Relying on Renagel

Genzyme Corp. 's flagship product, Gaucher's disease treatment imiglucerase (Cerezyme) is the group's largest, and the one around which the US biotech's now-extensive European operations were built. Yet Cerezyme, whose $570 million (€584 million) sales last year accounted for more than half of group worldwide revenues, in May last year lost the orphan drug designation which had thus far held off competition, allowing the company to penetrate more than half the estimated market, according to some analysts. And while the nearest-term threat to Cerezyme, Oxford GlycoSciences PLC 's orally available miglustat (Zavesca) was rejected by the FDA in June, Europe's Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products has taken a more favorable view, recommending approval a month later for the drug (See "Actelion: Pharmacovigilant," this issue Also see "Actelion: Pharmacovigilant" - In Vivo, 1 September, 2002.). Given the competition, and the fact that the worldwide population of Gaucher's patients is just a few thousand, Cerezyme's growth potential remains limited.

Instead, more than half of the company's growth through 2005 will come, according to SG Cowen, from sevelamer (Renagel), a...