Replies to post #120880 on Biotech Values

[tinkershaw]

I spoke with an MS patient on copaxone and she is not going to be easy to persuade to try any other Med for the condition. I think there will be a strong entrenchment and not wholesale switching, at least not until more years of experience on the orals.

Tinker

[DewDiligence]

TEVA—it's interesting they continue to invest in this [Copaxone] franchise even with clear threat of oral competition…

What’s noteworthy is that Teva was willing to invest in a dosing gimmick to try to stave off generic competition as much as possible. That the thrice-weekly program even exists shows that, despite protestations to the contrary, Teva expects the FDA to approve generic Copaxone.

The cumulative weekly exposure of thrice-weekly Copaxone is a slight reduction from regular Copaxone (120mg vs 140mg), but every-other-day dosing at 40mg, which would have maintained the 140mg weekly exposure, was evidently considered too unwieldy for patients to follow.

I consider thrice-weekly Copaxone a longshot to become a consequential product because the added convenience is too minor to warrant any significant tradeoff with respect to safety. All told, thrice-weekly Copaxone has minuscule relevance for MNTA, IMO.