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Drug Maker Ups Sales View
HEALTHCARE: Spectrum sees big gain, driven by key drugs

Fusilev: sales up amid production issues at rival
By Vita Reed
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Irvine drug maker Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. said last week it expects fourth-quarter revenue to come in at nearly twice as much as analysts had been expecting.
Spectrum’s quarterly sales could come in at more than $33 million, the company said, up from about $9 million a year earlier.
Wall Street analysts on average had been projecting $16.3 million in fourth-quarter sales.
The drug maker’s fourth-quarter and 2010 results are due in mid-March.
Investors liked the news. Spectrum’s shares rose about 8% last week to a market value of $350 million.
The company’s shares are up nearly 50% in the past 12 months on optimism about growing sales and drugs in development.
Drugs

The higher sales forecast was driven by cancer drugs Zevalin and Fusilev.
Zevalin, which is used for treating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer, hit a yearly sales target of $27 million to $29 million, the company said.
The drug could grow into a blockbuster if Spectrum gains Food and Drug Administration approval to use it as a first-line non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma treatment, according to analysts.
Zevalin now is approved for treating the disease when other drugs have failed, or in conjunction with other drugs.
Spectrum is the fourth company to own Zevalin since it got FDA approval in 2001. The drug’s had issues that slowed sales for previous owners, including the danger of handling a radioactive drug for healthcare workers and patients.
“I think, finally, the stars are aligning for Zevalin,” Spectrum Chief Executive Rajesh Shrotriya said in an earlier interview. “Because now, there are more and more patients, and more doctors, comfortable using the drug.”
Spectrum’s other big drug, Fusilev, is used to treat osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.
Fusilev, which came out in 2008, was Spectrum’s first branded drug. Prior to 2008, the company mainly focused on generics.
Fusilev is seen growing amid production issues for a similar generic drug from Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., according to Ren Benjamin, an analyst with New York investment bank Rodman & Renshaw.
Teva, an Israeli company with an Irvine plant, has faced production contamination problems with its leucovorin generic drug in recent years.
Leucovorin, which is considerably cheaper than Fusilev, has seen shortages.
The FDA is considering Spectrum’s request to use Fusilev as a treatment for patients whose colorectal cancer has spread. A decision is expected by the end of April.
Spectrum’s also working on new drugs.
In January, the company said it planned to develop what’s known as a “biosimilar” version of rituximab, a blockbuster cancer treatment developed by Switzerland’s Roche AG.
Biosimilars are different from generic versions of drugs because no two biotech drugs can be exactly the same.
Spectrum is working with Irvine drug maker Viropro Inc. to develop the biosimilar of rituximab.


http://www.ocbj.com/news/2011/feb/20/drug-maker-ups-sales-view/