Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

VRTX CEO Predicts Profitability in 2011

[But will VRTX still be an independent company then?]

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1045562820090610

›Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:38pm EDT
By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc's
new CEO said the biotechnology company would become profitable shortly after it begins selling its high profile hepatitis C drug, likely in early 2011.

"We expect very quickly to become profitable soon after the launch of telaprevir," Vertex Chief Executive Matthew Emmens said at the Goldman Sachs Healthcare Conference on Wednesday.

Emmens said he expects telaprevir, which is completing late-stage clinical trials, to be approved in the United States in the first half of 2011. [This assumes that VRTX is able to submit the NDA in 2H10 and the FDA grants a priority review.]

Telaprevir has been closely watched for years by both the investment and medical communities as it has demonstrated in trials the ability to cure patients of the serious liver disease at a much higher rate than current treatments, and potentially in half the time as the typical 48-week regimen.

The drug is widely expected to become a multibillion-dollar medicine, and Emmens said telaprevir would enjoy more than a decade of patent protection post launch.

The telaprevir patent "lasts well into mid 2020s range and, with extensions, potentially beyond that," Emmens said.

He was asked if the hepatitis C market could dry up before that time with a potential cure available.

"When you look at hepatitis C with 180 million people globally, this market isn't going away in my lifetime," Emmens said. "Best case scenario, there's still a million people in the U.S. with hepatitis C in 2020."

Telaprevir is being tested in combination with the standard therapies of interferon and ribaviron. Emmens said the company is looking for other potential combinations with telaprevir that could eliminate one of both of the older drugs.

Interferon is a notoriously difficult drug for patients to take as it causes flu-like symptoms that can last for the entire treatment duration of nearly a year.

"Patients want a regimen without interferon," said Emmens, who recently replaced longtime Vertex CEO Joshua Boger.

Emmens stressed that Vertex, unlike some biotech companies, would not be a one-drug outfit.

He said the company was making great strides in developing its experimental cystic fibrosis treatment, and said he expects to "get a very high value" from a partnership deal on a JAK-3 inhibitor in Vertex's developmental pipeline.

JAK-3 inhibitors are a new class of drug that work by blocking enzymes involved in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.

Pfizer Inc, which is developing a similar medicine, released data on Tuesday that showed it's JAK-3 drug was significantly better than a placebo in a rheumatoid arthritis trial.

"Good news from Pfizer has piqued interest in the space," Emmens said.

Vertex said it was already in an advanced stage of discussions with potential partners for its JAK-3 drug. "The interest level is already very high," said Kurt Graves, Vertex's chief commercial officer. "The Pfizer data hit at the right time."‹