Concert Pharma, Jazz Pharma Strike $120M Deal for Narcolepsy
The deal calls for the two companies to work together on a modified version
of sodium oxybate (Xyrem) for narcolepsy, a neurological disorder that
leads to excessive daytime sleepiness. Under the deal, Jazz will get the
worldwide commercial rights to Concert’s compounds that swap in deuterium
elements into sodium oxybate, including one dubbed C-10323
Although the Concert drug hasn’t yet entered clinical trials, Jazz is hoping
it will provide a long line extension for its franchise drug sodium
oxybate, which was first FDA approved in 2002. The drug is cleared for narcolepsy
to reduce excess daytime sleepiness and reduce cataplexy (weak or paralyzed
muscles) attacks. Sales have been booming recently, up more than 60 percent, to
$102.6 million in the most recent quarter ended Sept. 30. The first patents on
the drug begin to expire in 2019 and 2020, according to the FDA Orange
Book.
That's what I call thinking ahead. They are paying 120 million dollars
to modify one hydrogen atom so they can get a new patent and keep charging you
an arm and a leg for a drug that doesn't even address the cause of your
illness. They have no intention of ever distributing a generic
version.
Is this the type of spending on narcolepsy research you were hoping for?
Frankly, I think it's outrageous and unconscionable.
