Spectrum Pharmaceutecals Inc (SPPI)

[antihama]

Selling Rolontis Do’s and Don’ts once approved. This first article describes how Roche’s deep discount (25%) for MS drug Ocrevus pays off big:

Roche caught the market by surprise when it priced its highly touted new multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus at a 25% discount to the competition. Roche’s gambit has surprised again, with Ocrevus winning immediate uptake and generating $200 million in its first quarter on the market.

The drug not only outperformed analysts consensus by more than three times, it appears to have outperformed Roche’s because the drugmaker today said it has decided to raise its 2017 forecast.

Note that this drug is not a biosimilar just like Rolontis is not a biosimilar. Here’s the link:

http://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/roche-s-deep-discount-for-ms-drug-ocrevus-pays-off-big-for-swiss-drugmaker?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWVdGallURXpORGc1WlRNMCIsInQiOiJnM1JselpBS3lRQjRDeW9LcU0xdEZ1MExpSlNBcWpzdFpqWUNJVVdHTWozXC9Hc3hSNEJHYWYyeGJJWHlER2hFYzNZMnRhUVVnVHBoRnlRUUprZmFXTVNFZzNhQnVPMVdpbEV3ZlRQNFZIc1N0NFNrbWNSVlRGem9zbTZjbFU0ZUYifQ%3D%3D&mrkid=899996&utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

This 2nd article describes how Pfizer’s Inflectra, its biosimilar of J & Js rheumatoid arthritis drug Remicade brought in $94 million in the second quarter whereas Remicade, booked $1.53 billion in sales in the period. Two things that struck me is that Pfizer only placed a 15% discount to Remicade’s price and actually came out more expensive when considering rebates and such. The second is that patients that take Remicade are long term users of the drug, and if it’s benefiting them are reluctant to switch to a cheaper alternative. It’s easier to start off a pt on the biosimilar from the get go. Rolontis won’t have this problem since the drug is just used to boost your neutrophil count temporally. Here’s the link

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-15/what-s-harder-than-making-copycat-biotech-drugs-selling-them

So lastly I just got to say SPECTRUM! Regarding Rolontis marketing, learn from Roche on how to price your product and win big time!