The followings resonate with me.
By surplus.value
A few more subtle or not so subtle things from Matt and Ray's discussion yesterday
Continuation of post "Overcoming the mutiny". An interesting disclosure came up
when Matt was asked about the size of a MKD sales force in comparison to Sanofi's sales force.
Besides both
Matt and Ray especially deriding Sanofi's approach as so 1990''s (Veibacher was right
about Sanofi's conservative incapacity to recognize a disruptive innovative product like Afrezza let alone
promote it) they stated that using a traditional sales force was not the approach that MNKD is going to
take. But
Matt also stated that even at this point that he is not allowed to disclose how many sales reps
Sanofi used for their "launch". Incredible. This clearly suggests, along with Matt's comments about
now being unshackled, that
Sanofi had MNKD fully muzzled during the partnership. See no evil,
hear no evil and especially SPEAK no evil. This also suggest that MNKD knew what was going on,
about the so few prescribers and number of reps as an indication of the limited resources Sanofi
was using and still can't discuss it. Secondly,
Ray clearly stated that Sanofi's limited success with
Afrezza was due to Sanofi's approach to Afrezza being constrained by being sold within the
context of the rest of Sanofi's portfolio. This was a diplomatic way of saying that Afrezza was given
limited /proper attention since it conflicted with or was threat to the rest of Sanofi's Diabetes products.
Both Matt and Ray's remarks clearly indicate that MNKD knows that Sanofi did a completely
substandard job of sales and marketing for Afrezza. Hence
another lawsuit may be in Sanofi's future.
It also suggests that they know that given the opportunity , even a more limited one , Sanofi would likely
keep Afrezza from being successful.
Conflict of interest. The proof is the Sanofi's performance.
So I don't think Sanofi, in the long run will be part of the scenario. even if MNKD allows for now
Sanofi to think that they still have an opportunity with Afrezza. Like I said MNKD is going to be smart
about this.
finance.yahoo.com/mbview/threadview/;_ylt=ApuCQzaSm2Q8PL3rKXw7NCveAohG;_ylu=X3oDMTB2ZGV1aW5oBHBvcwM3NgRzZWMDTWVkaWFNc2dCb2FyZHNYSFJVbHQ-;_ylg=X3oDMTBhYWM1a2sxBGxhbmcDZW4tVVM-;_ylv=3?&bn=0243242e-59fb-3abc-8d27-962c7bf26a1d&tid=1452808588953-7202075b-a39f-44bd-831a-b16f12e1f369&tls=la%2Cd%2C19%2C3#tu_1452808588953-7202075b-a39f-44bd-831a-b16f12e1f369Amy Tenderich @amydbmine Jan 7
My thoughts exactly! @sanofius did not want to cannibalize its existing #insulin success w/ new #Afrezza ow.ly/WLnz7 #diabetes
Sanofi’s ‘conflicted’ handling of Afrezza stunted inhaled insulin R&D, says Dance CEO
By Dan Stanton+ 07-Jan-2016
Last updated on 07-Jan-2016 at 14:26 GMT
Despite Sanofi’s “conflicted” management and subsequent abandonment of Afrezza, the market opportunity for inhaled insulin is still huge, according to Dance Biopharm's CEO.
This week, Sanofi abandoned its commercialisation deal for the inhaled insulin product Afrezza, leaving developer MannKind Corporation looking for a new distribution and licensing partner.
The news is the latest blow to the inhaled insulin sector which was left unsettled following the failure of Exubera in 2007. A lack of acceptance by patients and physicians led Pfizer to pull its product a year after launch and at a cost of $2.8bn, and within a matter of months fellow Big Pharma firms Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk abandoned their own development projects.
Despite this background, Dance Biopharm’s CEO John Patton said there is still a market for inhaled insulin, though Sanofi’s actions have marred his own company’s efforts in developing Dance-501, a pocket-sized inhaler device and insulin container designed to deliver prandial insulin.
“The less-than-optimal performance of Sanofi with Afrezza has had an impact on our development, because investors have become more skeptical about inhaled insulin, so raising money has been difficult and that has slowed our development effort.” he told in-Pharmatechnologist.com. “This particular news is not helping!”
He continued, blaming both Exubera and
Afrezza’s problems primarily on a lack of persistence and commitment by their marketers.
“Exubera never had a chance, and
Afrezza may have been priced too high and was targeted to a very small percentage of the insulin users.”
Conflict of interestSanofi is looking to reinvigorate growth in its diabetes franchise through its marketed products Lantus and Toujeo, and Patton said this left the French Pharma Giant “conflicted” when it came to Afrezza.
“Inhaled insulin can directly compete with Lantus and Toujeo in Type 2 patients, and with all of the prandial insulins in both Type 1 and 2 they were conflicted. No way Sanofi was going to go against its golden goose franchise.”Last February, Dance raised $9.5m in private funding to prepare for further clinical trials of Dance-501. The product is a soft mist made by a little electronic device which has completed Phase II trials and, according to the firm, has an action not quite as fast as Afrezza but lasts longer than MannKind’s product.
“Inhaled insulin will be enormously successful someday,” Patton said. “We believe our soft mist product will lead the way.”