BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

Three's a crowd

March 22, 1999 8:00 AM UTC

U.S. Bioscience last week highlighted the potential downside to striking marketing deals with emerging pharmaceutical companies when it ended a 1996 U.S. co-promotion agreement with Alza Corp. for two of three UBS products. UBS said it terminated the deal because its partner's increasing product portfolio would not allow AZA to give "proper emphasis" to UBS's Hexalen altretamine to treat ovarian cancer and NeuTrexin trimetrexate to treat moderate-to-severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.

see BioCentury, Oct. 6, 1998). "Hexalen and NeuTrexin would have taken third and fourth mention behind Ethyol and Doxil," said UBS CFO Robert Kriebel. "We think they deserve more attention." UBS said it plans to expand its sales force to market NeuTrexin and Hexalen...