Two Worlds For Servier: USA And France

French drug company Servier faces what its president, Jacques Servier,calls a paradoxical situation. In the USA, Isomeride (dexfenfluramine), has achieved strong growth, with an overall rise of 62% in US sales. In France, sales of the same product have slumped, falling from some 250 million French francs ($43.6 million) to a few million francs in the wake of the government-imposed restrictions on the product's prescription.

Domestic sales, representing 38% of total 1996 sales of 9.6 billion francs, stagnated even though the French drug market expanded a modest 2%. A Servier spokesperson told the Marketletter that the reason why sales of Isomoeride were down last year was because it has been attacked by some French hospital specialists, who hold it responsible, without any established scientific proof, for cases of primary pulmonary hypertension, the mechanism of which remains unknown.

Dr Servier said that he hoped the recent decision in favor of the drug at European level would be applied in full in France. In any case, he said that he has launched an appeal against the current restriction in France applied by the country's regulatory body in 1995. The firm believes that this measure will have no validity after the recent decision in its favor by the European Committee on Pharmaceutical Specialties. While recognizing the risk of PPH induced by the drug, the CPS says this occurence is rare. It has drawn attention instead to the need to respect the indications and the limits on duration of treatment. Servier, meanwhile, continued to derive its growth from markets outside of France with almost 62% of sales achieved abroad. There were good performances in China, with turnover advancing 30% to 150 million francs, and in Latin America where turnover has grown 300% in the past five years. Western Europe, which accounts for 29% of total revenues, has experienced sustained double-digit growth in the UK, Italy and Spain, and Servier is improving growth in Germany.