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VIVUS to Regain Commercial Rights for Stendra from Sanofi

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VIVUS, Inc. recently announced an agreement with Sanofi (SNY - Free Report) to reacquire the commercial rights to its erectile dysfunction drug, Stendra (avanafil), in Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia. Sanofi acquired the marketing right for Stendra in the given territories in Dec 2013.

For smooth transition, Sanofi will help VIVUS avoid the adverse impact of the regulatory approval applications in process, specifically in Russia and certain Middle Eastern countries.

Stendra is approved in both the U.S. and the EU for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. It is marketed under the trade name Spedra in the EU. Notably, VIVUS had licensed Stendra from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma.

VIVUS’ shares lost 4.4% so far this year, underperforming an increase of 5.6% by the Zacks classified Medical-Biomed/Genetics industry.



We note that VIVUS has awarded the marketing rights to Stendra to privately held Italian pharmaceutical company, Menarini. The Italian firm is entitled to market the product in over 40 European countries, Australia and New Zealand.

We remind investors that VIVUS regained the U.S. and Canadian commercial rights to Stendra from Endo International plc on Sep, 2016. Subsequently, in October, VIVUS granted Metuchen Pharmaceuticals the exclusive rights to commercialize Stendra in the U.S., Canada, South America and India. Per the agreement, VIVUS received an upfront payment of $70 million, which strengthened its balance sheet. The company is also eligible to receive royalties on net sales.

VIVUS owns worldwide development and commercial rights to Stendra for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, with the exception of certain the Asia-Pacific Rim countries.

Apart from Stendra, the company’s drug portfolio consists of Qsymia, which is used for chronic weight management. Qsymia is the first weight-loss drug to receive FDA approval in 13 years. However, Qsymia sales have been soft so far. The uptake has been slow due to high out-of-pocket cost burden for patients owing to lack of reimbursement for the product. However, VIVUS is working toward boosting Qsymia sales by expanding reimbursement and promotional initiatives.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

VIVUS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stocks in the health care sector is Addus HomeCare Corporation (ADUS - Free Report) , which carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Addus HomeCare’s earnings per share estimates increased from $1.38 to $1.41 for 2017 over the last 30 days. The company posted positive earnings surprises in two of the four trailing quarters, with an average beat of 10.10%.

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