The Medicines Company Case Essay

Words: 2957
Pages: 12

Q1
Value: Angiomax is a blood-thinning drug, or anticoagulant, used in emergency coronary heart care. Angiomax is positioned as an alternative to heparin, the most commonly used anticoagulant in emergency coronary heart care, so to assess Angiomax value to a hospital is required to compare these two drugs.

First of all is necessary to analyze the differences in effectiveness of the products in treatments. The use of heparin has associated some general disadvantages like: • Unpredictable effects: it is difficult to use properly since its effectiveness depends on achieving a certain level of anticoagulation of the blood, too much might lead to uncontrolled bleeding and too little might not prevent a blood clot • • High risk of
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Before Angiomax launch, about 3.5 million coronary care patients received heparin to prevent blood clots. The Market for Angiomax is not as big as the one for heparin right now since FDA approval was only for its use in angioplasty procedures, which means that Angiomax can only reach about 1/5 of the patients receiving anticoagulants per year. The Medicines Company is however undertaking clinical trials in order to confirm the benefits of Angiomax also for patients with heart attacks, unstable angina or undergoing a Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery, so if they obtained the FDA approval, then the market for Angiomax will be the same as the one for heparin, about 3.5 million patients per year. A number that might increase because there are 14 million people in the USA with coronary heart disease. th Q2
It is fundamental to set the price window for Angiomax and choose the most appropriate price that captures the value created by the product. In order to create this price window, it is necessary to know the Reference Value (the price of customer best alternative), the Differentiation Value (the value to the customer of any Monetary or Psychological differences between alternatives available) as also the Relevant Total Costs associated with the Angiomax. 1. Reference Value: The price for a dose of heparin is 2$, but on