Amgen's Q3 2024 revenue rises, highlights rare diseases

Amgen has reported a significant rise in its total revenue for the third quarter of 2024, reaching $8.5 billion. This marks a 23% increase compared to the $6.9 billion revenue in the same period last year. The surge in revenue is attributed to a 24% increase in product sales, with ten products experiencing double-digit growth. Among these products are Repatha (evolocumab), Tezspire (tezepelumab-ekko), Evenity (romosozumab-aqqg), Tavneos (avacopan), and Blincyto (blinatumomab).

Robert Bradway, Amgen's chairman and CEO, highlighted in a recent conference call that the company's innovative oncology portfolio grew by 17%. Additionally, the rare disease portfolio saw a 21% year-over-year increase, achieving a $1.2 billion revenue in Q3. This growth was notably driven by Tavneos, as well as Tepezza (teprotumumab-trbw), Krystexxa (pegloticase), and Uplizna (inebilizumab-cdon). These three inflammatory treatments were acquired through the $27.8 billion purchase of Horizon Therapeutics in October 2023. This acquisition was completed after resolving an administrative lawsuit with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in September 2023.

Following the acquisition, Amgen has initiated several new projects in the rare disease sector. Jay Bradner, the company's Chief Scientific Officer, mentioned that Amgen has set up a dedicated leadership team for rare disease drug development. This initiative aims to significantly expand the company's rare disease drug portfolio in the coming years.

Despite the successful integration of the new products from Horizon, Amgen decided to discontinue the study of fipaxalparant, a lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (LPAR1) antagonist, for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This decision followed a Phase II study in which the drug did not meet its primary or secondary endpoints. However, fipaxalparant is still being assessed for treating diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

Looking ahead, Amgen is preparing to release topline data from the Phase II study of MariTide (maridebart cafraglutide) by late 2024. This study is focused on adults who are overweight or obese, with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). The company is also planning to launch an extensive Phase III program targeting obesity, obesity-related conditions, and T2D, as stated by Bradner.