Aranesp's European launch sets up tussle for EPO market with Roche's

Competition in the anemia market moved up a gear on June 25 as Amgen,which recently received approval from the European Medicines Evaluation Agency for Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), its long-acting treatment for anemia in patients with chronic renal failure (Marketletter June 18), launched the product in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK. Further introductions in other European countries are expected before the end of this year. The drug is also pending US Food and Drug Administration approval, which the company expects will be granted early next year.

The market for current anemia treatment, recombinant human erythropoetin, is extremely competitive, with Johnson & Johnson being the major player, holding a share of 54% for Procrit (epoetin alfa), to which it licensed exclusive European marketing rights from Amgen (Marketletters passim), and which had first-quarter sales this year of $769 million. Amgen, which co-markets epoetin alfa with J&J under the brand name Epogen in the USA, has a current market share of 40% and had first-quarter sales of $503 million. Roche currently has a comparably small market share for its NeoRecormon (epoetin beta), according to the Wall Street Journal.

Aranesp's competitive profile