Mid-cap biotech companies increase revenues to $26.5 billion

Research and consulting firm GlobalData has released a report comparing the competitive positions of 35 mid-cap biotechnology companies, finding an increase in combined total revenues from $24.8 billion in 2013 to $26.5 billion in 2014. The group’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.9% was marginally slower than during the previous five years, where total revenues for this peer group expanded at a CAGR of 25.2% between 2009 and 2013.

GlobalData’s healthcare industry analyst, Adam Dion, said the rise in biotech peer group total revenue over the past year was driven by Regeneron and Alexion, both of which posted sales of more than $2 billion in 2014.

“Regeneron’s sales grew by 34% in 2014 as the company continued its commercialisation of Eylea (afilibercept) to markets outside the US, including for the treatment of macular oedema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion in both the EU and Japan,” he said.

“Alexion saw sales from its orphan drug Soliris (eculizumab) increase from $1.6 billion in 2013 to $2.2 billion in 2014. Alexion reported a higher volume of unit shipments and better-than-expected demand for Soliris across all geographic regions, especially in the EU, thanks to a reimbursement agreement with the French Government.”

Pharmacyclics, which was acquired by pharmaceutical giant AbbVie in March, was the peer group revenue growth leader in 2014, with a 180% increase in sales to $729 million, representing an absolute dollar increase of nearly $470 million. GlobalData attributes this surge to Pharmacyclics recognising nearly $493 million in new product revenue from sales of Imbruvica (ibrutinib), the company’s BTK inhibitor approved to treat blood cancer patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma.

But some companies experienced sales decreases - most notably Vertex, which saw revenues decline by 52.1%, from $1.2 billion in 2013 to $580.4 million in 2014. Dion said, “This drop was largely attributable to sliding sales of Incivek (telaprevir), Vertex’s hepatitis C virus protease inhibitor, which fell by $442.3 million compared with 2013, primarily as a result of increased competition from Gilead’s Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Janssen’s Olysio (simeprevir).”

The report is available from the GlobalData website.