Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) announced before the US markets opened for trading on Monday that its cancer therapy drug Kyprolis performed better than rival treatment Velcade in treating relapsed multiple myeloma, which is the second most common form of blood cancer.
The California-based biotech said that patients in the trial taking Kyprolis after the second onset of multiple myeloma lived 18.7 months without their condition worsening, which was about twice the length of time for those taking Velcade. Furthermore, Kyprolis patients also reported fewer cases of weakness and numbness in their hands and feet.
The news that Kyprolis performed better than Velcade is big, as up until now Velcade was previously the only drug in its class. Now that Kyprolis has been established as a clinically superior drug to Velcade, it only means that the drug may one day surpass Velcade in terms of sales. Velcade generated annual sales of nearly $3 billion last year.
Patients on the Kyprolis regimen, however, reported a higher rate of cardiac and renal failures than those taking Velcade. The use of Amgen's drug also resulted in a higher incidence of hypertension in the patients.
Amgen brought Kyprolis into its fold when it acquired Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2013 for a sum of $10.4 billion, valuing each Onyx share at $125, a 44% premium to the company’s stock price of $86.82 on June 28, before the discussions between the two companies were publicly disclosed. Amgen, at that time, had highlighted the drug as a primary rationale behind the acquisition. Estimates about the drug’s potential sales varied, with Bloomberg analysts estimating the drug could rake in $3 billion in sales by 2021. The drug, however, was also a cause of concern for some analysts on the Street as at the time of the acquisition, it was unclear as to how the drug would perform against the rival drugs.
Analysts were concerned that Amgen will not be able to justify the high price paid for the Onyx acquisition, especially if Kyprolis failed to prove to be superior to Velcade — a blockbuster drug by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:TKPYY) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) — in trials or if cheaper versions of Velcade hit the market.
Kyprolis, which is already approved as a treatment option for multiple myeloma patients who have not responded to two other therapies, fetches $41,500 for a four-week treatment course. The drug recorded $331 million in global sales last year when used for the said indication, for patients who had failed two conventional therapy treatments.
Amgen only last fall asked the US Food and Drug Administration to approve the use of the drug in combination with a steroid and Revlimid to treat patients who had failed to respond to one previous therapy.
Meanwhile, some more important test results are due in 2016, when another trial called Clarion will compare Kyprolis and Velcade in patients who are newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a far bigger market.
Sean Harper, Amgen’s head of research and development, is of the opinion that results from these trials further increase the likelihood of Kyprolis being approved as a first-line treatment drug.
“You’ve got to think that it’s going to de-risk Clarion,” says Mr. Harper. “Now, it’s science, it’s an experiment, you can’t predict the results…[But] again, you’ve gone head to head, and you have a product that really looks like it’s got quite a bit more oomph to it.”
The California-based biotech said that patients in the trial taking Kyprolis after the second onset of multiple myeloma lived 18.7 months without their condition worsening, which was about twice the length of time for those taking Velcade. Furthermore, Kyprolis patients also reported fewer cases of weakness and numbness in their hands and feet.
The news that Kyprolis performed better than Velcade is big, as up until now Velcade was previously the only drug in its class. Now that Kyprolis has been established as a clinically superior drug to Velcade, it only means that the drug may one day surpass Velcade in terms of sales. Velcade generated annual sales of nearly $3 billion last year.
Patients on the Kyprolis regimen, however, reported a higher rate of cardiac and renal failures than those taking Velcade. The use of Amgen's drug also resulted in a higher incidence of hypertension in the patients.
Amgen brought Kyprolis into its fold when it acquired Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2013 for a sum of $10.4 billion, valuing each Onyx share at $125, a 44% premium to the company’s stock price of $86.82 on June 28, before the discussions between the two companies were publicly disclosed. Amgen, at that time, had highlighted the drug as a primary rationale behind the acquisition. Estimates about the drug’s potential sales varied, with Bloomberg analysts estimating the drug could rake in $3 billion in sales by 2021. The drug, however, was also a cause of concern for some analysts on the Street as at the time of the acquisition, it was unclear as to how the drug would perform against the rival drugs.
Analysts were concerned that Amgen will not be able to justify the high price paid for the Onyx acquisition, especially if Kyprolis failed to prove to be superior to Velcade — a blockbuster drug by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:TKPYY) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) — in trials or if cheaper versions of Velcade hit the market.
Kyprolis, which is already approved as a treatment option for multiple myeloma patients who have not responded to two other therapies, fetches $41,500 for a four-week treatment course. The drug recorded $331 million in global sales last year when used for the said indication, for patients who had failed two conventional therapy treatments.
Amgen only last fall asked the US Food and Drug Administration to approve the use of the drug in combination with a steroid and Revlimid to treat patients who had failed to respond to one previous therapy.
Meanwhile, some more important test results are due in 2016, when another trial called Clarion will compare Kyprolis and Velcade in patients who are newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a far bigger market.
Sean Harper, Amgen’s head of research and development, is of the opinion that results from these trials further increase the likelihood of Kyprolis being approved as a first-line treatment drug.
“You’ve got to think that it’s going to de-risk Clarion,” says Mr. Harper. “Now, it’s science, it’s an experiment, you can’t predict the results…[But] again, you’ve gone head to head, and you have a product that really looks like it’s got quite a bit more oomph to it.”
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