AVANIR PHARMACEUTICALS (AVNR)

[Gd2Aussie3]

Don't know this poster from Yahoo. Some of you may. So you have to make your own judgement as to the validity of the post. FWIW, it does sound good. IMO.

Called Patrice
by: j_b_118 04/04/05 12:38 pm
Msg: 334183 of 334236

Talked to Patrice on Friday. I’d called her Thursday evening and she called me back twice on Friday until she got a hold of me. FWIW, IR has always been very responsive to returning my phone calls and spending whatever time it takes to discuss my questions (30-60 min). My subjective recollection of our conversation (I didn’t take notes):

My specific complaint was the lack of a clear press release detailing the development/marketing decisions relative to Neurodex. We respectfully disagreed whether a press release was appropriate on this point. I let her know that I didn’t think wading through and then piecing together responses to analyst questions during webcast conferences or slides posted from the ASM was the kind of clarity I was expecting for a decision of this magnitude. She said they didn’t think a press release was necessary because it wasn’t much of a departure from what had been the general plan all along*, and they thought it was clear from all those presentations and the ASM. The issue did come up in staff meeting and we may or may not see anything more specific. I encouraged more specific guidance in this respect, and reiterated that what I had seen did not meet my expectations.

*(They were and always will be open to deals if the right one comes along. They would like a deal, but not unless it gives fair value.)

The SPA for PIII pain was important b/c it means the FDA will accept a trial that is small enough that they can manage it in-house, and they won’t need to go outside for co-development. This was news to me. They will likely sign on to get some specialized co-promotion to cover areas their own sales force won’t (family practice etc.), although I don’t recall if that was relative to PBA, pain or both. Bottom line, I’m not expecting any Neurodex deals until after approval at the soonest, although one could always drop in.

She did say that she didn’t want me going away thinking that there isn’t any chance of any deals before Neurodex is approved. The real in-house excitement re: deals is re: pipeline. My opinion: If we’re going to see a deal before YE05 it will be for a product(s) in the pipe, and she conveyed enthusiasm about that, although again, this is my subjective recollection.

Europe Abreva is pretty lame b/c there is already a GSK OTC product. Japan is still an active possibility, but realistically they are really tough about letting OTC stuff on the market. I’m not expecting anything there anytime soon, but if it gets approved it should be a lot stronger than Europe. Avanir DOES expect to again participate at some point in the royalty stream from the N.American Abreva deal, although we didn’t get into how much or when.

G'day, Mates.

Aussie