Pfizer looks to submit AIDS drug by year-end
Last Updated: 2006-09-07 9:00:07 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Kim So-young
SEOUL (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, expects to register its HIV treatment maraviroc with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other countries for approval by year-end, a top executive said on Thursday.
"It's in the final stages of clinical tests," Joseph Feczko, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the New York-based firm, told Reuters and three local newspapers in an interview during his visit to Seoul.
"We are hopefully going to file this for registration before the year-end, hopefully around the world. First we'll be in the U.S. and in the rest of the world surely after that."
Maraviroc belongs to a new class of oral medicines called CCR5 inhibitors that can block the AIDS virus before it enters human cells. Pfizer's European rival GlaxoSmithKline Plc scrapped development of its own experimental AIDS drug aplaviroc in late 2005 after cases of side-effects.
Most existing HIV drugs work inside the body's immune cells, after the virus has infected a patient. They can cause anaemia, nerve pain, diarrhoea, fat wasting and organ damage -- leading researchers to study other approaches.
Scientists believe CCR5 inhibitors could offer hope to patients whose virus has developed resistance to existing antiretroviral medicines.
"It's a unique type of drug. There were three companies trying to do that and so far only Pfizer is progressive," Feczko said.
EYEING PARTNERS
Feczko said that Pfizer, the maker of cholesterol fighter Lipitor, arthritis drug Celebrex and erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, is looking at small and mid-size drug firms and biotech companies in South Korea as possible R&D partners.
"South Korea has a very good industrial base and educated population. It's a business opportunity," said the executive.
He also projected stronger sales growth for South Korea, China and other Asian countries than the United States and Europe, citing still immature health care systems.
"For instance, Korea spends about 5 percent of gross national product on health care, whereas most of Europe right now spend 8 to 11 percent of GNP on health care."
Pfizer has posted double-digit growth in Korean sales in recent years, reaching $336.4 million in 2005. The country is its third biggest market in Asia after Japan and Australia.
Pfizer faces difficulty in boosting both profit and revenue -- which reached $8.1 billion and $51 billion in 2005 -- as many of its products are losing patent protection and are subject to competition from generic copies.
