Amicus intends to muscle in on rare disease market

Amicus Therapeutics CEO John Crowley is bullish that the biotech can carve a successful spot for itself in the same rare disease field that made Genzyme into a fat takeover target.

"We think actually 100 percent of Fabry patients could be eligible to take our drug (Amigal)," Crowley told Reuters at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York. Half of the patient population has the right genetic mutation to benefit from the therapy, he said. The other half could benefit if they take Amigal in combination with enzyme replacement therapies like Genzyme's Fabrazyme.

Crowley added that Amicus has benefited from Genzyme's production woes. "It's good for people to have options for the treatment of rare diseases," he said. "Hopefully that will be helpful in getting people to think about continuing to enroll in our study."

- here's the story from Reuters