Astra-Zeneca and Abbott partner on promoting Crestor..should Pfizer beware?

Implications: -Crestor sold 2.8 billion dollars in sales in the recent year, will this partnership result in long term exponential growth? -What are the implications for Crestor with generic simvastatin and with Lipitor going generic in the next few years? -Is a combination product going to bolster Crestor sales?

Analysis: The announcement that Astra-Zeneca and Abbott will promote Crestor together came as little surprise.  AZ has been steadily growing sales of its statin over the last few years, until simvastatin (Zocor) went generic. AZ sees the "writing on the wall". With HMOs and educational activities in the medical sector pointing out that for most patients, all statins are alike if they lower LDL cholesterol, a plan to partner with a company that has a useful HDL raising product is a smart move. As a patient's HDL rises, cardiovascular risk goes down.  While other HDL raising products are on the market such as niacin, misperceptions of side effects, or in some instance, real intolerable side effects reduce potential use in patients. Merck and Company's product to reduce niacin flushing (the main adverse effect that patients complain about) is under high FDA scrutiny with outcome studies requested. This delays the potential launch for a number of years. The status of other methods to raise HDL are either shelved, or under investigation, leaving a drug like Tricor in combination with a statin a potentially useful combination.

Patients want simplicity in taking their medicines: Once daily dosing, single tablets if available, a sort of "set it and forget it" mentality. With hypercholesterolemia affecting substantial numbers, and mixed lipid disorders being a part of that group, a combination of Crestor-Tricor could be a very useful combination, both to treatment and to the bottom line of AZ and Abbott.  There will always be room for generic statins, and many will use them, along with sustained release niacin. But, in a society where patients want to take their medicine and go on with their normal life, a combination would be a popular alternative.