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Regeneron and Sanofi's rheumatoid arthritis drug is 15% to 30% cheaper than rival drugs from Amgen, AbbVie and Roche, an analyst said Tuesday. (Regeneron)

Regeneron (REGN) and Sanofi's (SNY) rheumatoid arthritis drug is 15% to 30% cheaper than rival drugs from Amgen (AMGN), AbbVie (ABBV) and Roche (RHHBY), an analyst said Tuesday after the duo's Kevzara grabbed Food and Drug Administration approval.

Kevzara's approval comes seven months after the FDA delayed its approval on issues with manufacturing at a French factory where the drug is filled. The approval is for patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who don't respond to other anti-rheumatic drugs.

"The approval came on time and with a label that more or less matches our expectations," Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges said in a note to clients. Kevzara can be prescribed alone or in combination with FDA-approved methotrexate. It is a self-administered injection.

Like Roche's Actemra, which belongs to the same class of drugs, Kevzara is associated with an increased risk of serious and minor infections, liver issues and injection-site reactions. But it's also at a 15% discount to Actemra at $39,000 annually.

"With discounts, (it) should offer a cost-effective treatment option for payers in this setting," Porges said. Kevzara costs 30% less than Amgen's Enbrel and AbbVie's Humira, which are widely prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, though belong to a different drug class.

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Regeneron and Sanofi expect European approval to come later this year and see Kevzara hitting the market in the U.S. within a few weeks. But Porges sees the drug as a minimal driver and forecasts $37 million in sales this year, growing to $456 million in 2021.

A number of drug classes address rheumatoid arthritis, he noted. The field is likely to become more crowded later this year when Dow componentJohnson & Johnson (JNJ) adds its drug sirukimab to the lineup and as morein a class dubbed JAK inhibitors arrivein 2018-19.

"Kevzara contributes approximately 11% of our expected sales of joint Sanofi-Regeneron products in 2018, but this falls to 5% long term as expected growth of (eczema drug) Dupixent and even (cholesterol-lowering drug) Praluent rapidly eclipse Kevzara's importance," Porges said.

The consensus forecasts Kevzara sales at $56 million this year, growing to $705 million by 2020 and hitting $1.1 billion by 2025.

On the stock market today, Regeneron stock rose 0.1% to 461.37, as Sanofi stock fell 0.2% to 49.07. Shares of rivals Amgen and AbbVie were up 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively, while Roche dipped 0.4%.

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AbbVie expects its biggest drug, Humira, to hit peak international sales in 2018 and then face erosion as cheaper biosimilars enter the market. (AbbVie)

5/23/2017 AbbVie expects its biggest drug, Humira, to hit peak international sales in 2018 and then face erosion as cheaper biosimilars...

5/23/2017 AbbVie expects its biggest drug, Humira, to hit peak international...

Read more from the original source:
Regeneron, Sanofi Undercut Amgen, AbbVie In Rheumatoid Arthritis - Investor's Business Daily

This entry was posted on May 24, 2017 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Arthritis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |