ThromboGenics Sees $20 Million in U.S. Costs This Year, CEO Says
Simeon BennettJan 13, 2013 7:16 pm ET
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- ThromboGenics NV, the Belgian drugmaker that will start selling its first product today, expects to have more than $20 million in costs in the U.S. this year, Chief Executive Officer Patrik De Haes said.
The company has recruited a sales team of 28 people, who will start marketing Jetrea, the first drug for a vision- destroying condition called vitreomacular adhesion, De Haes said in a telephone interview. At least three practices plan to start using the product the same day, he said.
ThromboGenics, which won U.S. approval for Jetrea in October, expects to win the backing of European regulators as early as next week, De Haes said. About 500,000 people in the U.S. and the major markets of Europe may benefit from the drug, the Leuven, Belgium-based company has said. ThromboGenics has dispatched a “triple-digit” number of refrigerators to doctors who have said they might order the product, which must be stored at minus-20 degrees Celsius, De Haes said.
“Everything’s ready,” De Haes said in the Jan. 11 interview. “We hope to fill those fridges soon.”
Each unit can accommodate 15 vials of Jetrea, each of which ThromboGenics said it will sell for $3,950. The company expects a gross margin this year of more than 80 percent, De Haes said. He declined to forecast sales of the drug, which may reach 800 million euros ($1.07 billion) by 2020, according to Jan De Kerpel, an analyst at KBC Securities in Brussels.
Approval in Europe would trigger a payment of 90 million euros from Novartis AG, which bought rights to sell the drug in Europe in March in a deal valued at as much as 375 million euros.
The Novartis payment means ThromboGenics will be profitable this year regardless of how Jetrea performs, De Haes said.
Vitreomacular adhesion is a condition in which a gel inside the eye that deteriorates with age sticks too strongly to the retina, harming vision. Jetrea separates the gel from the retina, restoring sight and averting surgery, which had been the only treatment.