Aceclofenac

Isaac Hanson As Covid-19 product sales dip, other profits remain healthy. Credit: CROCOTHERY / Shutterstock.com. Each week, Pharmaceutical Technology’s journalists pick out insights from company filings that highlight sentiments in our sector. These filings signals are based on GlobalData’s analysis of earnings statements, call transcripts, investor presentations and sustainability reports. They tell us about key topics on the minds of business leaders and investors, and the themes driving a company’s activities. This new, thematic filings coverage is powered by our underlying Disruptor data which tracks all major deals, patents, company filings, hiring patterns and social media buzz across our sectors. Recommended Reports Reports LOA and PTSR Model - Naltrexone in Low Back Pain GlobalData Reports LOA and PTSR Model - (Aceclofenac + Eperisone Sr) in Low Back Pain GlobalData View all Companies Intelligence AstraZeneca Plc Takeda UK Ltd Roche Group Roche S.A. View all In the last week week, pharmaceutical giants including Takeda, AstraZeneca and Roche released their half-year earnings reports, and the numbers give cause for optimism. Covid-19 profits continue to diminish as demand for vaccines wanes, but sales growth in other product areas remains strong enough to compensate. This refocusing is reflected in the mentions of key industry themes within the filings of the three companies. Continuing a trend from Q1, weakening Covid-19 sales are impacting profits, sometimes to the point of exclusion from growth figures. AstraZeneca notes in its H1 report that total revenue was up 4%, but that figure jumps to 16% excluding Covid-19 medications. Takeda reported a similar situation, with core operating profit up 2.3% in actual foreign exchange, but down 2% at constant exchange rate, which it attributes in part to Covid-19 product sales. In its Q1 earnings call , CFO Costa Saroukos explained: “This decline reflects product mix due to generic entry and lower Covid-19 vaccine revenues and also continued investment in R&D and data”. Roche Group’s core profit was in fact down 6% , driven predominantly by declining Covid-19 product sales, which fell by CHF 5bn ($5.75bn) in Q2. Despite this, base business sales grew by 8%, indicating long-term sustainability, especially as a large portion of this growth was coming from new medication. Declining Covid-19 product sales were inevitable as the global vaccination rate continues to increase and governmental funding for prevention tapers off. The exceptional profits created during the pandemic provided big pharma companies with healthy cash reserves, and the return to normal operation appears to be going smoothly. Another indicator of a healthy market is the mass investment in artificial intelligence (AI) that many of these companies are undertaking. Of particular interest is Roche’s in-house language model that functions similarly to ChatGPT announced in early 2022.

Robert Barrie Opfolda is intended to be used as part of a two-part therapy, which includes Pombiliti (cipaglucosidase alfa). Image credit: Shutterstock/Sonia Bonet Amicus Therapeutics announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion for Opfolda (miglustat) intended for treatment of Pompe Disease. The CHMP used evidence from a Phase III trial ( NCT03729362 ) involving 123 patients with late-onset Pompe Disease (LOPD) to adopt a positive opinion for Opfolda. A decision from the European Commission (EC) is expected in Q3 2023. Yesterday, the EC released broad reforms , which included a stipulation that the EC will award approval decisions in 46 days after a CHMP opinion, instead of 67 days. Recommended Reports Reports LOA and PTSR Model - Naltrexone in Low Back Pain GlobalData Reports LOA and PTSR Model - (Aceclofenac + Eperisone Sr) in Low Back Pain GlobalData View all Pompe Disease, also known as glycogen storage type II, is a rare inherited lysosomal disorder caused by a deficiency of enzyme acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) leading to the accumulation of glycogen in skeletal and cardiac muscles. Opfolda is intended to be used as part of a two-part therapy, which includes Pombiliti (cipaglucosidase alfa), the biologic component, which is an enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) to help break down glycogen. Opfolda is a pharmacokinetic enzyme stabilizer that minimises the loss of cipaglucosidase alfa’s activity. If approved, this will become the first two-component therapy approved in the European Union for late-onset Pompe Disease (LOPD). The recommendation follows Pombilit’s EC approval in March 2023. The treatment will go up against Sanofi’s Nexviazyme (avalglucosidase alfa-ngpt) which received an EC approval in June 2022, following a US Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) approval in August 2021. Sanofi markets avalglucosidase alfa as Lumizyme in the US to treat LOPD since its approval in 2010. Sanofi’s Nexviazyme generated €196m ($215m) in global revenues in 2022, while Lumizyme was associated with €958m ($1.05bn) according to the company’s full-year report . The market for Pompe disease is expected to grow as new therapies get approved. “Based on the strength of the label and our launch readiness, once fully approved we believe there is significant opportunity to bring Pombiliti and Opfolda as the first two-component therapy for adult LOPD patients in Europe, and to establish this novel treatment combination as a potential new standard of care in Pompe disease,” said Bradley Campbell, president and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics.