Eisai's fiscal 2007 hit by MGI Pharma buy

Japanese drugmaker Eisai's sales reached a record high of 734.3 billion yen ($7.19 billion) in the 12 months ended March 31, 2008, a 9% year-on-year increase, thanks to the strong performance of its mainstay products: Aricept (donepezil) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and the proton pump inhibitor antiulcerant Pariet (rabeprazole).

However, during the period, the firm saw a net loss of 17.0 billion yen versus a profit of 70.6 billion yen, due to the $3.9-billion takeover of MGI Pharma. Earlier this year (Marketletter February 4), Japan's fourth-largest pharmaceutical group completed its acquisition of the USA-based company. Of MGI's currently-marketed products, Aloxi (palonosetron) produced third-quarter 2007 sales of $66.3 million vs $334.6 million and Dacogen (decitabine) generated revenues of $34.6 million vs $11.9 million. The firm also has rights to the potential blockbuster thrombocytopenia drug, AKR-501. Excluding the purchase of MGI, Eisai would have seen a profit of 70.7 billion yen.

At a recent press conference, the president of Eisai, Haruo Naito said that MGI, together with last year's takeover of Pennsylvania, USA-based Morphotek for $325.0 million in cash (Marketletter April 2, 2007) will increase the firm's sales by over 60.0 billion yen in fiscal 2008. Mr Naito said that the company has "achieved entry into the oncology field through the development of its own anticancer drug E7389 and acquisition of a series of molecular-targeted drugs, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines."