At the Jefferies 2nd Annual Healthcare Conference in New York, Dr. John R. Plachetka, chairman and CEO of POZEN, presented in regards to the company’s main product Treximet™. POZEN has obtained commercialization and development alliances with GlaxoSmithKline for Treximet™ (sumatriptan and naproxen sodium), which was recently approved by the FDA for the acute treatment of migraine attacks in adults. Additionally, the company has an agreement with AstraZeneca for proprietary fixed-dose combinations of naproxen with the proton pump inhibitor esomerprazole magnesium, designed specifically for arthritis in patients who are at risk for developing NSAID-associated gastric ulcers.
Dr. Plachetka presented an update on the company’s deal for Treximet, “Treximet has been a very lucrative deal so far. We received $80 million in upfront payments and milestones. We are eligible for an additional $80 million in sales-structured milestones. Until the end of 2009, our royalty structure is tiered,” he continued. “Beginning in 2010, we are going to receive a high-teens royalty rate that will continue for as long as the product is sold. We have been able to hold our burn rate for fixed expenses relatively constant. In our business model, once a product hits the market our expenses are over. We do not share in the commercialization or manufacturing costs. This allows us to have tremendous return on all our programs,” he said.
As for why the company believes that Treximet will be such a success, Dr. Plachetka explained that this is a one-of-a-kind product, “Even though this is the early days of Treximet, there are a lot of good reasons to believe this product is going to be very successful in the marketplace.
It is a superior product and is the only product for migraines that has a multi-mechanism of action. Most importantly, GSK has said that we are going to be very competitive in the marketplace from a price standpoint, and that is going to help us get there very quickly,” he stated.
Dr. Plachetka also commented on the great need for innovative migraine medicine and research, “Another important fact is that the migraine market is very unsatisfied. We are entering a $2 billion market in which 80% of patients are willing to try a new product. That is a very fertile market that GSK is entering. GSK has created the migraine space. They made Imitrex(R) the market leader and none of the other triptans were able to shake that market position, so they know the space better than anyone,” he concluded.
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