Celltech has shortlisted four candidate companies in its search for a new marketing partner for its rheumatoid arthritis drug, CDP870, which promises to be the UK's first biotech blockbuster.

The search was made necessary when Pfizer pulled out of a co-marketing deal after the UK biotech would not meet its demands for higher rewards from the collaboration.

The deal was originally struck in early 2001 with Pharmacia, but after Pfizer acquired the company last year, it sought to renegotiate a deal that it believed overly favoured Celltech.

Shares in the biotech company fell in November when Pfizer pulled out of the deal, but investors expect Celltech to find a new partner and release crucial trial data shortly.

The first regulatory submission for CDP870 is planned in 2005 for Crohn's disease, with a filing anticipated for rheumatoid arthritis in 2007.

The drug will be the fourth TNF-alpha inhibitor when it reaches the market, and will face stiff competition from the more established products - Amgen, Wyeth's co-marketed Enbrel, Schering-Plough's Remicade and Abbott's Humira.

Sales in the class grew from $2.1 billion in 2002 to $3.3 billion last year and are expected to eventually exceed $8 billion, but CDP870 will need strong marketing to maximise its market share.

Celltech is looking for a company with a strong track record in the all-important US market, and analysts say Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Serono and Novartis are all potential partners.

Celltech chief executive Dr Goran Ando said the return of the marketing rights to CDP870 was an unexpected opportunity for the company, which would now be better placed to promote it after an extensive internal restructuring carried out last year.

Appointed just a year ago, Dr Ando began a £20 million restructuring of the company last year; this included cutting European sales representative numbers by 153 and closing a manufacturing site in California and a research facility in Seattle.

The company's pre-tax profits rose 4% to £52.2 million on product sales and royalties of £353.3 million, which increased 7%.

The company also increased its R&D spending by 11% to £106.1 million and saw four new products move into phase I trials, including anti-inflammatory, solid tumour and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treatments.

But the company's biggest selling product came from its US cough and cold franchise - Tussionex, a 12-hour hydrocodone-based anti-tussive grew 4% to £68.1 million.

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Friday , November 14, 2003

pharmafocus@pharmafile.co.uk