Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Controlled Chaos (MNTA, TEVA)

This phrase might be used to characterize the process by which Copaxone is manufactured. Teva likes to use the word random to describe the polymerization and de-polymerization of the peptide chains at each step in the manufacturing process.

However, the process is surely not random, and the use of the word random is propaganda on Teva’s part, IMO, to make it seem that replicating Copaxone is a hopeless task.

I thought Craig Wheeler did a nice job on MNTA’s CC to dispel the notion of randomness. Wheeler clarified for some of the less-than-brilliant analysts on the call that MNTA has reverse-engineered Teva’s production process. Sameness of the finished molecule is achieved by assuring sameness of the process.

It is MNTA’s proprietary informatics technology that makes such reverse engineering possible for a drug as complex as Copaxone. I doubt that any other company can do it, although some may try.


Let’s talk biotech!
“The efficient-market hypothesis may be
the foremost piece of B.S. ever promulgated
in any area of human knowledge!”