Watson Gets Generic Prozac, Diabetes Drug Nods
Gambro Opens Fullerton Dialysis Center; ChromaVision Teams Up on Reagents.
HEALTHCARE
by Vita Reed
Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to spend $135 million this year on potential brand-name products in a bid to expand beyond the company’s mainstay generic drugs. But generics still are big for the Corona-based company.
Watson recently received final Food and Drug Administration approval for metformin hydrochloride tablets,the generic equivalent of Glucophage, a diabetes medication by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
Metformin hydrochloride is prescribed along with diet and exercise for patients who have type 2, or non-insulin dependent, diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, accounts for some 90% of all cases. The risk of developing the disease increases with age.
With the approval, Watson is set to jump into a growing class of drugs. Figures from IMS Health Inc., a drug market researcher based in Fairfield, Conn., showed that oral anti-diabetics such as metformin hydrochloride had a sales growth rate of 23% in 2000 and increased in value from $2.4 billion in 1996 to $5.9 billion in 2000.
IMS reported that Glucophage dominated the oral anti-diabetic class in 2000, with market share of 31.5% and sales growth of 33%. In terms of individual markets, North America is the largest for metformin hydrochloride.
Diabetes is becoming more common. Some recent studies have suggested that the number of diabetes cases worldwide could hit 300 million by 2025, up from some 130 million today. The growing number of diabetics has been attributed to increased prevalence of obesity, sedentary living, poor dietary habits, aging populations and more stringent diagnosis criteria.
Last week, the FDA gave final approval to Watson to produce flouxetine hydrochloride capsules, the generic equivalent of Eli Lilly & Co.’s Prozac medication for treating depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Watson said it intended to ship its generic Prozac immediately in 10 milligram and 20 milligram dosages.
Watson, however, won’t be alone in the generic Prozac market. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., an Israel-based drug maker, also received final regulatory approval to market its generic version. Teva is considered a potential rival to Irvine-based Sicor Inc. in the biotechnology generic drug market once it opens later this decade.
Watson and Teva’s approvals came as a six-month period of generic exclusivity ended for certain companies that had marketed copycat Prozac since last August. Barr Laboratories Inc. of Pomona, N.Y., held the 20-milligram capsule version’s exclusivity period.
Meanwhile, Lilly saw its branded Prozac sales drop 66% in the wake of generic competition from Barr and marketers of other dosages.
Gambro Opens in Fullerton
Sweden’s Gambro AB, a provider of kidney dialysis services, has upped its Orange County presence.
The company’s Gambro Healthcare arm has opened a 10,000-square-foot dialysis clinic in Fullerton at the Orangefair Mall near the Riverside (91) Freeway.
Gambro previously operated in a facility owned by the now-defunct Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim. That building was acquired last year for $10.5 million by the North Orange County Community College District from Memorial Health Services of Long Beach for use as a satellite campus.
“We had operated there since the 1970s,” said Diane Allen, the company’s Aliso Viejo-based director of corporate development. “However, the hospital has sold this facility to a school, and Gambro Healthcare needed to expand anyway because of the growing population in the area. So we decided to build this new facility.”
Gambro’s new facility has 25 dialysis stations, compared with six in the old facility, Allen said. The facility expects to see about 60 patients at first, with the capability to accommodate 150. The new clinic is in a largely Hispanic area and has a bilingual medical director and staff members. But Allen said Gambro “is not really targeting” Latino patients.
Gambro’s other OC dialysis centers are in San Juan Capistrano, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and two in Westminster.
ChromaVision’s New Partner
ChromaVision Medical Systems Inc., San Juan Capistrano, said it plans to offer reagent kits and antibodies to help assess tumor cells for malignancy and severity. The products are set to be marketed with ChromaVision’s digital microscope system used by pathologists.
ChromaVision announced the move with its partner, Richard-Allan Scientific Co. of Kalamazoo, Mich. Richard-Allan will make antibodies and reagents for ChromaVision to market along with its microscope system.
Richard-Allan is a subsidiary of Apogent Technologies Inc. of Ports-mouth, N.H. Orange-based Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. was spun off from Apogent, formerly known as Sybron International Corp., last year.
ChromaVision also updated the status of a co-marketing program with Irvine-based US Labs. The program provides pathologists who normally need to outsource their laboratory work with remote access to ChromaVision’s system. The companies said that they netted 45 new hospital accounts within its first six months of operations.
