2017 Fiscal Year Q1: Interpretation of Featured Products of World Famous Transnational Pharma Giants

With 4 months gone in 2017, the pharmaceutical development has progressed with each passing day. Many transnational pharmaceutical giants have recently issued their 2017 fascial year Q1 financial reports which are of great reference value to the prediction of the annual sales, featured products and potential products of the companies; the world famous pharmaceutical giants possess own featured products, and have outstanding advantages in the new drug approval, with remarkable progress in biosimilars, rare diseases, cancer treatment, and traditional disease control, etc. In the meantime, the U.S. new drug approval may be subject to adjustment as Trump took office and FDA is entering the reform period. It is certain that 2017 will be a "big year" for FDA’s new drug approval. In fact, FDA has approved 19 new drugs as at May 2, 2017, approaching the quantity of new drugs approved in 2016. FDA’s efficiency is praiseworthy. This article focuses on the sales data of each company in 2017 fiscal year Q1, and compares them by total product sales and year-on-year growth.

1. Multiple myeloma field and BTK inhibitor worthy of the wait, diabetes products continuing to decline

Remicade has been the mainstay product of J & J every year, however, there have been biosimilars of this monoclonal antibody drug in the U.S. and EU markets, which will inevitably influence the market sales of the product. This monoclonal antibody drug still had quite steady performance in the 2017 Q1; Celgene is an absolute leader in the multiple myeloma field, and J & J’s Darzalex has showed excellent sales performance since it was elevated from a fourth-line drug to second-line drug.

2. Roche: 3 cards in hand, always a steady giant

With oncology drugs as its core business, Herceptin, Rituximab and Bevacizumab are the three carriages that drive the strong growth of Roche; in the meantime, Roche has continuous new blood and continuously updated product lines. For example, Roche launched Perjeta to deal with the biosimilar and patent cliff challenges that are increasingly threatening. Furthermore, Roche also possesses the starlit PD-1/PD-L1 pathway antibody: Tecentriq, of which the indications are continuously expanded and the prospects are bright.

3. Cosentyx led 2017Q1 sales list of Novartis

Novartis depended on IL-17 antibody: Cosentyx, heart failure drug: Entresto, and multiple sclerosis drug: Gilenya, in particular, the market performance of IL-17 antibody: Cosentyx was outstanding in Q1, growing by nearly 1.5 times year on year, with the 2017 sales expected to approach USD 2 billion; this drug has a distinct advantage in the immunogenicity, with very positive future expectations, and is worthy of attention.

4. AbbVie’s Humira: One miracle drug is enough

The Q1 sales of Humira reached USD 4.118 billion, still maintaining the dominance of the drug king. One Humira is enough to generate huge income for AbbVie; AbbVie is also actively expanding own product line, to reduce the reliance on Humira. For example, AbbVie’s strong move towards J & J’s BTK inhibitor: Imbruvica has obtained equity in the U.S. market, and the market performance of the drug has also been extraordinarily good. Imbruvica was predicted to reach USD 8.29 billion sales revenue in 2022 by FiercePharma.

5. Amgen: Strong growth of sales of Kyprolis

Amgen’s Enbrel (etanercept) started to be under threat of biosimilars: there have been biosimilars marketed in the U.S. and EU markets, which is undoubtedly a great impact on the original drug Enbrel, while Amgen’s Kyprolis in the multiple myeloma field had strong growth momentum, especially, Kyprolis might become a first-line drug after the publishing of its excellent Phase III clinical trial data, which will be quite important to promoting the market sales of the drug.

6. Eli Lilly: Intensive cultivation in the diabetes field

SGLT-2 inhibitor, long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist, and oral/inhaled insulin have attracted much attention in the diabetes market in recent years. With its strong ability in the diabetes field, Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 receptor agonist is being rapidly expanded, and Trulicity’s sales are also growing strongly, and will obtain quicker development in 2017.

7. BMS: Master in PD-/PD-L1 pathway antibody

Opdivo has incomparable advantages among the approved 5 antibodies of its kind. I have compared and summarized them in previous relevant article. Opdivo is quite worth learning no matter in indication expansion or patent protection, and has advantages, therefore, its high growth is not surprising. And it is certain that such advantages will be maintained and expanded to a certain extent.