Genzyme Tells It Like It Is

By Brian Lawler February 4, 2008

2 Recommendations

Since October, Genzyme (Nasdaq: GENZ) has been riding the swell of Carl Icahn-inspired investor enthusiasm in biopharma. Wednesday kicked off the start of the two-day Wachovia Healthcare Conference. We've already covered quite a few company presentations from the conference (see below) and today I'll talk about Genzyme's.

Genzyme didn't make any particularly groundbreaking announcements during its presentation, and reiterated its oft-repeated long-term financial forecast. Its guidance is for 20% average non-GAAP earnings-per-share growth through 2011. To help achieve this guidance Genzyme highlighted in-house pipeline drug alemtuzumab and a recently in-licensed Isis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ISIS) drug.

Genzyme made a splash earlier this month when it signed a collaboration deal with Isis at the same time as its fourth-quarter earnings announcement. The deal is worth nearly $2 billion in potential upfront cash and milestone payments for Isis' top pipeline drug candidate, mipomersen. Mipomersen is currently in phase 3 testing as a treatment for high cholesterol caused by a genetic disorder, and in phase 2 testing for routine high cholesterol.

A marketing application in the genetic indication is expected in 2009, and Genzyme at the conference also defended the Isis deal by saying that mipomersen wouldn't be competing with Merck's (NYSE: MRK) and Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) blockbuster cholesterol treatments because mipomersen will be targeted to treat those with severely high cholesterol.

Genzyme also talked extensively about its multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment alemtuzumab, which is a formulation of the already approved leukemia drug Campath. Last year the uniquely once-a-year dosed alemtuzumab produced positive efficacy data in a phase 2 study, although it did exhibit safety issues in an earlier clinical trial. Alemtuzumab is currently in phase 3 testing.

During the Wachovia presentation, Genzyme's executive vice president talked about how one financial analyst called alemtuzumab the "most important" compound in late-stage development for the disease, and how it could be more important than other MS drugs in development, like Genentech's (NYSE: DNA) Rituxan, Biogen Idec's (Nasdaq: BIIB) daclizumab, and Novartis' (NYSE: NVS) FTY720. Those are pretty tall words for Genzyme's executive ... err, analyst, to live up to, but who doesn't like a little management confidence and biopharma smack talking?

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