Avid Bioservices Inc (CDMO)

[cjgaddy]

Big-Tarv, looks like total worldwide IFN sales (all diseases) is upwards of $5bb, with HepC-only at $2.5+bb:

7 major classes of branded recombinant protein products accounted for total sales of US$ 32 bln in 2005:
1. Erythropoietins: US$ 11.162 bln
2. Insulins: US$ 7.211 bln
3. Interferons: US$ 5.958 bln
4. G-CSF: US$ 3.968 bln
5. HGH: US$ 2.309 bln
6. FSH: US$ 970mm
7. Thrombolytics: US$ 300mm
Human alpha interferons (a-IFN) are a family of naturally occurring signalling proteins. At least 23 of these predominantly non-glycosylated recombinant a interferons (r-a-IFN) comprising of 165 amino acids and weighing between 19,000 and 20,000 Daltons are recognized. They are used therapeutically for their properties of inducing anti-viral effect, immunomodulation and inhibition of cellular proliferation.
http://www.pipelinereview.com/joomla/content/view/185/83/
http://www.emea.eu.int/pdfs/human/biosimilar/724106en.pdf

On the HepC-only side, Pegasys & Peg-Intron represents upwards of $2.5bb:
Product Effects/therapeutic-use WorldwideSales/2005
Pegasys, anti-HepC: $1.374bb (Roche)
Peg-Intron, anti-HepC: $1.369bb (Schering-Plough)
Total: ~$2.7bb (2005)
http://www.i-s-b.org/business/rec_sales.htm

There are two brands of pegylated interferon: Pegasys and PEG-Intron. There are slight differences between the drugs, but both brands seem to work equally well and do not have major differences in side effects. Both are used in combination with ribavirin to treat HepC virus (HCV) infection.

PEGASYS (Peginterferon alfa-2a) is a medicine used to treat some adults who have HepC or HepB and signs of liver damage. PEGASYS works to reduce the amount of virus in your blood, helping your body fight the virus. Like other alpha interferons, Pegasys can cause fatal or make life-threatening problems worse (like mental, immune system, heart, liver, lung, intestinal and infections). Your doctor should monitor you during regular visits. If you show signs or symptoms of these conditions, your doctor may stop your medication.

PEG-INTRON is a pegylated interferon, a man-made form of interferon, a chemical naturally produced in the body to fight viruses. Interferon helps to stop the HepC virus (HCV) from making new copies of itself. It also helps the immune system to kill HCV. Alpha interferons, including PEG-Intron, may cause or aggravate fatal or life-threatening neuropsychi-atric, autoimmune, ischemic, and infectious disorders. Patients should be monitored closely with peri-odic clinical and laboratory evaluations. Patients with persistently severe or worsening signs or symp-toms of these conditions should be withdrawn from therapy. In many but not all cases these disorders resolve after stopping PEG-Intron therapy.