Jefferies Remains Cautious On Cumberland Pharma

Jefferies remains cautious on shares of Cumberland Pharma

as Acetadote's orphan drug exclusivity expires this weekend (Jan 23). If the product were to go generic, profitability would be a challenge with still negligible Caldolor sales. Acetadote currently generates annual sales of ~$34M. To a generic company Jefferies estimates this would amount to a ~$13-16M generic market opportunity. Although larger generic companies likely would decline to pursue Acetadote based on market size, it is certainly possible that one or two smaller players will find the opportunity attractive because of the likely small legal investment. It's Jefferies understanding the recently approved formulation simply excludes the use of EDTA. Jefferies has not yet confirmed this as the recent approval is not listed on the FDA's website, and haven't been able to source the label by other means. The posting delay is unusual since the FDA updates the website daily and several approvals subsequent to Acetadote's have been listed. Jefferies has a Hold rating and $6 PT on CPIX CPIX is trading at $6.32