Savient Pharmaceuticals scored a win with its new gout drug Krystexxa. The drugmaker inked a deal to supply the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs with the drug, along with its weight-gain med Oxandrin, for five years. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but investors were happy enough to bid up with stock as much as eight percent, Reuters reports.
Krystexxa won FDA approval last September as a treatment for severe gout. Savient had hoped to sell itself upon winning the FDA nod, but failed to find a buyer, and so the drug's launch has been more low-key than it had hoped. The company has been building a U.S. sales force bit by bit, and, Reuters reports, reps began promoting Krystexxa last month.
Meanwhile, Savient ran into a manufacturing glitch. Several batches of the new drug didn't meet quality standards back in January. But analysts pointed out the company had 12 months of inventory on hand already and said they were confident the company would get its production wrinkles smoothed.
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