Sangstat's Marketing Strategy For Ciclosporin

Sangstat says that it plans to market its Neoral bioequivalent versionof ciclosporin at a price lower than the Novartis product. The company revealed at the Goldman Sachs annual health care conference in the USA that there could be a 15%-25% price reduction, and that it will complement this by its broad product line for use in transplantation and the services it offers.

Eli Lilly will produce Sangstat's product along with Gensia Sicor. The current market capacity for ciclosporin is 20-25 tonnes, and Sangstat is hoping for a capacity scale-up to 25%-30% by the end of 1999. Sangstat will target the top 50 of 250 transplant centers in the USA, which are responsible for around 50% of transplantations.

The company says that it will not be seeking approval for use of its product in other indications such as rheumatoid arthritis, for example, but is assessing whether a partnership or sub-licensing deal might be appropriate. It intends to develop the European market, and expects to say more about its plans for this region by the end of the current year.