Pozen
The FDA headache that has been plaguing Pozen and marketing partner GlaxoSmithKline
The drug is set to be launched by Glaxo in the middle of next month. Pozen will reportedly get tiered royalties starting in the low single digits and going to the high teens, depending on sales through 2009, and then royalties jump into the high teens after that.
Pozen no longer has to worry about whether the FDA will approve the drug, but it still has to worry whether anyone will buy the stuff. You see, Treximet is a combination of naproxen, which is available as a generic, and Glaxo's Imitrex, which goes off patent in November. Late this year, doctors may be inclined to write two prescriptions to make their own generic combination rather than prescribe the more costly Treximet for their patients. Even if doctors are willing to write the scripts for Treximet, it's not clear if insurers will cover the high-priced brand name if patients can just build their own generic cocktail.
It's not an insurmountable feat, but if Flamel Technologies'