Generic Drug Maker Sicor Looks to Biotech for More Growth
By VITA REED
Orange County isn’t readily associated with drug companies to the same degree that its southern neighbor San Diego is. But Irvine’s Sicor Inc. is raising the county’s drug-making profile.
Sicor, a maker of generic and branded drugs for cancer treatment and anesthesiology uses, as well as compounds for other drug companies, saw its annual sales nearly double in the past three years. The growth earned it the No. 22 position on the Business Journal’s list of fastest-growing OC-based public companies.
Sicor’s sales grew 91.1% to $496.6 million for the 12-month period through June 30, versus the $259.9 million in sales it posted in the same period in 2000.
“Our increased sales volume is the direct result of our development efforts, which have managed to deliver 17 new product offerings in the past twelve months,” said Sicor Chief Executive Marvin Samson after its second-quarter results were released in the summer.
In the past year, Sicor renamed its largest unit, Gensia Sicor Pharmaceuticals Inc., to Sicor Pharmaceuticals Inc. as part of a branding push.
“We’re not as recognized as we ought to be,” said Art LeBlanc, Sicor Pharmaceuticals’ president, in late July when the branding campaign was announced.
Sicor officials said earlier this year that they plan to boost spending on research and development to about $35 million this year, up some 50% from 2002. Sicor is looking to be more of a player in the lucrative biotechnology and branded drug markets, in addition to its core generic business.
The company has built a plant in Toluca, Mexico, roughly about an hour north of Mexico City, to produce generic biotech drugs that could meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration muster.
Sicor’s competitors include Abbott Laboratories Inc. of suburban Chicago, Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., the New York-based drug behemoth.
The drug maker was established in the early 1990s as one of San Diego’s biotech darlings.
Then known as Gensia Inc. and Gensia Sicor Inc., Sicor pinned its hopes on Protara, a drug to treat cardiovascular disease. In fact, fans hailed Sicor as the next Amgen Inc., the Thousand Oaks-based company that’s considered the gold standard for biotech companies.
In 1994, however, Sicor was hit with a bombshell,production of Protara was halted after the drug failed a key clinical test.
The company regrouped and moved to Irvine in 1997, where the generic drug unit had been since 1991.
Sicor shares have performed decently in the past 12 months, posting a 26% gain to 20.8 at recent check.
