These 2 New Drugs Make Celgene an Even Bigger Biotech Powerhouse
January 27, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
SUMMIT, N.J. – With a plethora of developmental deals, Celgene Corporation is cheekily dubbed “pharma’s best friend.” But, the company also has its own powerhouse pipeline that includes multiple myeloma drug Revlimid and two others that have seen exponential sales growth—Otezla and Pomalyst.
Sales of Revlimid grew 20 percent in 2016, raking in about $7 billion. But, Otezla and Pomalyst saw faster growing sales rates last year. Writing in the Motley Fool, analyst Todd Campbell said management at Celgene expects Otezla and Pomalyst to continue to see strong growth.
Otezla, approved for psoriatic arthritis, saw revenue increase 116 percent in 2016 compared to 2015 sales. The drug generated $1.2 billion. Campbell said Celgene management believes sales of the drug will continue to grow this year, up another 47 percent to generate %1.5 to $1.7 billion. The keys to the growth of Otezla include higher prescription rates in the United States and approval of use in European markets. Campbell said. If the drug is approved in Japan and other parts of Asia, Campbell said he believes the drug could actually cross the $2 billion mark.
Like Revlimid, Pomalyst is an effective drug for patients with multiple myeloma. While Revlimid is used as a first-line defense against the blood cancer, Pomalyst is used by patients who have either not responded to Revlimid or have seen the blood cancer return. Campbell said Pomalyst is seeing greater use by a patient population that is now longer-lived. In 2016, sales of Pomalyst grew 33 percent compared to 2015 and generated $1.3 billion. For 2017, Pomalyst is predicted to see increased growth and generate about $1.7 billion.
While Pomalyst, Otezla and Revlimid continue to show strong growth, Celgene is also benefitting from its multiple partnerships the company has forged with the likes of Juno Therapeutics , Jounce Therapeutics , bluebird bio , Agios , Epizyme and more. Celgene’s partnership goals has been a strategic effort to diversify revenue streams so it is not so financially dependent on Revlimid and its own pipeline. In December, Celgene inked a five-year partnership for neurodegenerative drug discovery with Germany’s Evotec AG. Delving into neurodegenerative research is something that has been a goal of Celgene’s executive chairman Bob Hugin.
Celgene has several potentially strong revenue generators in development as well, including Crohn’s disease treatment mongersen and MS drug, ozanimod. Mongersen is also in a mid-stage study for ulcerative colitis and ozanimod is also being explored as a potential treatment for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s.