Sepracor Moves Forward With New Leadership
PHOTO/COURTESY
Mark Iwicki, the new president and COO at Sepracor, says the company, under new Japanese ownership, will focus on niche market drugs.
The $2.6 billion move for Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., or DSP, to purchase Marlborough-based Sepracor seemed like a great deal for the Japanese pharmaceutical giant.
DSP achieved its goal of expanding into the U.S. market and did so by purchasing a company, Sepracor, with an already strong product line, anchored by insomnia drug Lunesta, plus a capable commercialization process for developing and marketing new drugs.
But Mark Iwicki, the new president and COO at Sepracor, said the acquisition has been a good deal for Sepracor, too.
"Sepracor was a very good smaller to mid-sized company," Iwicki said. "Now we have the backing of a very substantial organization that I think really adds some security to the Sepracor pipeline."
DSP and Sepracor, Iwicki said, will now pursue their mutual long-term goals of developing new specialty drug therapies and expanding those new products along with their existing ones to broader international markets, such as Europe.
"We're really looking forward to what can happen in the future," Iwicki said.
Time For Change
The past few months have seen quite a bit of transition at Sepracor. In September DSP announced the acquisition of Sepracor. Then, last month DSP announced it would merge its U.S. subsidiary, DSP America, of Ft. Lee, N.J., into Sepracor. The new company will operate under the Sepracor name beginning April 1.
Personnel moves have resulted from the merger as well. Former Sepracor President and CEO Adrian Adams left the company on the Feb. 19 to become CEO at Inspire Pharmaceuticals in North Carolina. Iwicki, who was previously executive vice president and chief commerical officer, has taken over as president and COO. Saburo Hamanaka, a former special advisor to DSP CEO Masayo Tada, will become chairman and CEO of Sepracor and will be based in Marlborough.
Iwicki said he doesn't expect any substantial changes to the number of employees at Sepracor or its Marlborough headquarters because of the corporate changes.
Sepracor officials are, however, gradually moving toward a corporate goal of expanding into specialty, niche drug therapy markets as opposed to treatments for more common disorders.
The larger fields, Iwicki said, have become crowded with pressures from managed care organizations and the government to restrict use and lower costs.
Iwicki said two important Sepracor drugs being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration embrace this trend.
One, Lurasidone, is a drug to treat schizophrenia. It's completed phase III clinical trials and is awaiting FDA approval. DSP America had mostly been developing the drug, but if approved by the FDA, Sepracor would aid in commercializing the product.
Sepracor has also been working on Stedesa, which treats seizures caused by epilepsy. That product is also being reviewed by the FDA.
Sepracor's continued growth will be in offering these types of products in niche markets that are untapped, Iwicki said. The company has a prioritization process to evaluate unmet needs in therapy areas and steer research and development investments there. Iwicki said Sepracor is exploring therapies for pain and other specialty disorders as well.
Iwicki said he's also excited about the mutual goal of both Sepracor and DSP to explore international marketing opportunities. With the DSP acquisition, Sepracor will have additional resources to not only continue the company's research, development and commercialization processes, but also to expand international footprints along with DSP.
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