Wyeth says Glaxo rival won't derail Prevnar

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Wyeth (WYE.N) is confident its best-selling childhood vaccine Prevnar will remain a key sales driver, despite the arrival of a new competitor from GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) within the next year or so.

Emilio Emini, the U.S. group's head of vaccine research and development, said on Tuesday that Glaxo's Synflorix was not significantly better than Prevnar and would, in any case, soon be overtaken by an improved version of Prevnar.

Asked if that meant Wyeth was confident Prevnar would continue to register strong international sales growth, he said: "Absolutely."

Prevnar, a vaccine for infants and children to prevent certain invasive pneumococcal diseases, is active against seven types of streptococcus pneumoniae, which together account for some 80 percent of illnesses.

Glaxo's Synflorix, which a company spokeswoman said remained on track for submission to European regulators by the end of 2007, targets 10 types. Glaxo argues this gives it an edge, particularly in preventing otitis media, or inflammation of the middle ear. But Emini said Synflorix offered little additional benefit.

"We don't view Synflorix as a second generation vaccine. Essentially, it is a direct equivalent of the original Prevnar," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference.

Wyeth intends to submit a new version of Prevnar, active against 13 strains, to both European and U.S. regulators by the beginning of 2009.

"If you look at the residual 20 percent of disease (not addressed by Prevnar) and ask how much is covered by the GSK 10-valent vaccine, it's actually a small percentage. How much is covered by Prevnar-13? It's over 60 percent," Emini said.

Prevnar -- which is significantly more complex and expensive than traditional vaccines -- has been become a blockbuster for Wyeth since its introduction in 2000, confounding the conventional view of vaccines as low-growth and low-margin.

Third-quarter sales of Prevnar were up 24 percent from a year earlier at $634 million.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

((ben.hirschler@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 5082; Reuters Messaging: ben.hirschler.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: WYETH GLAXO/

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