Raft of patent expiries threaten cardio blockbusters

The cardiovascular market, historically one of the mainstays of the pharmaceutical industry, is set to be hit by a 'patent cliff', with six of the current top 10 brands due to lose protection between 2010 and 2013. However, the diabetes market is set to increase in value over this period, providing opportunities to companies that invest in this area of the cardiovascular sector.

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Pulmonary arterial hypertension: market on the pulse of global growth

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Pharmacia: seeking to deCODE pharmacogenomics

Pharmacia has followed Roche's example in teaming up with deCODE, in a deal that confirms Pharmacia's developing focus on the potential of pharmacogenomics. The company's many alliances in the field should help it launch new genomics-derived drugs, as well as cutting development costs and improving patient targeting.

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Pfizer's Celebrex may increase cardiovascular risk

Pfizer has announced that one of two long term cancer studies, Adenoma Prevention with Celecoxib (APC), has shown that patients receiving 400mg and 800mg of Celebrex (celecoxib) have a 2.5 fold increased risk of cardiovascular events compared to placebo. However, a similar trial, Prevention of Spontaneous Adenomatopus (PreSAP) revealed no greater cardiovascular risk than placebo.

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Obesity: lack of reimbursement limits market potential

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Novo Nordisk: setback for inhaled insulin

Denmark-based Novo Nordisk has dropped its fast-acting mealtime inhaled insulin product AERx due to a lack of commercial potential, and will focus on long-acting inhaled formulations instead. The problems faced by Novo in marketing the drug, including low satisfaction levels and re-imbursement issues with healthcare providers will also apply to other companies developing inhaled insulin systems.

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Novo Nordisk: long-acting insulin to take on Aventis

Novo Nordisk's new insulin analog NN304 should launch in Europe next year, as long as it gains regulatory approval. This will bring it into direct competition with Aventis' Lantus. While that drug has first-to-market advantage, Aventis has yet to market it to the all of the major European markets. The fight for other European markets will be fierce.

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Noven: Mesafem emerges as potential alternative to HRT

Recently announced results suggest that Noven's non-hormonal therapy Mesafem is effective in relieving vasomotor symptoms associated with the menopause. However, Datamonitor believes that Mesafem will have to demonstrate equivalent or superior efficacy to hormonal replacement therapy if it is to overcome the challenges in this underserved market.

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Novartis: uncertain future for hypertension drug

Suffering from recent FDA rejections, Novartis has been boosted by the recent approval of its first in class antihypertensive, Tekturna. However, the drug is entering a heavily populated market, with a major question mark surrounding its efficacy when administered with the company's leading hypertensive treatment Diovan (valsartan), damaging Tekturna's sales growth prospects.

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Novartis: super-statin should do well

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