Replies to post #6917 on GTC Biotherapeutics (fka GTCB)

[oldacct]

What you are saying was told to me more than 15 years ago by
Genzyme's former CFO.

Sandra Lehrman tried dealing with BP (Elan, Bristol Myers,Centecor) wasting precious time and money. The closest to using transgenics was Centecor until they merged with J&J.

Genzyme spun off GTC for further financing and to get their losses off Genz income statement.

I believe Genz will be the next partner with a small upfront payment 6-10M and larger milestone payments for the DIC indication.

Let's hope for the best.

[zeeuw]

Dear Jesse,

I understand your point. Timelines are shorter in Cell Culture. That is a big advantage for BP.On the other hand: ATryn is a proof of concept. I am convinced about that. And a second one: approval by FDA. But thank you for explaining.

Zeeuw

[ThomasS]

"BP has not lined up as anticipated to ask GTCB to manufacture drugs for them because GTCB's platform takes longer startup time than cell culture."

I respect your opinions more than you realize. However, I believe the statement is a bit generic; one must consider the type of drug in question, as well as the scale desired. Since the goal in question is to get a drug to market, the amount of the drug required for the clinical trials themselves may be quite large. This is independent of the obvious goal of enough scale for marketing the approved product at reduced expense. Again, the future market will only bear so much inordinately high-priced product.

I believe the correct statement should be a hybrid of time, scale, difficulty of expression, ultimate market pricing, etc.

NVS is willing to waste 4 years and $700M to build a cell culture plant in Singapore for Mab production.