Apotex PLAVIX play to impact Lilly's prasugrel?

AP has noted that Lilly's own blood-thinner, prasugrel, will face heightened competition if the cheaper, generic form of Plavix stays on the market. Lilly officials have said they expect to submit the medication to the Food and Drug Administration in late 2007.

Note that this is a variation of the impact on Lipitor caused by Zocor going generic. Once one member of a "class" goes generic, there will be price pressures from those paying the bills for patients to utilize the cheaper generic. AP noted--"I think we're in an area where you have to be materially better to justify the cost," said George Farra, a principal with Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management in Indianapolis. "If there isn't that much differentiation between the two, the cheaper version will be recommended by the insurance companies."

On Friday (Aug. 18), BMS and Sanofi go to federal district court to try to stop Canadian generic company Apotex from selling its version of PLAVIX and recall product already sold.

AP also noted--"The possibility that generic clopidogrel (Plavix) will become available earlier than expected underscores the validity of our clinical trial strategy," J. Anthony Ware, vice president and global brand development leader for prasugrel, told The Associated Press in a statement. "We chose this strategy chiefly because we had anticipated that clopidogrel (generic Plavix) would be available on a generic basis for most of prasugrel's life cycle."

Bear Stearns analyst John Boris called prasugrel Lilly's most important pipeline drug.

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