Innovation with therapeutic antibodies drives 2014 sales of recombinant biologics

STUTTGART, Germany I March 18, 2015 I This year’s systematic comparison of the US$ sales of recombinant therapeutic antibodies and proteins in the year 2014 based on standardized currency exchange rates as of March 17, 2015 suffered from the strong rise of the US$ relative to other currencies, mainly the EURO. The review, conducted by La Merie Publishing, reveals that overall biologics sales in 2014 OS US$ 141 bln were virtually identical to those of US$ 140 in the year 2013. However, the relative weight of antibody sales increased by 8.6% and compensated the decrease of therapeutic proteins by 8.4%. European companies such as Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Merck Serono lost positions in the ranking list of companies with biologics sales due to their strong exposure to currency exchange influencies.

The decrease of protein sales not only was influenced by currency effects, but also by lack of introduction of new therapeutic proteins into the market, i.e. innovation, increasing competition with other treatment modalities, e.g. in hepatitis C (interferon alpha) and cost contaiment pressures of healthcare payers. On the other hand, a number of new therapeutic antibodies have been launched in the recent years and now are strongly driving the increase of antibody sales. While overall 2014 sales of cancer antibodies remained nearly the same, antibodies to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases strongly gained momentum with an increase of 12.9% for anti-TNF antibodies, but even more with an increase of 20.1% for other anti-inflammatory antibodies. More than US$ 47 bln (33% of all biologics sales) were earned by the total of all anti-inflammatory antibodies in 2014.

Thirty-eight biologics achieved blockbuster status in 2014 with annual sales of more than US$ 1 bln. The top three blockbuster biologics were the anti-TNF antibodies Humira, Remicade and Enbrel. The best selling therapeutic protein was insulin glargine from Sanofi. New in the Blockbuster Biologics list was the anti-CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab.

The report „2014 Sales of Recombinant Therapeutic Antibodies & Proteins“ can be acquired at La Merie Publishing’s News Center and Online Store www.PipelineReview.com: http://pipelinereview.com/index.php/store-online/2014-sales-of-recombinant-therapeutic-antibodies-proteins-detail

The report provides a compilation of the sales data of recombinant therapeutic proteins and antibodies in the calendar year 2014. Sales data were obtained from company publications and refer to branded products originating from companies based in regulated markets. All sales data were converted from their original, published currency into US$. Sales figures represent the sum of revenues in all territories where the products were marketed.

Sales data are presented for each product within the respective class of biologics. The data were analyzed to establish a ranking list of blockbuster biologics with 2014 sales higher than US$ 1 bln. Another ranking list was prepared for companies according to biologics sales in 2014 and the percentage of antibody sales vs protein sales.

About La Merie

La Merie Publishing is a Business Intelligence enterprise fully dedicated to provide high quality R&D information to the biopharmaceutical industry. La Merie offers individual consultancy services and publishes reports and periodicals. For more information visit www.lamerie.com and www.PipelineReview.com, the Biologics News Center and Online Store of La Merie Publishing.

SOURCE: La Merie Publishing