stirling gears up to market generic drugs

Breaking News.....

I hadn't put much weight on the commercial value of the Stirling Inhalation device but this announcement just out this morning has changed my mind. I placed most value in the revenues from the Stirling products coming onto market globally but the inhalation device is more serious than first thought. A great announcement well worth reading....

Key Consulting Appointment to
Breakthrough Drug Delivery Device
Commercialisation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
13 MAY 2010
Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Group, Stirling Products Limited (ASX:STI) is
pleased to advise the appointment this week of Mr. Ross Harricks who will assist the
Company in its path to early market endorsement and first revenues for its joint ventured
breakthrough drug inhalation devices.
Mr. Harricks appointment brings to the Company extensive Australian and International
experience and expertise in medical device development and commercialisation. He has
been involved at all levels of development including having raised substantial funds,
guided the design of products, obtained regulatory approvals worldwide (FDA, CE
Mark), built widespread technology adoption and endorsement with leading medical
institutions and opinion leaders in US and Europe.
In his early business career Mr. Harricks was the Business Planning Manager for EMI
Electronics Group in the UK (instrumentation, medical electronics, process technology).
In this role he began his involvement with medical devices as EMI commercialised their
invention of the CT scanner. He moved to Australia to become General Manager, EMI
Electronics Group, based in Australia, which included developing EMIs medical
business in this region. Since then he has worked with Australian researchers and
companies developing world-class medical devices and scientific instrument
technologies seeking to commercialize their technologies in the global markets and build
internationally-competitive technology businesses. In the 80s he served as Group
Marketing Executive for the Nucleus Group, then Australia's leading international
medical technology group [Telectronics (pacemakers), Cochlear (bionic ear), Ausonics
(ultrasound), Medtel (distribution)]. In the 1990s he co-founded the national Technology
Industries Exporters Group (TIEG) bringing together small/medium technology-based
companies working to build their export businesses. From 1989 until its 1995 USA
NASDAQ listing he was a director of ResMed Limited. He was also founder/CEO of
AtCor Medical and a director of Ventracor Limited.
Inhalation Drug Delivery Platform:
In its device commercialisation process, the Company is in the unique situation where
it is advantaged by the massive move of the worlds leading blockbuster drugs to the
generic sector. The Companys delivery devices are expected to exclusively provide
for a dramatically improved safety profile of these drugs. As they come off patent the
Company, like any other, then can freely use and market these drugs as a generic with
the differential for Stirling Products being that its drug delivery device has the
potential to uniquely provide for a far improved safety profile. This exclusivity can
provide the equivalent of a de facto patent over any or each of the drugs (off-patent)
that are adapted for use through the Companys delivery devices, a situation
unprecedented within the industry.
The potential scale of the impact of the re-positioning of blockbuster drugs has this
week been highlighted in the Australian Labour governments budget wherein it
claims to have clawed back $1.9 billion in savings from the major pharmas over the
next five years. For example, this could be readily achieved through just one product,
the Pfizer drug Lipitor, going off patent to generic next year and providing a massive
yearly windfall saving on the reported 10.5 million annual prescriptions of the drug in
Australia that are currently government subsidised at patent drug pricing.
Global sales of this super blockbuster drug, Lipitor, have already been in decline
through generic competition yet, even in its last years with 2009 revenue of around
US$11.4 Billion, Lipitor still represents approximately 25% of the Pfizer
biopharmaceutical revenue. All the major pharmas, like Pfizer, are facing the same
issues of patent expiry on multi-billion dollar blockbuster products. For Stirling
Products this creates the potential opportunity to package the generic version with its
drug delivery device to provide a new proprietary package that can be marketed at a
significant premium to the other generic versions due to an expected improved safety
profile in many cases.
ENDS