Adderall hits Shire sales
pharmafile | July 30, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Adderall, Shire, Vyvanse, ldx
Falling sales of Adderall XR have hit Shire in the second quarter of the year, with the ADHD drug dropping 16% year-on-year to $112 million primarily as a result of lower US prescription demand.
Despite this generic erosion, Shire’s sales overall for the three months to 30 June rose 7% to $1.2 billion, with another ADHD brand Vyvanse growing 13% compared to the same period last year, posting sales of £300 million.
The company has pledged to ‘increase commercial investment’ behind Vyvanse, and hopes lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX), its active ingredient, will be effective in other disorders: late-stage trials are ongoing in major depressive disorder and Shire plans Phase III studies in binge eating disorder and in the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
“We’re successfully executing our strategy, which is to grow by focusing on innovation-driven specialty products through both R&D and M&A,” suggested Shire chief executive Flemming Ornskov.
“We’re enhancing our pipeline productivity,” he went on, pointing to the LDX programmes and Shire’s work on lifitegrast for dry eye disease.
The company is “confident in our ability to grow operating margins going forward,” he concluded.
Q2 bright spots included Elaprase, whose sales were up 22% to $149 million, Shire said the drug’s performance benefited from the timing of shipments to markets with large infrequent orders.
Meanwhile Lialda/Mezavant rose 46% to $138 million – in part due to new managed care contracts in the US – and Intuniv was up 31% to $90 million.
On the debit side of the equation – apart from Adderall – were Dermagraft (down 57% to $22 million) and Replagal (a drop of 7% to $114 million).
“The return of competition to the Fabry market in Europe was a factor in the lower Replagal product sales, as was the timing of shipments which have distorted quarter-on-quarter growth rates in both 2013 and 2012,” the company said in a statement.
However, not all of the slowdown in the three-month period this year for those three products can be explained by a comparatively strong Q2 2012.
Shire admits it is narrowing overall estimates for royalties and other revenues for the rest of the year, which are now expected to be 35-40% lower than 2012.
Adam Hill
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