Oscient focused on finding third marketed product to add to portfolio

By Jennifer Lanning Drey

Portland, Ore., Nov. 16 - Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corp.'s near-term corporate development goals are focused on securing a third marketed product for its sales force, chief executive officer Steven Rauscher said at the JMP Securities Sector Conference in Boston on Thursday.

"If I look at the most important strategic transaction we have facing the company, it's [finding] product number three," Rauscher said.

The company is seeking a product that it can market to its current customer base of physicians who typically treat older patient populations and believes a pulmonology or cardiovascular product would be ideal, he said.

"At any one time, we're looking at products in multiple therapeutic categories but the same customer base and the same kinds of patients that are seen by the doctors that prescribe Factive and who prescribe Antara," he said.

Factive (gemifloxacin mesylate) is an approved treatment for community-acquired pneumonia of mild to moderate severity that Oscient sells in the United States, and Antara (fenofibrate) is an approved adjunct treatment for hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol) and hypertriglyceridemia (high triglycerides). The company acquired the U.S. rights to Antara in August from Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Oscient is also in discussions with potential European partners for Factive and expects to solidify a deal within the next 12 months, Rauscher said.

Additionally, Oscient is searching for a partner for its product candidate Ramoplanin. The company has global rights to the compound and has completed the drug's development through phase 2 clinical trials but has decided to shift its focus toward already commercialized products, Rauscher said.

Ramoplanin is in development for the potential treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated disease such as diarrhea and colitis.

Oscient is a biopharmaceutical company based in Waltham, Mass.

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