Novartis AG won European approval for a multiple sclerosis drug that's identical to Bayer AG's Betaseron, the German company's second best-selling medicine.
May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Extavia, an interferon beta-1b, was approved for use in patients with early and relapsing forms of MS, Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis said today. Betaseron, also known as Betaferon, was first approved in Europe in 1996. Novartis, Switzerland's second-biggest drugmaker, plans to start selling the injected treatment in the first half of 2009, giving it a foothold in the multiple sclerosis market before the planned introduction of its experimental drug fingolimod. Fingolimod, which could be the first oral MS disease medicine, may generate more than $1 billion in annual sales, analysts say. Approval of Extavia ....is fundamentally positive because Novartis can now prepare and build up to the launch of their own product,'' Andrew Weiss, an analyst at Bank Vontobel in Zurich, said in an interview. Weiss forecasts peak sales of $340 million annually for Extavia. Novartis' best-selling drug, the Diovan high-blood pressure treatment, had sales of more than $5 billion last year. The company is looking for new treatments to help it weather the loss of patent protection on Diovan and the Gleevec cancer medicine in the next few years. Betaseron generated 1.03 billion euros ($1.62 billion) in global sales last year, about 3 percent of Bayer's total revenue of 32.4 billion euros. The introduction of Extavia ....was expected and we've had to reckon with it,'' Carsten Kunold, an analyst who follows Bayer at Merck Finck in Munich, said in an interview. Novartis gained rights to Extavia through its acquisition of Chiron Corp. in 2005 and in agreement with Bayer, which gained Betaseron with the 2006 purchase of Schering AG. Bayer last year agreed to pay Novartis, which makes Betaseron under contract, $110 million for a California plant and another $90 million for inventories of the drug. Betaseron competes with Biogen Idec Inc.'s Avonex, Merck Serono SA's Rebif, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s Copaxone and Elan Corp. and Biogen's Tysabri for share of the MS market.CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORYLabels: Avonex, Betaseron, Extavia, Rebif, Tysabri
