With much of large pharma facing near-term patent expirations on key products, the pressure to quickly replace revenues remains intense. And pharma won't be very selective about the areas involved, one analyst noted. “They'll take anything, as long as it wiggles and it works,” says Andrew Weiss, an analyst at Zurich-based Vontobel. That will include 'niche busters'—drugs that successfully target limited markets—in the hopes they will fill in the revenue gaps formed by the multibillion-dollar drugs going off patent (Box 1).
For Pfizer, the deal with Auxilium, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, seems to fit the niche-buster profile, though Xiaflex (clostridial collagenase for injection), a bacterial collagenase, might grow into something more. The deal with New York–based Pfizer, which includes an upfront payment of $75 million as well as regulatory and commercial milestones totaling $410 million, is noteworthy not only because of the niche indications involved but also because of its limited geographical scope. Auxilium retains North American rights to the product, while Pfizer has rights for the European Union plus 19 other European and Eurasian countries. “It might be unique from that perspective,” says Eric Schmidt, senior biotech analyst at Cowen & Co. in New York. “Maybe it's a sign that the biotechnology industry has greater leverage over the US pharma industry than it used to. That can't be a bad thing.”
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