Makers wait for folks to take their medicine.

• Position: Pharmaceuticals

Wait 'til next year. It's a way of life for Chicago Cubs fans, and in 2003, it applied to a couple of fledgling Tar Heel drug companies that were supposed to start cashing in big.

Durham-based Trimeris won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in March for its breakthrough AIDS drug, Fuzeon. The drug prevents the AIDS virus from infecting healthy cells. Trimeris launched it amid projections of 10,000 customers and $70 million in sales by year's end. But the cost of the drug--more than $20,000 a year per patient--and patients' aversion to the twice-daily shots it requires combined to weaken demand and cut those projections by at least 50%. Trimeris shares tumbled. In mid-December, the stock was trading below $20 per share, less than half its 52-week high.

Another Tar Heel drug maker, Durham-based Inspire Pharmaceuticals, was expecting FDA approval for its first compound, diquafosol tetrasodium, before the end of 2003. Diquafosol treats dry-eye disease, which Inspire says affects 10 million Americans. It spent the second half of the year gearing up to begin marketing diquafosol with its partner, California-based Allergan. But just before Christmas, the FDA asked for another study, which could delay marketing until 2005.

Chapel Hill-based Pozen also got some bad news. The FDA rejected its MT 300 migraine treatment, which was expected to go on the market this year, because it doesn't relieve nausea and sensitivity to light and sound, common complaints for migraine sufferers. Pozen is challenging the ruling and hopes for approval of its second migraine treatment, MT 100. Analysts estimate MT 100 could generate annual sales of $500 million, 10 times MT 300's potential. The company hopes to begin sales this year

The state's largest contract-research organizations have already started cashing in, though one had an off year. Durham-based Quintiles Transnational went private in September after it was bought for $1.7 billion by a group led by company chairman and founder Dennis Gillings. Through three quarters of 2003, it had earned $38 million, down 64% from the same stretch of 2002. Wilmington-based Pharmaceutical Product Development reported $62.8 million in net income through three quarters, compared with $19.9 million for the same period of 2002. Wilmington-based aaiPharma had net income of $24 million through three quarters, compared with $10 million for the same period in 2002.

The state's life-science startups hope to have better luck...