In 1996, Clive Meanwell formed the Medicines Company whose corporate objective was to “acquire, develop and commercialize pharmaceutical products in late stages of development”. The company looked for abandoned drugs that met four specific criteria:
1) Required less than four years to get to the market
2) Required less than $60 Million to get to the market
3) Had at least a 65% chance of getting to market
4) Had the potential to generate at least $100 Million per year in sales
In March 1997, the company got control of the rights to an anticoagulant called Angiomax which has been developed by Biogen but abandoned after test results showed it to be no more effective than the cheaper, entrenched alternative, Heparin. In December 2000, the Medicines Company received FDA approval for the use of Angiomax to prevent blood clots during angioplasties and by early 2001 had taken the drug to the market.
The Value of Angiomax to hospitals
Angiomax is a blood thinning drug, or anticoagulant which achieved Phase III clinical trials with Biogen, its pharmaceutical creator, in 1994. Upon trial III completion, further investment and trials for the drug were abandoned due to what was understood as marginal results and the forecast of high production costs. Its rights were later purchased by The Medicine Company who continued clinical trials, securing FDA approval and introducing Angiomax to the U.S. market in 2001.
Heparin, is the most widely used prescribed drug for acute coronary treatment. It was discovered in 1916 prior to patent protection rules and is now a drug viewed largely as a commodity. While Heparin is less expensive per dose than Angiomax, clinical studies have demonstrated a higher rate of death, heart attack, need for repeat Angioplasty and major bleeding with the traditional drug. In contrast, Angiomax has proven to uniquely decrease the rates of such