IMS Company Profiles - Report Buyer

IMS COM PANY PRO FILES TAKEDA
In 2001, AstraZeneca an nounced the ini ti a tion of a clin i cal study ex am in ing Atacand as add-on ther apy
with the ACE in hib i tor Zestril (lisinopril) for low er ing blood pres sure. In volv ing 1,000 hy per ten sive pa -
tients from 150 sites across the USA, the study was de signed to re spond to the re sults of re cent health
sur veys sug gest ing that only 27% of hy per ten sive pa tients have their blood pres sure ad e quately con -
trolled at the de sired blood pressure target of 140/90 mmHg.
Com pe ti tion: Blopress was the third best sell ing AIIA in its class (C9C, To tal An gio ten sin II An tag o nists,
Plain) in the 12 months to Sep tem ber 2008, with 11.4% mar ket share and 6% dol lar growth, ac cord ing
to IMS. Novartis’ (Swit zer land) Diovan (valsartan) is mar ket leader with a 26.3% mar ket share and 12%
dol lar growth; Merck & Co’s (USA) Cozaar (losartan) is sec ond with a 16.3% mar ket share, down 5%
over the pre vi ous year, and in fourth place, Boehringer Ingelheim’s (Ger many) Micardis (irbesartan),
with a 8.9% mar ket share and 16% dol lar growth. Benicar (olmesartan medoxmil) took fifth place with
8.5% and 24% growth. Blopress led the Jap a nese mar ket in the same pe riod with 30.9% mar ket share
and 4% fixed-dollar growth.
Blopress was also the best sell ing phar ma ceu ti cal prod uct in Ja pan in the year end ing Sep tem ber 2008
ac cord ing to IMS.
Takeda is de vel op ing a fixed-dose com bi na tion of candesartan with the cal cium an tag o nist amlodipine in
Ja pan, un der go ing phase III de vel op ment This will be a com bi na tion of two of Ja pan’s best sell ing drugs.
In Ja pan doc tors of ten co-pre scribe an ARB and cal cium an tag o nist to achieve blood pres sure tar gets with
sin gle treat ment said to achieve this in only half of pa tients. Other com pa nies de vel op ing such com bi na -
tions in Ja pan are Daiichi Sankyo with Oletec (olmesartan) + Calblock (azelnidipine), ex pected to be filed
for ap proval in 2009 and Novartis with Diovan (valsartan) and amlodipine. In the US Novartis ob tained
ap proval for its Exforge (valsartan + amlodipine) in the US in June 2007 and Daiichi Sankyo for Azor
(olmesartan + amlodipine) in September 2007.
Hyzaar/Cozaar (losartan) was ap proved by the FDA in April 2005 as the first and only fixed-dose com bi -
na tion hy per ten sion med i cine to help pre vent stroke in pa tients with hy per ten sion and left ven tric u lar
hypertrophy.
Sales/An a lyst Com ment: In the year to March 31 2008 (fis cal 2007) ac cord ing to Takeda, con sol i -
dated Blopress global sales were up 8.2% to Yen223.1 bil lion. Ac cord ing to IMS, Blopress was Takeda’s
num ber three in ter na tional phar ma ceu ti cal prod uct in the 12-month pe riod to the end of Sep tem ber
2008, mak ing up 11% of cor po rate sales, up 6% in fixed rate dol lar terms. An a lysts at Mor gan Stan ley
(Au gust 2008) fore cast con sol i dated Blopress sales of Yen246.8 bil lion by the year ending March 2013.
BLOPRESS COMP (candesartan cilexetil+ hy dro chlo ro thi a zide), an AIIA/di uretic com bi na tion for hy per -
ten sion, has been de vel oped by Takeda and was first launched in Swe den in 1998. Takeda has now
launched the com bi na tion prod uct in a num ber of mar kets, in clud ing Ger many (as Blopress R), Aus tria
(as Blopress Plus), It aly (as Blopresid), Swit zer land and Thai land (Blopress Plus) and France (as
Cokenzen). In a num ber of other mar kets, the com bi na tion is mar keted by li censee AstraZeneca (UK)
and in some mar kets, the com bi na tion is co-mar keted by Takeda and AstraZeneca. The com bi na tion was
launched in the USA by AstraZeneca as Atacand HCT.
In Feb ru ary 2009 AstraZeneca re ported that its fil ing for Atacand Plus, 32 mg (candesartan cilexetil) +
12.5 mg (hy dro chlo ro thi a zide) and 32 mg/25 mg for mu la tions, has been ap proved in 11 EU states and
Ice land for the treat ment of hy per ten sive pa tients; Swe den acted as the ref er ence mem ber state.
Takeda and AstraZeneca’s com bi na tion of candesartan cilexetil and hy dro chlo ro thi a zide is avail able in
most mar kets world wide for the treat ment of hy per ten sion. It was filed again in Ja pan with half the dose
of hy dro chlo ro thi a zide in March 2008 and ap proval of Ecard in two dos age forms for the treat ment of hy -
per ten sion was granted in Jan u ary 2009. The dose of hy dro chlo ro thi a zide for both was set at 6.25mg
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