Vernalis Gives Partnering a Second Chance

When Pfizer Inc. launched the seventh triptan migraine therapy into the US market in February 2003, it did so with a bang. The Big Pharma rolled out eletriptan (Relpax) under the considerable steam of 6,000 sales reps, aiming to take a bite out of market-dominating sumatriptan (Imitrex) from GlaxoSmithKline PLC . Barely noticed was the flagging progress of the sixth entrant, frovatriptan (Frova), launched in late 2002 and sold by Elan Corp. PLC , which focused on neurologists, and UCB Pharma SA , the US affiliate of Belgian conglomerate UCB Group 's UCB SA , which details primary care physicians (PCPs). [See Deal](See Exhibit 1.)

While Elan had managed to capture a respectable 7% market share among neurologists, these doctors write only 1% of total...