RE: Cost of Gleevec

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the info. !!

jennifer g <jenniferg@...> wrote: Hi all,

As usual, bumped me off the list so I missed some discussions. I

found some information that I thought you might find interesting about

expected sales of Gleevec for the next few years. Make no mistake that

Novartis is going to do what it can to reap big rewards from this drug.

This is from a listserv about medical costs/advertising.

~ G.

www.cmlsupport.com

====================

Gleevec has long-term growth potential. Growth will be fueled by

prolongation of

patient-survival time, maintenance therapy, and greater number of

prescriptions per patient.

Merrill Lynch & Co. (ml.com) predicts steadily climbing sales of

Gleevec. In 2004, the product is expected to generate $1.57 billion. In

2005, sales are predicted to grow to $1.84 billion. Sales are projected

to be $2.16 billion in 2006, $2.46 billion in 2007, and $2.73 billion in

2008

In refining Gleevec's use in treating chronic myeloid leukemia, Novartis

is continuing to make more discoveries that may increase product sales.

One of those discoveries is that the product is more effective at higher

doses.

=======================

[Guest guest]

Meant to include this information as well, from an October 2005 Forbes

report. This and other reports I've seen indicate that a good portion of

Gleevec sales is coming from off-label use, that is, prescriptions

written to treat conditions for which Gleevec has not been approved (off

label use is a perfectly legal practice in the US).

excerpt:

=================

ChemGenex has two cancer drugs in midstage clinical trials. One of the

drugs, ceflatonin, is for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML),

a rare cancer of the blood that is currently being treated with Gleevec,

a drug made by Novartis (nyse:

<http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/compinfo/CompanyTearsheet.jh

tml?tkr=NVS> NVS -

<http://www.forbes.com/markets/company_news.jhtml?ticker=NVS> news -

<http://www.forbes.com/peopletracker/results.jhtml?startRow=0 & name= & tick

er=NVS> people ).

Gleevec achieved sales of $1.6 billion last year, largely for off-label

use, according to a report by analyst Matthijs of Australian

stockbroker s. But roughly 20% of patients with CML develop

resistance to Gleevec, and another 20% to 30% of patients do not respond

at all. figures a second line therapy for CML could generate as

much as $250 million in sales, and possibly more for off-label use.

=================

~ G.

[ ] Cost of Gleevec

Hi all,

As usual, bumped me off the list so I missed some discussions. I

found some information that I thought you might find interesting about

expected sales of Gleevec for the next few years. Make no mistake that

Novartis is going to do what it can to reap big rewards from this drug.

This is from a listserv about medical costs/advertising.

~ G.

www.cmlsupport.com

====================

Gleevec has long-term growth potential. Growth will be fueled by

prolongation of

patient-survival time, maintenance therapy, and greater number of

prescriptions per patient.

Merrill Lynch & Co. (ml.com) predicts steadily climbing sales of

Gleevec. In 2004, the product is expected to generate $1.57 billion. In

2005, sales are predicted to grow to $1.84 billion. Sales are projected

to be $2.16 billion in 2006, $2.46 billion in 2007, and $2.73 billion in

2008

In refining Gleevec's use in treating chronic myeloid leukemia, Novartis

is continuing to make more discoveries that may increase product sales.

One of those discoveries is that the product is more effective at higher

doses.

=======================