Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

>> Agreement bars (pun) ceph from filing a legal challenge to a Barr generic filing. Without this ftc deal, ceph surely had some formulation and use patents up its sleeve. So no question to me, this puts a generic actiq on the market before (possibly by several years) it otherwise would have. <<

That was my original view, before I listened to CEPH’s CC. But CEPH’s CEO, Frank Baldino, said on the call that the supplemental IP beyond the basic Actiq patent set to expire in 2006 was minimal and pertained largely to packaging. Hence, CEPH might have been hard-pressed to justify contesting a generic challenge.

The larger issue is that, if you believe the statements emanating from CEPH, Cima’s Fentanyl drug has vastly greater sales potential than Actiq. The lollipop concept worked nicely for a small slice of the “breakthrough pain” market but it also limited Actiq’s appeal beyond that niche market.