Lundbeck moves ahead in Q1
pharmafile | May 3, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Lexapro, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Q1
Lundbeck’s sales and profit increase in the first three months of 2013 was due largely to one-off payments it received, and the company is feeling the effect of generic erosion.
Total revenue for the first quarter was DKK 4.576 billion – an increase of 21% compared to the same quarter in 2012 – while pre-tax profit rose from DKK 862 million last year to DKK 1.524 billion.
These startling leaps are explained to some extent by an upfront payment of DKK 284 million, as part of an alliance with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co to develop and commercialise investigational Alzheimer’s drug Lu AE58054.
There was also a gain of DKK 454 million from Lundbeck’s offloading of its non-core US portfolio to Recordati in December, which was booked in the quarter.
However, the Danish company warned that it faces generic pressure on Alzheimer’s drug Ebixa in Europe and expects that brand’s revenue to fall by 30-40% over the whole of 2013.
US sales in Q1 were DKK 546 million, a fall of 31% on the same period in 2012, due largely to antidepressant Lexapro’s patent expiry.
There are bright spots too: Lundbeck’s novel pill Selincro has been given European marketing authorisation to help patients with a drink problem to cut down, after showing it could reduce alcohol consumption by nearly two-thirds after six months in patients who are high-risk drinkers.
Yet while Lundbeck chief executive Ulf Wiinberg said he was ‘very pleased’ with the company’s performance in the first three months of 2013, he sounded a warning note.
“There is also reason to be cautious as we will see increased generic pressure on Ebixa and increased launch costs throughout the year,” he went on.
“Positive pipeline progress has resulted in new product launches and with our most recent deal with Otsuka on Lu AE58054 we are on track to deliver on our long-term goals,” Wiinberg concluded.
Lundbeck’s Phase III pipeline includes desmoteplase to treat ischaemic strokes, with filing expected in 2014, and schizophrenia drug brexpiprazole, which is part of the collaboration with Otsuka.
The company has been restructuring: last year it announced plans to cut 600 jobs in Europe – reducing its cost base to help it deal with declining revenues on blockbuster antidepressant Cipralex – while continuing to invest in the US and emerging markets.
It officially opened its first manufacturing plant in China last year and says it plans to launch three new drugs there over the next three years.
In the first quarter of 2013 China was one of the three countries, along with Canada and Japan, which drove a 17% year-on-year rise in Lundbeck’s international markets.
Adam Hill
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