Jazz’s valuable Xyrem franchise is at a big risk because of a looming competitive branded threat from Flamel Technologies, reports Seeking Alpha.

Xyrem, which is Jazz’s branded, twice-nightly sodium oxybate drug for treating narcolepsy, is critical to Jazz and comprises the overwhelming bulk of its sales and profits. Xyrem makes up nearly $1 billion of its $1.3 billion in total revenues. Xyrem also carries significantly higher margins than the rest of the Jazz business because it has no competition whatsoever. Jazz is able to conduct a limited sales effort to reach the 12-13,000 patients on Xyrem, and it charges a substantial premium for the drug, which is estimated at approximately $80,000 annually per patient.