Healthy harvest of New Chemical Entities in 2000

The number of New Chemical Entities reaching the market in 2000 was notas high as in previous years, but continued the trend towards a higher proportion of novel agents and fewer me-too products. Once again, the importance of the US market to the industry was emphasized by the fact that more than half the NCEs were launched for the first time in that country.

The most significant new product launch of the year was undoubtedly AstraZeneca's Nexium (esomeprazole), the follow-up to the firm's top-selling gastrointestinal drug Losec (omeprazole). Although one could argue that Nexium is merely the latest entrant in the already-crowded proton pump inhibitor class, its importance to AstraZeneca in the face of patent expirations for Losec, which has sales currently running at nearly $6 billion a year, is unquestioned. Nexium offers superior acid control to other PPIs, including Losec, and if initial sales figures are maintained, it could be on track to help AstraZeneca weather the loss of Losec sales to generic competitors.

Inventing a new market