Cancer and TNF antibodies boost Biologics Sales in 2007

Major cancer antibodies and anti-TNF antibodies superseded the erythropoietins from the top position of the best selling classes of Biologics in 2007 facilitated by the US$ currency exchange situation. Sales of major recombinant biologics were US$ 78 bln

BARCELONA, Spain | March 28, 2008 | The Business Intelligence firm La Merie S.L. reported today that for the first time erythropoietins have been superseded by the major cancer antibodies Rituxan, Herceptin, Avastin and Erbitux as the number one top selling class of biologics with the highest growth rate of 48 % and combined 2007 sales of US$ 15.74 bln. Epoetin alfa brands still are number one drugs with 2007 sales of US$ 5.76 bln, but closely followed by (anti-TNF) etanercept with 2007 sales of US$ 5.45 bln and a positive double digit growth rate in contrast to epoetin. The Lucentis antibody for treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has become the newest blockbuster biologic with sales higher than US$ 1 bln in 2007. New enzyme replacement products explain the 2nd strongest growth by 34.1 % of this class of biologic therapies. The continued double digit growth of novel insulin analogs made the class of recombinant insulins pass the threshold of US$ 10 bln sales in 2007. These results and more were found in an an elaboration prepared by La Merie Business Intelligence and published in a complimentary report on March 27, 2008. The document entitled “TOP 20 Biologics 2007” can be acquired as a free download at La Merie’s News Center and Online Store PipelineReview.com (www.pipelinereview.com).

The “TOP 20 Biologics 2007” report presents in tabular format 2007 sales figures of the TOP 20 selling single biologic products, of the 13 top-selling classes of recombinant biologicals, i.e. proteins and antibodies (excluding vaccines and peptides), and in detail the sales figures of the individual products of the 13 top selling classes of biologics. In addition, information is provided on brand and generic names, target, class of compound, originator and licensee companies, product category and major indications. All information is fully referenced by a hyperlink leading to the original source of information.

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La Merie S.L. 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.

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PipelineReview.com is the News Center and Online Store of La Merie Business Intelligence focused on Research and Development in the Biopharmaceutical Industry. Visitors of PipelineReview.com will find R&D relevant press releases and can receive selected R&D news from one or more of the site’s News Channels. FREE R&D Newletter conveniently brings via e-mail a daily or weekly selection of the most interesting news from biopharmaceutical R&D. For more information visit www.pipelinereview.com.

SOURCE: La Merie