At its annual R&D Day, Aventis reaffirmed its intention to more than double the number of blockbusters in its portfolio by 2006 and expressed its confidence in achieving sustainable growth as a result of the progress being made on a series of compounds in clinical development.
Aventis currently has more than 40 compounds in clinical development, including over 30 in early-stage clinical development and more than 10 in late-stage development and is building strong franchises in therapeutic areas such as oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory/ allergy and vaccines.
Late-stage development projects progressed well during the last 12 months, and they are expected to fuel growth beyond 2005. These products include the chemotherapy agent flavopiridol (phase II), the asthma compound ciclesonide (phase III) in cooperation with Altana Pharma, the novel inhaled insulin Exubera (phase III) in collaboration with Pfizer, the heart muscle protectant cariporide (phase III) and the fast-acting insulin 1964 (phase III) for type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Aventis also provided updates on several compounds in the early-stage pipeline and highlighted the following projects: 1426, a new anti-obesity agent (phase IIa); NV1FGF, a plasmid-based gene therapy for inducing the formation of new blood vessels (phase II); 100,907, a selective serotonin antagonist for enhancing sleep quality (phase I); the asthma compounds 4011, an anti-inflammatory drug to orally treat asthma (phase II) in co- operation with Inflazyme, and AVE-0547 (phase I/IIa); and pralnacasan, a novel anti-inflammatory drug for rheumatoid arthritis (phase II) being developed in cooperation with Vertex.
The early-stage pipeline also includes two new-generation chemotherapy agents, Taxoids 109,881 and 106,258 (both in phase II), which have demonstrated a broad spectrum of anti-tumor activity in taxoid-resistant tumor cell lines and brain metastases. Another promising taxoid drug candidate is LIT-976, a new formulation of Taxotere currently in phase I/II that is designed to exhibit improved safety and tolerability.
In order to maximize the future success of its pipeline products in late- stage development, Aventis announced that it has discontinued KATP blocker 1098, an anti-arrhythmic compound in phase IIa, and the metabolism compound TGL-749.
"We have the ingredients to achieve our goal of sustainable growth in the coming years: the passion and expertise for creating innovation in our research, a strong pipeline, global marketing power and a commitment to deliver results. This should enable us to remain one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies," said Igor Landau, chairman of the management board of Aventis.
Significant growth potential remains for the three leading products of Aventis - the allergy drug Allegra/Telfast, the antithrombotic Lovenox/Clexane and the chemotherapy agent Taxotere - all of which have achieved blockbuster status.
Four additional products are anticipated to generate sales of more than 1 billion Euro by 2006: the long-acting insulin Lantus, which has the potential to transform the treatment of diabetes; the antibiotic Ketek, which is expected to be launched in the United States in early 2003; and the cardiovascular drug Delix/Tritace, which is the only ACE inhibitor to offer cardiovascular risk prevention. The osteoporosis drug Actonel, which is being co-developed and co-marketed with Procter & Gamble, is also expected to achieve blockbuster status based on combined sales of both companies for this product. Actonel sales have been driven by its status as the only bisphosphonate to offer rapid and sustained reduction in vertebral fractures.
"Based on the continuing strong performance of our key products, the important new clinical data being generated on them and the overall strengthening of our pipeline portfolio, we feel more confident than ever before in our growth prospects," said Richard J. Markham, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Aventis.