Alchemia Eyes $3 Billion Anti-Clotting Market

Australian biotech group Alchemia Ltd has developed an unusual and very profitable way of developing a generic anti-blood clotting drug that investors hope can be extended to other drug types. The company, which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in December, is more than halfway down the long track of getting to market an anti-blood clotting drug, a generic version of Sanofi-Synthelabo's heparin drug Arixtra. Arixtra and other such anti-clotting drugs, led by Aventis SA's Lovenox, command US$3 billion in annual global sales, and the market is still growing as new applications for the drug are approved.