by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | April 11, 2011
From the April 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“Among the Gadolinium-based agents, Ablavar, which Lantheus acquired over a year ago, has seen no cases of NSF so far.“
Hibberd says the dose for Ablavar (gadofosveset trisodium) is 1/3 to 1/10 less than other brands because it was specifically designed for MRA procedures. Currently, it’s only approved for vascular use, but there are independent investigations into its potential for tissue imaging.
It’s reasonable to expect differences among brands of contrast agents, but from time to time, the manufacturing process my inadvertently introduce differences from batch to batch. “Before, physicians might have prescribed contrast a little too freely. There wasn’t accountability about which patient got what batch, but the FDA is taking a closer look to see how it’s distributed. I think there’s going to be more talk about prefilled syringes,” says Scott Scofield, CEO of Vivid Imaging, a medical equipment service company.
Liquid gold’s boom and bust
There’s no denying the improved imaging capabilities provided by contrast solutions have been useful to the public and the medical community, even if profits aren’t what they once were according to Chuck Marshall, president and CEO for Florida Service Plus Inc. a service and training company specializing in injectors.
Marshall started his career in 1984 with a major injector OEM before moving on to open his current company in 1991. He’s had an opportunity to see some of the sector’s major financial shifts firsthand. “Eight years ago, the income derived from injector syringe sales was estimated at $150 million, while service was $35 million,” he recalls. “Contrast on the other hand, was like liquid gold. That part of the market was estimated at $3 billion.”
Today’s market tells a different story. Patents have expired on some contrast agents allowing the cheaper generics to seep into the market and undercut name brands. The recent reimbursement cuts haven’t helped matters. “Contrast’s taking hits from CMS reimbursements,” says Scofield. Profit margin per ml was maybe 10 to 15 cents in the past, now it’s very thin — single digits. Even the margins on generics are tight.”
That’s not totally preventing some pharmaceutical companies from trying though. On March 14, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ Gadolinium-based contrast agent Gadavist, making it the sixth available on the market overall.
A sticking point
Overall though, the agent itself isn’t delivering the financial goods for manufacturers like it did in the past, so what’s to cause the sector from drying up as OEMs seek greener pastures? To put it simply, innovation is saving the day. Although patents may be expiring on pharmaceuticals and the extensive research and development followed by the lengthy and costly approval process make new releases few and far between, there’s still a revenue source and they’re much easier to find than the proverbial one languishing in a haystack.
