MILES INTRODUCING ADALAT (NIFEDIPINE) AT END OF JANUARY

Executive Summary

MILES INTRODUCING ADALAT (NIFEDIPINE) AT END OF JANUARY following FDA approval of the calcium channel blocker, Nov. 27. The average whsle. price for the 10 mg capsules is $27.31 for 100s, $80.30 for 300s and $30.44 for a 100 unit dose. Miles is entering the market with its nifedipine three years after Pfizer launched Procardia in January 1982. Nifedipine was licensed to Pfizer from Miles' parent Bayer A.G. for U.S. marketing only. Pfizer has built the drug into the leader among the calcium channel blockers on the U.S. market. Pharmaceutical Data Services reported last April that in 1984 Procardia had sales at acquisition cost of $157 mil. Both Miles and Pfizer are building on the nifedipine market. Pfizer noted in its 1984 annual report that it is studying amlodipine in-house for both angina and hypertension. An I.V. dosage form of Procardia is also in Phase III. Miles is in clinicals with a second generation nifedipine, Baypress (nitrendipine). Miles also has a promising drug approaching the NDA filing stage, ciprofloxacin, which belongs to the new class of quinoline derivative antibacterials. The drug received a favorable review at a recent meeting of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists. Steven Barriers, PharmD, University of Michigan, reported that ciprofloxacin has been shown to be 10 times more potent in vitro than ceftazidime against pseudomonas aeruginosa and has demonstrated effect against a wide range of enteric pathogens, meningeal pathogens, and microbacteria ("The Pink Sheet" Dec. 16, p. 4). The development of this new compound, along with the approval of Adalat, is a sign that Bayer is managing a turn around of Miles' drug business.