RE: Net Sales of VALSTAR
Arch...I believe your post provides very valuable perspective on the initial success of Valstar: i.e.,
Net sales of VALSTAR for the
nine months ended September 30, 2010 were $9.4 million.Does this sound like a "franchise player" keeping in mind Valstar is a known brand?
I also agree with your descriptive "petty" as this represents
less than 1% of Endo's "branded" YTD-10 revenue. And,
Q3 net sales for Valstar were only $1.6 m of the YTD $9.4 m. A caveat... I could not find how YTD Valstar net sales were tracking to their YTD target for Valstar (could Valstar actually be meeting its target??).
What is also very important here...
this is only a "net sales" figure. Associated operating expenses still to be deducted before showing contribution to net income (or profit). With respect to bottomline profit...it is a drop in a bucket.
I am not seeing "franchise potential" in Valstar within Endo's Oncology/ Endocrinology product line-up based on 2010 results (opinion only and may not be fair as first year of re-launch at Endo).
Is Urocidin the "franchise player" for this product category at Endo? Time will tell but with respect to Zep's (Joe M's) OTR comment contribution -
"that Urocidin represents 80% of Endo's late stage pipeline revenue potential" AND if Urocidine trial results deliver...then Endo may have their franchise player in this category.
And, I have to believe this would be extremely welcome as also would add diversification benefit within their overall product line-up --- Lipoderm and Opana account for approx 75% of all Endo's branded nets sales YTD-10. However, Urocidin not likely to hit market till 2014 even if all goes to plan (Graeme's comment at AGM) so Endo will have to make do till then.
Last item on Valstar is the "one minute elevator overview" of it's background (found on it's launch NR). Most of you may know this but it was helpful to me. Somewhat of a checkered past (see below):
VALSTAR was approved by the FDA in 1998 and marketed by Anthra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2002, Anthra voluntarily withdrew VALSTAR from the U.S. market because of a formulation issue with an inactive component. Since market removal, VALSTAR has been on the FDA Drug Shortages List, which was established to address and alleviate shortages primarily of medically necessary drug products, since these can have significant public health consequences. On Feb. 27, 2009, Indevus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the previous owner of VALSTAR, received FDA approval to re-introduce VALSTAR after modifying the formulation. On March 23, 2009, Endo acquired Indevus Pharmaceuticals and began preparing to re-launch VALSTAR. VALSTAR represents the first product launch by Endo Pharmaceuticals in the urology and oncology therapy markets.
Looking forward to that announcement from Endo "quite soon"!
rg