ViroPharma, (FRA:VPH) ROCE % : 4.11% (As of Sep. 2013)

ViroPharma, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in September 1994 and commenced operations in December 1994. It is a biotechnology company which develops and commercializes products that address serious diseases, used by physician specialists or in hospital settings. The Company's main development programs include C1 esterase inhibitor and a non-toxigenic strain of C. The Company markets and sells Cinryze in the United States for routine prophylaxis against angioedema attacks in adolescent and adult patients with hereditary angioedema. Cinryze is a C1 esterase inhibitor therapy for routine prophylaxis against HAE, also known as C1 inhibitor deficiency, a rare, severely debilitating, life-threatening genetic disorder. Cinryze was obtained in October 2008, and On 8 January 2010, the company obtained expanded rights to commercialize Cinryze and future C1-INH derived products in certain European countries and other territories throughout the world as well as rights to develop future C1-INH derived products for additional indications. The Company also markets and sells Vancocin HCl capsules, the oral capsule formulation of vancomycin hydrochloride, in the U.S. and its territories. Vancocin is a potent antibiotic approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, to treat antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis caused by Clostridium difficile infection, or C. difficile, and enterocolitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains. The Company's product development portfolio is consists of programs such as C1 esterase inhibitor [human], maribavir for cytomegalovirus infection, VP20621: prevention of recurrent CDAD and VP20629: treatment of Friedreich's Ataxia. The Company is working on developing further therapeutic uses; potential additional indications in other C1 mediated diseases, and alternative modes of administration for C1 esterase inhibitor. It is also developing VP20621 for the treatment and prevention of CDAD. On September 30, 2011, it entered into a license agreement for the worldwide rights of Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. to its clinical stage drug candidate, VP-20629, which is a naturally occurring, small molecule that has potent anti-oxidant properties that can protect against neurodegenerative disease. Its main competitors include both public and private entities, including well-known, large pharmaceutical companies, chemical companies, biotechnology companies and research institutions.