HAE and Ruconest expansion

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Anonymous said:
I have a question for anyone who has been on an interview for this position, please no sarcasm, truly curious about something....Were you called by a recruiter or did you apply directly on website? Thanks for any straightforward responses.
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I was contacted by several recruiters, not from Salix. Not sure about selling in this crowded space with an IV product. Competitors Kalbitor and Firazyr are SQ.
 






Anonymous said:
What do you think about the product? IV vs. SQ competitors?
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Ruconest has some distinct selling points. Because it is made from the milk of transgenic rabbits in a closed environment, there is not the risk of transmission of a human disease. The other treatments, Berinert, Firazyr, (Cinryze) are made from human blood, so they can contain infectious agents (eg, viruses and, theoretically, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease)
Patients don't seem to develop a resistance over time while this can be an issue with competitors. Moreover, Ruconest is approved for use ages 13 and up while Firazyr is only used 18 years and up.
Because Ruconest can be self administered, the IV/SQ issue does not really make a difference. What is really going to make the difference is if Ruconest gets the prophylaxis approval that they are working on. That would allow for use of the same drug for prophylaxis and acute attacks. I expect it will outsell the competitors all hands down at that point. Its also more effective for people who are overweight, that's at least a significant part of the potential users here in the States.
 



The above poster is spot on except for one point. The recomb element won't be a big selling point in this market. KOL's have already stated as much. Ruconest will sell well off of its lack of resistance effect and lack of weight effect. Sub q won't be out for at least 2 years though.
 



Was just looking at its specs. Ruconest has one more feature that makes it attractive on the pharmacy side of things, its shelf life. It can be used for up to four years after production while the competitors only for 2 years.
 









Anonymous said:
Ruconest has some distinct selling points. Because it is made from the milk of transgenic rabbits in a closed environment, there is not the risk of transmission of a human disease. The other treatments, Berinert, Firazyr, (Cinryze) are made from human blood, so they can contain infectious agents (eg, viruses and, theoretically, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease)
Patients don't seem to develop a resistance over time while this can be an issue with competitors. Moreover, Ruconest is approved for use ages 13 and up while Firazyr is only used 18 years and up.
Because Ruconest can be self administered, the IV/SQ issue does not really make a difference. What is really going to make the difference is if Ruconest gets the prophylaxis approval that they are working on. That would allow for use of the same drug for prophylaxis and acute attacks. I expect it will outsell the competitors all hands down at that point. Its also more effective for people who are overweight, that's at least a significant part of the potential users here in the States.
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Apparently you are not familiar with Berinert's weight based dosing? Also, Cinryze is already approved for prophy. Where do you think all these potential patients are going to come from? They have already been identified and are on 2 therapies for the most part.
 






Anonymous said:
Off label selling, of course! That's how we run things!
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You're such a twat. We're no different than any other pharma company. Doctors use it as they see fit. We don't tell them to do anything outside of our labeling. If it's so full of people that lack integrity then why do you stay here? Makes you worse because you're a hypocrite on top of it all.
 






Anonymous said:
You're such a twat. We're no different than any other pharma company. Doctors use it as they see fit. We don't tell them to do anything outside of our labeling. If it's so full of people that lack integrity then why do you stay here? Makes you worse because you're a hypocrite on top of it all.
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Who said that I didn't like it here? I love our "do whatever it takes to win" mentality - we're BAD ASS!
 



In the interview process now. Have talked to some Allergists. Ruconest will get some use for sure. Won't be the top 1 or 2 in usage. Salix appears to realize this. Has enough differentiation that it will sell.
 












Anonymous said:
Apparently you are not familiar with Berinert's weight based dosing? Also, Cinryze is already approved for prophy. Where do you think all these potential patients are going to come from? They have already been identified and are on 2 therapies for the most part.
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Ruconest proves to be more cost effective (and less sensitive to weight fluctuations) in treating patients who are overweight - see the polish study on cost effectiveness. As for Cinryze, my point was that the FDA has not approved Cinryze for treatment of acute attacks (only for prophylaxis) and shows no sign of doing so. So a drug that has both kinds of application approved would be unique in the market and therefore provide at least some kind of an advantage for sales, especially on the long run I think it could 'colonize' some of the market share that others now have.
 



Anonymous said:
The above poster is spot on except for one point. The recomb element won't be a big selling point in this market. KOL's have already stated as much. Ruconest will sell well off of its lack of resistance effect and lack of weight effect. Sub q won't be out for at least 2 years though.
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I need to add another point to this. The poster above said "IV/Subcutaneous wouldn't matter". I have to disagree. How can you even believe a selling point is that it is "self administered" when if it given via IV? That is a tough sell! It better demonstrate greater efficacy (I heard a slightly more rapid onset of action but not much) and you better go hard in getting this on hospital ER formulary.
 



Wrong. The above poster said "IV/Sub Q won't matter". Can you read?

Bottom line is Ruconest will sell. Talk to any physician in the space. I've sold in HAE and have spoken to many. Cinryze failures/breakthrough attacks, etc. will get Ruconest 10-15% of the market which is just fine. Not to mention the usage from physicians who just plain old like their Ruconest Rep.. This is sales.
 



Anonymous said:
Wrong. The above poster said "IV/Sub Q won't matter". Can you read?

Bottom line is Ruconest will sell. Talk to any physician in the space. I've sold in HAE and have spoken to many. Cinryze failures/breakthrough attacks, etc. will get Ruconest 10-15% of the market which is just fine. Not to mention the usage from physicians who just plain old like their Ruconest Rep.. This is sales.
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I'm hearing more people wonder whether Ruconest might not make a surprisingly good start with sales, given the growing fear of blood products. Let us know sometime how the market is responding.
 



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