I just attended a local allergy conference and Teva announced that their generic Epipen will launch this summer. The end is coming.
Am I just being paranoid or is anyone else concerned that this wasn't mentioned at the meeting? All of the pipeline talk was great but what does it mean to us? The biologics are likely years away and who knows ho they will be sold....like generics are now? The other products are also years away. How long has they been saying "two years?" Seems shady all around. Tell me why I'm wrong.
I've been laid off before. Twice actually. Both times- We heard all about "the pipe line." More like the pipe dream. Nothing came out in time to prevent massive cuts. Damn were the sales VP's optimistic and enthusiastic at our sales meetings though! Bottom line: If revenue tanks- expenses need to be slashed to make projections that were forecasted to the share holders. And of course- insure executive bonus payouts.
From our own publicly available 2015 Guidance: EpiPen® Auto-Injector in 2015 • Expect stable performance of EpiPen® Auto-Injector in 2015 and conservatively assume entry of an AB-rated competitor in the second half of 2015 • Continuing to invest in product innovation, as well as geographic expansion • Look forward to continuing our mission to increase awareness of anaphylaxis and improve access to EpiPen® Auto-Injector • Continue to remove barriers for public entity access to epinephrine • Excited to fulfill and further expand our partnership with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
This is code for: Do all of the heavy lifting for Teva's generic. They are mainly a branded company, with their MS and Oncology franchises. They will develop a fantastic auto injector that is pretty much exactly like Mylan's, if they're smart and utilize their managed care relationships to ensure access and pull through at the managed care level. Mylan pretty much lost all of their managed care relationships and infrastructure recently, so make what you will of that... On the earnings call, HB said that they grew this product in an "unconventional" way. All of the sudden, Direct to Consumer Advertising of a brand is "unconventional." Unbranded education and PR is "unconventional." She only thinks that because she never worked at a real pharma company. That stuff is very conventional and is done every day at big pharma. She also thinks that the "brand equity" of EpiPen will be important to keeping the share vs generics. On one hand, she is saying, Copaxone can be copied. On the other hand, she's saying, epipen cannot. Give me a break.
