Will New Drug Take the Place of Zyprexa?
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Today Novartis AG announced that they will pay $200 million to market Vanda’s new schizophrenia drug in the United States and Canada.
Outside of the US, Vanda will retain rights to the drug, Fanapt. Novartis does however have the option to co-commercialize or receive royalties on sales outside the US as well as the right to develop and release a long lasting injectible version of the drug.
According to Rueter’s
Fanapt, known chemically as iloperidone, was approved in May, contrary to the expectations of many industry experts and analysts. The drug was initially rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but Vanda resubmitted its application and the agency, to the astonishment of investors, changed its mind.
Many believe the new drug will still have a relatively small role in the large and already over-saturated antipsychotic market. In clinical trials, it was shown to be about as effective as Pfizer Inc’s Geodon…the worst-performing drug in the antipsychotic market. The major drugs that dominate the market are AstraZeneca’s Seroquel, Eli Lilly & Co’s Zyprexa, Johnson & Johnson’s Risperdal and Bristol Myers Squibb Co’s Abilify.
Although it is unlikely that Novartis’ new drug will overthrow Zyprexa which brings in $4.7 billion a year, the new drug is expected to sell about the same amount as Geodon, which had over 1$ billion in sales last year. That is a good chunk of change, but meager in comparison Zyprexa.
