Q2 Earnings Round-Up

Below are some highlights from second quarter earnings reports recently released by biologics and biosimilar companies.

  • Coherus reported that it has cash and cash equivalents of $118.3 million as of June 30, 2017 and that its total revenue for the first half of 2017 was $1.6 million.  In response to a question posed during its Q2 earnings call about whether Coherus has sufficient cash to make it to the point where it can expect an approval for one of its biosimilar candidates, Coherus CFO, Jean Viret, stated that Coherus is managing its cash very carefully and that Coherus anticipates opening discussions with potential development partners after September 12, when Coherus expects decisions on its petitions for inter partes review of AbbVie’s ‘619 patent.
  • Momenta reported that, primarily as a result of bringing the development of Momenta’s Humira (adalimumab) biosimilar candidate fully in-house after the termination of Momenta’s collaboration with Baxalta on the drug,  Momenta’s Q2 2017 revenue from research and development decreased to $4 million compared to $6 million in Q2 2016 and its research and development expenses increased to $39 million from $33 million in Q2 2016.
  • Pfizer reported that its biosimilars revenue for Q2 2017 was $121 million, which represented an increase of 60% over Q2 2016, and includes $23 million of sales in the U.S.   On the earnings call, Pfizer executives stated that Inflectra (infliximab) had 2.3% market share in the U.S. by the end of June and noted the “challenging marketplace dynamics” for biosimilars in the U.S.
  • Fresenius reported that its acquisition of Merck’s biosimilars business is fully on track and that the deal is expected to close in Q3 2017.    Fresenius anticipates expenditures of ~50 million Euros for the further development of the business.   During its earnings call, Fresenius stated that it expects to file for approval of its adalimumab biosimilar in Europe in Q4 of this year.
  • AbbVie reported that global Humira sales for Q2 2017 increased 14.9% on an operational basis compared to Q2 2016, “despite the introduction of new mechanisms of action and competition from indirect biosimilars.”  Humira sales in the U.S. for Q2 2017 increased 18% over Q2 2016.
  • Amgen reported that Neupogen (filgrastim) sales were down 30% year-over-year and that the impact of short-acting biosimilar competition on Neupogen was in line with prior trends.  Amgen also reported that Enbrel (etanercept) sales declined 1% year-over-year but increased 24% on a quarter-over-quarter basis.