UPDATE: Schweizerhall Shares Plunge On Generic Plavix Setback
Thursday July 17th, 2008 / 16h48
(Adds background) By Anita Greil Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ZURICH -(Dow Jones)- Shares of Swiss generics company Schweizerhall Holding AG (SWHN.EB) plunged Thursday after Novartis AG (SWHN.EB) revealed that German approval for an unbranded version of bloodthinner Plavix has been suspended. Novartis surprised analysts when the chief executive of its generics unit Andreas Rummelt said that a generic version of Plavix won't be launched in July, as had been expected. Rummelt said it was difficult to predict when a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis SA's (SNY) Plavix can be launched in Germany, after the local regulator suspended an approval that it had given earlier because the French company had requested it. Sanofi declined to comment, while the German regulator couldn't be reached for comment. Sanofi had said previously that it plans to vigorously defend Plavix's patents. The threat of a possible generic competitor in Europe to the world's second biggest selling drug has emerged less than a year after Sanofi and Bristol-Myers (BMY), which sells the drug in the U.S., beat back generic competition in the U.S. Plavix sales in the U.S. plummeted in 2006 when Canadian generics company Apotex Inc. started selling a low-cost copy of the drug. In June 2007, a U.S. court barred Apotex from selling further copies until Plavix's U.S. patent expires in 2011. After that, sales of the branded version recovered. Plavix had worldwide sales last year of $7.3 billion. Schweizerhall wasn't immediately available for comment. The Swiss company specializes in the development, registration and production of generic and patented drugs with special formulation technologies and forms of drug delivery. Novartis' Sandoz unit and privately-held Ratiopharm of Germany would be selling the drug in Germany under a distribution agreement with Schweizerhall. Schweizerhall shares slumped as the news spread, and trading in the stock was briefly halted. At 1515 GMT, Schweizerhall shares were down CHF34, or 16%, at CHF176, in a higher overall market. Schweizerhall said in late May it had received German approval for its generic version of Plavix. Rummelt said the matter is now between Sanofi and the German regulator, saying it was difficult to predict how long it will take until the German regulator comes to a decision. The launches in other European markets depends on the outcome in Germany, and therefore Novartis is unable to predict when they will happen, he added. Company Web Site: http://www.novartis.com http://www.schweizerhall.com -By Anita Greil, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 8044 ; anita.greil@dowjones.com (Alice Dore in Paris and Julia Mengewein in Frankfurt contributed to this article) Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=3ru6gTaivZCBBtacGq6Qnw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Sanofi-Aventis est le 1er groupe pharmaceutique europ éen. Le CA par famille de produits se répartit comme suit :
- produits pharmaceutiques (89,6%)...
