Roche Holding AG's planned $8 billion purchase of InterMune Inc is centered around hopes for blockbuster sales of its lung drug, but the smaller company's development pipeline may end up giving the Swiss drugmaker a far bigger bang for its buck. Industry analysts have forecast annual sales of about $2 billion for the pulmonary fibrosis treatment, pirfenidone, once it gains U.S. Success there could be a game-changer, given the unmet medical need to treat liver and kidney scarring that can be caused by factors such as obesity, diabetes and alcohol and drug abuse. "Liver fibrosis is a huge, multibillion-dollar market that's far bigger than the lung fibrosis market," said Katherine Xu, an analyst with William Blair & Co. "It involves millions of patients in the United States, versus 100,000." Pirfenidone, a pill with annual sales of about $150 million in Europe and Canada, treats a progressive scarring condition of the lungs called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis that typically kills patients within a few years.
via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News http://ift.tt/1piXUu2
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