GTC Biotherapeutics (fka GTCB)

[DewDiligence]

>Only peg IF-alpha (or Albuferon or some other version of IF-alpha which has a half life of at least several days) has any chance of breaking into the market. That probably complicates things from both an equivalency and an IP perspective. Most other protein therapeutics are also 2nd or 3rd generation, so simply copying the 1st generation version will probably not be meaningful from a market perspective.<

I agree in part. However, I expect there will be many cases where an FoB to a “first generation” compound can find a sweet spot on price that gives the makers of both the old and new branded compounds something to worry about.

If the regulatory pathways for FoB’s allow substitutability (as is the case in the pending U.S. Senate bill), the price discount of the FoB’s can of course be much greater while still allowing the FoB makers to earn a decent margin.

Returning to your example of the IFN-alpha drugs, it’s worth noting that SGP’s archaic Intron-A continues to rack up annual sales in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Markets of that size could be very attractive to an FoB producer. Regards, Dew