As Vytorin Slumps, Abbott’s New Pill Gains
5 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 9th, 2008 // 9:59 am
Vytorin may be grabbing all the headlines, but the controversial cholesterol pill isn’t gaining as much attention among docs. Over the past several weeks, Abbott’s Simcor, a new drug that combines Niaspan and generic Zocor, has gained the highest share of detailing among primary care physicians and cardiologists, according to ImpactRx data cited by Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Larry Biegelsen in an investor note this morning.
Simcor was approved in mid-February, but wasn’t launched until the end of March, so the data reflects the first month in which Abbott began promoting its pill. As Biegelsen notes, the cumulative total scrips for Simcor are equal to 30 percent of the cumulative Vytorin scrips during April. The data also show Niaspan has captured about 10 percent of newly written cholesterol scrips among PCPs, but slightly less among cardiologists.
We should note that Wachovia received compensation for investment banking services from Abbott Labs in the past 12 months.
Chris
These recent developments (Vytorin and the non-approval) make the Kos acquisition look like a stroke of genius. Niaspan and Simcor, as far as I know, are not new drugs per se: one is an older drug while the other is a combo. It does cast more doubt on the future for new blockbusters, which are noticeably few, and the alternative methods of getting to market - combos, reformulations, re-purposing etc.
Chris
I should have made it clear that commercially the alternative methods look attractive, and are not in my opinion doubtful approaches.
Dingle
Just because Simcor is recording a lot of details through ImpactRx doesn’t mean that it is really getting docs’ attention. You’d imagine ABT would be detailing the hell out of this product. But I don’t think the medical community is or will be that receptive. It is by no means a substitute for vytorin, it is for a different patient type.
The actual script data for Simcor, not the details, will be the judge.
Ed Silverman
Hi Dingle,
Good points - yes, one would expect ABT to detail this quite hard and that detailing activity doesn’t have to translate directly into gaining their undying attention. And yes, one can argue the two drugs are for different patient types, although others may say there could be some overlapping.
In any event, I posted this because its something of an early snapshot. I agree that the ultimate arbiter will be scrip data, although given the controversy and confusion resulting from Vytorin, perhaps Simcor will benefit. That possibility, in itself, is interesting.
Thanks for stopping by,
ed
Stinky
Cutaneous flushing occurred in ~70% of pts in the Arbiter 2 study, so I think that it will be difficult for Abbott to penetrate with Niaspan + a statin. Compliance with a statin is bad enough, couple that with a whopping pill that causes flushing in most pts and Abbott may be throwing a lot of money out the window.