Connetics' Pipeline A Credit To 4-Year-Old Firm

Connetics Corp (formerly Connective Therapeutics) appears to havethrown off the perception of being a company comprised mainly of cast-offs from Genentech. In the four short years since its inception, the firm has developed a focused, late-stage pipeline which should provide meaningful revenues in the near term, and offers considerable long-term potential.

Connetics was founded in 1993 with the objective of developing new therapies for connective tissue diseases, an area which has been greatly underserved by new therapeutics over the last decades. Through links with Genentech provided by one of the company's founders, Connetics gained access to two molecules, interferon gamma and relaxin, with potential to address some connective tissue diseases but which were peripheral to Genentech's strategic areas.

In an interview with the Marketletter, Thomas Wiggans, chief executive of Connetics, said that this focus has been criticized for not addressing a large enough target population, but niche does not necessarily mean small. "The connective tissue market may not be considered that big, but nobody thought that growth hormone would be a big market until Genentech made a billion dollar product out of it," he pointed out. The dermatology and rheumatology sectors, which encompass the majority of connective tissue disorders, are characterized by relatively small numbers of physicians who are unusually receptive to new treatments, as they have been offered precious few new therapeutics over the last few years.