The imminent change of the antithrombotics market

BARCELONA, Spain | May 30, 2007 | The Business Intelligence firm La Merie S.L. reported today that the US$ 9.6 bln market of the two blockbuster antithrombotic agents enoxaparin and clopidogrel is going to be rearranged by loss of patent protection and emergence of phase III stage competitors with improved profiles. While Bristol-Myers Squibb already suffers from dropping sales (US$ 3.3 bln in 2006 for clopidogrel), Sanofi-Aventis will be affected stronger in its ex-US sales of clopidogrel (US$ 3 bln) and global sales of enoxaparin (3.3 bln). Sanofi-Aventis has the biggest anticoagulant pipeline by numbers, but does not lead the next generation of oral thrombin (factor IIa) and factor Xa inhibitors which have the potential to replace parenteral product enoxaparin, a low molecular weight heparin (LMWH). At least seven clinical stage direct thrombin inhibitors and at least 10 clinical stage direct factor Xa inhibitors are in the anticoagulant pipeline lead by Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer Schering Pharma. Despite the larger market of the antiplatelet agent prasugrel, the number of advanced clinical stage antiplatelet projects is smaller than that of anticoagulants. These results and more were found in a competitor analysis conducted by La Merie Business Intelligence. The competitor analysis of Antithrombotics can be acquired at www.pipelinereview.com, La Merie’s News Center and Online Store.

The competitor analysis evaluated anticoagulant and antiplatelet agents in development. Apart from the oral direct factor IIa and Xa inhibitors, oral heparin and oral LMWH developments are ongoing and novel targets being explored in preclinical and clinical trials. Further companies with a strong antithrombotics portfolio include Daiichi-Sankyo, AstraZeneca and Organon & Schering-Plough. The convenience of oral administration will be the most obvious advante of the next generation anticoagulants, but the reduced incidence of thrombotic events and of bleeding side effects key to the commercial success under the light of the imminent approval of the first enoxaparin generics.

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