of demand for the drug.
Another factor is that Effient is supposed to be given to
patients initially in the hospital, and IMS data don't reflect such
usage. The IMS data should show whether patients continue to use
the drug after they're discharged.
"There will be a delay in prescription data showing up in IMS,
given that initial use occurs in the hospital setting," Lilly Chief
Financial Officer Derica Rice told investors at a UBS conference in
New York, which was available by Webcast.
Rice said the first six months of Effient's launch will be
critical to getting the drug placed on hospitals' preferred-drug
lists, or formularies. He said Lilly has made "positive" progress
in efforts to persuade health insurers to pay for the drug,
including Tricare, the government-funded health plan for the
military.
Outside the U.S., Rice said several countries have agreed to
reimburse for the drug, such as the U.K. and Argentina. France has
recommended reimbursement, but assigned its "lowest rating" to the
drug, Rice said, though he noted that three-fourths of new products
get such a rating. Lilly spokeswoman Tammy Hull said the drug is
fully reimbursed by France's national health system, but a French
commission concluded the drug didn't provide added medical benefit.
Lilly and Daiichi disagree with the commission's rating, Hull
said.
Effient is competing with the blockbuster drug Plavix, which is
co-marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) and Sanofi-Aventis SA
(SNY). Some analysts still see Effient exceeding $1 billion in
annual sales eventually, but Wall Street enthusiasm for the drug
has generally waned due to delayed regulatory approval and the
bleeding risk associated with the drug.
Lilly shares recently rose 14 cents to $33.
-By Peter Loftus; Dow Jones Newswires; 215-656-8289;
peter.loftus@dowjones.com