Replies to post #173437 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

(TEVA/MNTA/MYL)—I take issue with the notion that thrice-weekly Copaxone truly represents an “improved dosing regimen.” Inasmuch as 7 is not divisible by 3, a thrice-weekly dosing schedule is suboptimal from a pharmacokinetic standpoint and is only marginally more convenient.

If Teva had conducted a large head-to-head trial of thrice-weekly Copaxone vs daily Copaxone, the thrice-weekly arm would probably have incurred a higher rate of AEs. However, such a trial will never be run by Teva.

[genisi]

Exactly.
(nice to see you have been reading the whole PR and even remembered the content :-) )

[DewDiligence]

Re: Thrice-weekly Copaxone—notable exchange from TEVA’s 4Q13 CC:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1999801-teva-pharmaceuticals-ceo-discusses-q4-2013-results-earnings-call-transcript

Greg Gilbert (Merrill Lynch): …if the 20 mg [Copaxone] does go generic in a few months, is it fair to assume that you would bridge any pricing gap that exists for the patient on 40mg, so that a 40mg patient doesn’t have an incentive to go back to 20mg from a cost standpoint?

Rob Koremans (President, Teva Specialty Medicines): …as to pricing strategy going forward, obviously I’m not going to comment on that. It’s too much of a commercial strategy that I really don’t feel comfortable disclosing at this point in time.

Gilbert’s question is reasonable insofar as generic Copaxone (if approved) will surely have a lower patient copayment and a lower ASP than (branded) thrice-weekly Copaxone.