Replies to post #136145 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

p.s. The CDC is a sprawling bureaucracy—this is the org chart:

http://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/orgchart.htm

I hadn’t realized how many departments there were.

[DewDiligence]

Quiz (low difficulty): Prevnar 13 is now PFE’s biggest-selling on-patent* drug and is enjoying explosive growth, increasing worldwide sales in 2011 by 50%. However, in 4Q11, specifically, Prevnar 13 sales declined 25% YoY in the US market. What accounts for this disparity?

*Lipitor still has higher sales despite its being off-patent everywhere.

[DewDiligence]

CDC/ACIP defers endorsement of Prevnar 13 for adults pending results of outcomes study:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/22/pfizer-prevnar-idUSL2E8DMD2520120222

Advisors to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday will wait for results from a trial of Pfizer Inc's Prevnar 13 pneumonia vaccine before deciding whether to recommend its use in all adults aged 50 and older.

A trial currently underway in the Netherlands is designed to prove that the vaccine prevents pneumonia in adults. Pfizer said use of the vaccine in adults will be influenced by the advisory committee's decision, but it is not changing its 2012 financial outlook. Wall Street analysts, on average, have forecast Prevnar 13 sales of $4.42 billion this year, rising to $6.75 billion by 2016.