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Genzyme's CEO believes that Renagel will be the growth driver for the company in the next few years Full article published: 01/11/2001     HENRI TERMEER is CEO of Genzyme Corporation


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TWST: Would you like to tell us where you intend to take the company (Nasdaq:GENZ) in the next few years?

Mr. Termeer: Over the last 10 years we’ve reached a profitable base with a number of products on the market. The company has had predictable earnings going forward. The transaction with GelTex Pharmaceuticals has created an opportunity for us to significantly broaden the company. We are very confident that the critical product that is part of this acquisition, Renagel, is a blockbuster product. It diversifies the revenue stream for Genzyme General, which has another very large product called Cerezyme. Now we will have two major products. We have a number of other products in the pipeline in the area of genetic diseases and lysosomal storage diseases that will reach different levels of completion this year and in the years following. So when we think of the longer term future, given the base, the infrastructure, and the competencies that have been developed within the company, I think we are very well positioned for what we believe will be a very productive period in the biotechnology industry.

TWST: What diseases do your products deal with?

Mr. Termeer: There are three parts. One area — lysosomal storage diseases — includes diseases such as Gaucher disease, Fabry disease, Niemann-Pick disease, Pompe disease, and MPS-I. These are genetic diseases. They are rare and very devastating. That is one area of our therapeutic concentration. The second is in the renal area, in the treatment of hemodialysis patients. There are millions of patients on dialysis in the world today. Renagel is a product that helps treat these patients without some of the complications posed by some treatments they have taken in the past. So we are very active, not only through the Renagel program, but through other programs, expanding our offering of products to the hemodialysis population. We have another program that deals with multiple sclerosis. That is in an earlier stage. We have a collaboration with Biogen to distribute Avonex in Japan. And we have internal work going on that will reach the clinical phase this year. Multiple sclerosis is a very specific disease that creates very significant medical concerns for these patients. We are a company that focuses on addressing these very specific disease states quite well. Cystic fibrosis is another area we are focusing on, and is very similar to multiple sclerosis and lysosomal storage diseases.

TWST: Which area would you state is the most significant in terms of growth over the next few years?

Mr. Termeer: I think in the next few years Renagel will be the growth driver for the company. In last year’s third-quarter earnings conference call, we mentioned that third quarter sales for Renagel were 13.8 million. We mentioned that for 2001 we would expect sales of 90 million. That is very healthy growth and the market is very large. Even at 90 million, we still would be in the very early stage of product production. So there is tremendous potential here. That is the revenue driver, probably the earnings driver as well. In terms of our developing product portfolio, we expect to see some of our lysosomal storage disease treatments reaching the market or see BLAs being filed for them this year. So it becomes very interesting when we look forward beyond 2001, but those are the short-term drivers.

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This interview is a small excerpt from a comprehensive interview published in The Wall Street Transcript on 01/08/01. For more information call (212) 952 7400. The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does not make stock recommendations.

Copyright 2001, Wall Street Transcript Corp.

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