An article on investor website Seeking Alpha deems Levadex—an acute migraine headache treatment candidate on which Allergan Inc. is partnering—“a very important new drug with blockbuster commercial potential.”
Irvine-based Allergan bought the rights for co-marketing Levadex to neurologists and pain specialists from its developer, Mountain View-based Map Pharmaceuticals Inc., for $60 million last January. Allergan and Map will share costs and profit evenly, with Allergan also co-promoting Levadex with Map in Canada.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue a decision on Levadex on March 26.
Levadex is an inhaled drug and part of a migraine franchise Allergan has created in the wake of 2010’s FDA approval of Botox for treating chronic migraine headaches. Allergan would likely add Levadex to its Botox marketing efforts aimed at migraine sufferers.
Allergan Chief Executive David Pyott has said his company will be able to offer Levadex and Botox with little branded competition because many migraine drugs have now gone off patent.
“We like quiet places, because if you’re the only guy, you’re appreciated,” Pyott said.
Levadex is targeted toward the 25% of acute migraine patients who do not respond to two or three triptans, which include the blockbuster Imitrex, and are the most widely used drugs to treat acute migraines, according to Seeking Alpha.
The article said Map and Allergan will have an “addressable market” of roughly 2.5 million prescriptions, or 25 million doses, a year for Levadex. It predicted that Levadex will cost about $25 a dose, which is in line with branded triptan drugs.
Seeking Alpha noted that even after Botox treatment, some patients still suffer around seven or eight acute migraine attacks a year, “so Levadex should complement Botox very well.”
Allergan is also scheduled for other payments to Map, based on the achievement of certain targets. Map for instance will receive a $50 million payment from Allergan if Levadex is approved in March, and could possibly receive $25 million more depending on whether certain labeling milestones are met.
Results Disappoint
Aliso Viejo Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. had disappointing fourth-quarter earnings last month, but it’s not all bad news for the drug maker.
Avanir posted a quarterly loss of $18 million, broadened from $9.7 million in red ink in the year-earlier period.
Avanir’s Neudexta drug, which treats uncontrollable laughing and crying, accounted for $4.3 million of $4.8 million in quarterly revenue. The company reported $726,000 in full revenue in the year-ago quarter.
The company’s shares fell 17% on Dec. 13, a day after it reported the results.
The Motley Fool investor website said the drug maker is “sitting on a decent war chest of nearly $82 million” despite going through $14 million in cash in the quarter.
Chief Executive Keith Katkin said he was “pleased with the foundation for commercial success” that Avanir established last year. Katkin said steps are being taken to widen Nuedexta’s reach, including a deal with a large, unspecified company to list the drug as a preferred medicine, effective Jan. 1.
“This will provide over 10 million (people) with improved access to Nuedexta,” Katkin said.
Medical Office Purchase
Trabuco Medical Properties LLC paid $7.76 million to buy Trabuco Hills Professional Center in Mission Viejo from Trabuco Medical Building LLC.
The site, which boasts 35,182 square feet of space, was 92% leased when sold and is located at 27725 Santa Margarita Parkway near El Toro Road.
The buyer was represented by George Economos and John Bosko, both of NAI Capital, and Geoff DeWolf of 360 Commercial Partners. Grubb & Ellis Co. represented the seller.
Bits and Pieces
Two group medical practices with Orange County operations—Irvine-based Monarch HealthCare and HealthCare Partners Medical Group—are participating in an accountable-care organization initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Accountable-care organizations attempt to reduce healthcare costs by coordinating services and care between doctors, hospitals and insurers. … Laguna Hills-based Doctor’s Ambulance Service received an accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services. Some 148 ambulance companies nationwide received such a designation. … Synergy Health, a Newport Beach medical practice, started incorporating treatments for a condition called chronic cerebro-spinal venous insufficiency. The condition involves compromised blood flow in veins draining the central nervous system and may have a role in multiple sclerosis.
