Pfizer (PFE) and Eli Lilly (LLY) could have a multibillion-dollar opportunity on their hands with a potential replacement for opioids in treating pain, an analyst said Monday.
The duo is working on a drug called tanezumab. Tanezumab could treat symptoms of osteoarthritis, chronic low back pain and cancer pain.
“In our 2019 preview we said the biggest surprise could be that the safety for Pfizer and Lilly’s tanezumab will be better than expected, and this drug could replace opioids for the treatment of pain,” Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen said in a report to clients.
Chen kept her overweight rating and 53 price target on Pfizer stock. On the stock market today, Pfizer stock advanced 1.6% to close at 43.65. Meanwhile, Lilly stock lifted 1.3%, to 115.72.
Combating Opioids In Treating Pain
One estimate suggests that more than 115 people die each day in the U.S. after overdosing on opioids. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse in the U.S. is $78.5 billion annually.
Pfizer and Lilly’s tanezumab could help ease the opioid crisis, Chen says.
“If we are right, then the peak sales potential of tanezumab could be billions of dollars,” she said. This would “drive upside to modest expectations for the drug.”
Pfizer and Lilly expect to release study results within six months on treating osteoarthritis pain. The results will examine 24 weeks and 56 weeks of treatment. The companies will also release the results of a study in chronic low back pain.
Safety Questions For NGF Inhibitors
But questions persist around nerve growth factor, or NGF, inhibitors like tanezumab. In early tests, the drugs have been connected to abnormal joint damage. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) and Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) have another NGF called fasinumab.
Earlier this year, Pfizer and Lilly said 1.3% of patients given tanezumab in a 16-week test showed problematic joint damage, known as rapidly progressive osteoarthritis, or RPOA. There were no cases of RPOA in patients who received the placebo.
Investors expect the upcoming results to be “similar to or worse” than prior data, Cantor Fitzgerald’s Chen said.
“However, physicians we interviewed were impressed by that data, and did not believe the RPOA imbalance would impact their desire to prescribe tanezumab, if it is approved,” she said.
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