Some Good News for Amgen
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Amgen announced yesterday that its osteoporosis drug, denosumab, was safe and outperformed Merck’s Fosamax to improve bone density in a small Phase III clinical trial that included almost 1,200 patients. Unlike Fosamax which is taken orally once a month, denosumab (a fully humanized monoclonal antibody) only needs to be injected twice a year. As mentioned in a previous post, Fosamax will be losing patent protection and Merck recently announced that it will sell an authorized generic version of the drug. Fosamax and its generic equivalent represent the stiffest competition for denosumab if it receives regulatory approval.
Despite being the largest biotechnology company in the world, Amgen has struggled for the past year due to declining sales from its EPO franchise. Amgen’s pipeline is thin and company executives have bet the future on denosumab becoming a top seller. That said, the key measure for any osteoporosis drug is whether it can reduce or prevent bone fractures. Results from a pivotal Phase III clinical trial with over 8,000 patients comparing denosumab to placebo in fracture prevention are expected later in 2008.
I bet a lot of employees in a Thousand Oaks have their fingers crossed!
Until next time….
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!
