Speedel sees 6-year lead in renin market

By Tom Armitage

LONDON (Reuters) - Swiss drug developer Speedel (SPPN.S: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has a lead of at least six years over rivals in developing a novel new class of anti-hypertension products and believes it could dominate the market for the next decade.

Alice Huxley, chief executive of the 7-year-old company, told the Reuters Biotechnology Summit on Thursday that Speedel was ahead of the pack not only with the first generation of the new kind of drug, but also with a follow-on product.

Marketing partner Novartis (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is about to file for U.S. regulatory approval for Speedel's first-generation renin-inhibitor, Rasilez, suggesting it could be launched in 2007 and be the sole product of its kind on the market.

"You are never alone, let's be realistic. For a couple of years perhaps, for the first decade, we may dominate," Huxley said. "Whether we will be entirely alone we do not know."

The class of hypertension treatment was largely neglected after major pharmaceuticals companies abandoned their development in the mid-1990s after finding that only a small portion of the drug was absorbed into the system.

Renin inhibitors proved expensive to make and with low bioavailability -- as the problem of low absorption is known -- they languished.

Revitalized by expectations that Rasilez, also known as SPP100 and aliskiren, could be a multibillion-dollar-a-year drug, potential future rivals are emerging, including products from Vitae Pharmaceuticals and Switzerland's Actelion ATLN.S.

But Speedel believes neither are likely to make it to market before its follow-up to Rasilez, another renin inhibitor which Huxley says has better bioavailability than the first drug.  Continued...