Analyst on yahoo sale
Analyst on yahoo sale, Shares of Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. climbed Monday afternoon and an analyst raised sales projections for the company's newly launched antibiotic.
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration approved Dificid tablets to treat Clostridium difficile, an intestinal infection that usually affects older patients and can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to potentially life-threatening inflammation of the colon. It afflicts more than 700,000 U.S. patients each year and can sometimes prove fatal.San Diego-based Optimer's twice-a-day tablet is the first new drug approved for the infection in nearly 25 years, according to the company. Dificid is the first FDA-approved product for Optimer, which has focused on developing antibiotics since its founding in 1998.
Cubist Pharmaceuticals will help sell the drug in the U.S. under a partnership with Optimer. Astellas Pharma will market the drug in Europe and other countries abroad.
THE ANALYSIS: JMP Securities analyst Liisa A. Bayko said in a research note she is raising Dificid revenue estimates for 2011 to $14.8 million from $9.8 million and also is raising estimates for the third and fourth quarters.
The analyst said she believes the addition of Dificid to hospital formularies should be relatively easy and the attributes of the drug and marketing approach for it "should resonate well with physicians and administrators alike."
Bayko said she came to this conclusion after surveys of infectious disease specialists and interviews with hospital administrators, among other research.
SHARE ACTION: Up 3.4 percent, or 41 cents, to $12.34 in afternoon trading while broader trading indexes fell more than 1 percent.
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