Teva's potential windfalls: Cozaar and Zocor
Teva (probably) has a lot of money coming their way. The Israeli company announced Sunday that they had won tentative approval from the FDA for their generic form of Cozaar (losartan). They're also looking to begin selling their generic form of Zocor (simvastatin) in the upcoming weeks. The two brand-name drugs — both of them made by Merck — accounted for some $6.2 billion in US sales in 2004.
Teva will not be able to sell their generic Cozaar until April 2010, when Merck's patent expires, but they are the first to get this FDA Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, so it looks like they're going to get that six-month lock on sales of the generic forms of the drug provided Merck doesn't do some wheeling-and-dealing. Predicting what Merck will do in 2010 is impossible: will they have a successor to Cozaar by then? Will Cozaar even be a super-profitable at that time? These are the biggest two questions that will determine whether Merck will buy themselves that extra six months when the time comes.
It also looks like Teva will have the six month monopoly on generic Zocor starting June 23. There are some unknowns — while Teva will start out with the exclusive lock on the US market, the market could be opened earlier than that pending the results of a lawsuit filed by the company against the FDA. Teva filed suit after the agency denied them their six month monopoly — I am not sure what the FDA's rationale was, but it seems to be violation of the Hatch-Waxman Act, and the FDA's appeal will probably get shot down, leaving Teva the winner.
[tags]Medicine, pharmacy, Teva, Merck, Cozaar, losartan, Zocor, simvastatin[/tags]
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