[Ip-health] Abbott Is A Sickly Patient With A Poor Prognosis

[Sarah Rimmington]

Note that according to this article that generic competition for Kaletra
is one of the reasons for Abbott's stock downgrade.

Pharmalot.com
Abbott Is A Sickly Patient With A Poor Prognosis

Posted: 12 Oct 2007 08:59 AM CDT

sick-patient.jpgWhere do we begin? As Wachovia analyst Larry Biegelsen
writes in an investor note, with characteristic understatement, there is
=93a growing list of issues=94 that indicate the drug and device maker will
be sick for quite some time (is that Miles White with the fever?). Check
out his list of maladies:

1 - He expects the US launch of the Xience drug-eluting stent to be
delayed up to 12 months due to a paucity of long-term follow-up data;
2 - There is a =93noticeable decline=94 in the growth rate in scrips of the
all-important Humira arthritis med, and new competition is coming from
Johnson & Johnson;
3 - Income from a joint venture with TAP Pharmaceuticals will =93decline
meaningfully over the next few years=94 due to the patent expiration on
Prevacid in 2009;
4 - Growth rates of its key cholesterol drugs, Niaspan and TriCor, are
=93uninspiring=94 and may face new competition from Merck next year;
*5 - Growth rate in the Kaletra AIDS drug to continue to decline due to
competitive pressure;*
6 - The diabetes care biz will face greater competitive and pricing
pressure in the future.

And so Biegelson downgraded Abbott=92s stock, saying =93myriad challenges
leave little room for upside.=94 Does it get worse than this? Sure, but=85


--
Sarah Rimmington
Attorney
Essential Action, Access to Medicines Project
Washington, DC
Tel: (202) 387-8030
Cell: (202) 422-2687
www.essentialaction.org/access/