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Orexigen Begins Slow Climb Up Slippery Slope Of Obesity Drug Sales

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Orexigen has a tough climb ahead as it sets out without a US partner to boost sales for its obesity drug Contrave with the goal of profitability by 2019, but it appears that doctors, patients and payers are becoming more open to pharmaceutical treatment.

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. is forecasting modest growth for Contrave (naltrexone and bupropion) now that it has regained the rights to its obesity therapy from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., but the San Diego-based company believes that sales of the drug will lead to profitability by 2019.

That’s a bold assumption for a one-product company that’s now fully responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, marketing and research expenses, the latter of which includes the design and execution of a massive US FDA-required cardiovascular outcomes trial (CVOT)

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