Regeneron to expand workforce at New York facility
pharmafile | August 8, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Arcalyst, Eylea, Regeneron, ZaltrapÂ
Buoyant product sales at US biotech Regeneron have prompted the company to undertake a recruitment drive at its manufacturing facility in East Greenbush near Albany, New York.
Regeneron spent around $5 million expanding production capacity at the facility last year, and now says it plans to increase the headcount there by around 85 positions from its current level of 500.
The aim is to accommodate rising demand for its drug products, particularly wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment Eylea (aflibercept), and another round of capacity expansion is also on the cards, according to local press reports.
Last month the company reported a profit of $77 million in the second quarter on sales up 56% to $194m, with the bulk of revenues accounted for by Eylea, and the company is now expecting sales of the AMD treatment will reach $700 to $750 million in 2012 as a whole, requiring a tripling of production to meet demand.
Eylea is gaining momentum in the AMD market because it offers equivalent efficacy to Roche’s big-selling Lucentis (ranibizumab) treatment but requires less frequent dosing, given once every other month as opposed to once a month for its rival.
Robert Terifay, Regeneron’s senior vice president, commercial, said in a conference call to discuss the firm’s second quarter results that Eylea has captured 14% of the US wet AMD market, up from 10% in the first quarter.
“At a time when many large pharmaceutical companies are cutting back their research, shutting down major research centres and looking externally for innovative science and product opportunities, we are investing in research, investing in our people, and expanding our manufacturing capacity,” said Regeneron’s chief executive Leonard Schleifer.
Meanwhile, with US approval for another aflibercept-based product – Zaltrap (ziv-aflibercept) – for
metastatic colorectal cancer just a few days ago there will be additional demand on the East Greenbush facility in the coming months.
Regeneron’s marketing partner for Zaltrap, French drugmaker Sanofi, has said it intends to launch the product in the third quarter.
The plant also makes Arcalyst (rilonacept) for cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS), an orphan drug which Regeneron had been trying to develop for the much larger indication of gout, only to suffer a setback when an FDA advisory committee voted against approval in May.
Phil Taylor
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