By Eric Fetters
Herald Writer
BOTHELL – The company poised to take over Immunex’s Leukine business is far different than the Seattle startup that introduced the cancer drug a decade ago.
Germany-based Schering AG is a 151-year-old pharmaceutical powerhouse that leads in the world’s birth control pill market, employs 24,000 people internationally and has plans to double its U.S. sales in the next four years.
“We actually call ourselves a specialty company because we have products that are targeted in very distinct, though not really small, markets,” said Jane Kramer, vice president of public affairs at Schering.
The company announced a month ago it would buy the Leukine franchise from Seattle-based Immunex for $380 million.
Leukine competes directly with Neupogen, which is made by Amgen Corp. – the company acquiring Immunex in a $16 billion deal. So Immunex sold the Leukine division to satisfy possible antitrust issues.
As soon as the acquisition of Immunex gains final approvals from regulators this summer, Schering will officially take over the Leukine business and the Snohomish County facility associated with the drug’s production. Kramer said a transition team already is working with Immunex.
“We are planning to maintain the business, and we are very much interested in obtaining the human assets associated with Leukine,” Kramer said, adding that Schering hopes to hire up to 200 of Immunex’s employees, many of whom work in the facility to be taken over in Bothell’s Canyon Park.
Schering also intends to manufacture the drug there. While premanufacturing work on Leukine is done here, the main production work takes place in Kansas.
Leukine is the brand name of sargramostim, an artificial form of a growth protein normally produced in the body. This growth factor helps to increase the number and function of white blood cells, which fight infections.
Approved for the medical market in March 1991, Leukine was Immunex’s first drug to gain FDA approval, long before the company’s better-known and blockbuster-selling Enbrel.
In 2001, Leukine sales hit a record $108 million, according to Immunex. But it still lags far behind the similar Neupogen, which racked up more than $1 billion in sales for Amgen last year.
Still, Schering was just one of several companies that competed to grab the Leukine business. The company’s leaders have said it will fit in well with Schering’s other cancer drugs.
“We look forward to continuing investment in the marketing, research and manufacturing activities associated with Leukine,” said Hubertus Erien, chairman of Schering, during last month’s announcement.
“Importantly,” he added, “we see opportunities to build the brand as the markets in its current indications grow, and as we pursue other possible new indications for Leukine, such as Crohn’s Disease.”
Schering wants to research the possible use of Leukine to treat melanomas as well, Kramer said.
While the company is just establishing a presence in the Puget Sound area, Schering has been expanding into the U.S. biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries over the past 20 years.
Schering is the biggest maker of birth control bills and female hormone replacement products. It also is a leader in contrast dyes used in patients undergoing X-rays or diagnostic imaging.
Additionally, Schering’s leading single drug is Betaseron, the only medicine approved to treat two forms for multiple sclerosis.
The publicly held company’s American operations, under the subsidiary name of Berlex, are based in New Jersey, with a major facility in Richmond, Calif. Kramer said the California office will manage the company’s Seattle and Bothell operations.
You can call Herald Writer Eric Fetters at 425-339-3453
or send e-mail to fetters@heraldnet.com.
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