Biogen CEO says company 'lost its way,' cuts $125M MS partnership amid declining revenue

15 Feb 2023
endpts.com
Drug ApprovalLicense out/inAccelerated Approval
Biogen has given up on orelabrutinib, an BTK inhibitorBTK inhibitor for the potential treatment of multiple sclerosis, after paying $125 million for it in 2021. “In February 2023 Biogen notified InnoCare Pharma Limited of its decision to terminate its license and collaboration agreement with InnoCare for orelabrutinib,” the company announced in its Q4 and 2022 financial update today. Biogen paid big for the worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the drug as well as rights to indications in certain unnamed autoimmune diseases outside of China. President and CEO Chris Viehbacher said during a call with reporters on Wednesday that recent times have been a struggle for Biogen. “Over the last couple of years, the company has lost its way somewhat and now is in a declining revenue situation. So the first order of the day is really to restore the growth of the company,” Viehbacher said. Biogen announced its decision to dump orelabrutinib at the same time it reported that it’s expecting to lose money on the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi (lecanemab) in 2023, which the FDA granted an accelerated approval for last year, but which may convert to a full approval early this year. With “modest in-market revenue” in 2023 and commercialization expenses exceeding revenue, “Biogen will record its share of net commercial profits and losses for LEQEMBI in the U.S. as a component of total revenue, which is expected to be a headwind to revenue in 2023,” the company said. The FDA approved the monoclonal antibody earlier this year to slow the neurodegenerative disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment from Alzheimer’s who have confirmed presence of amyloid beta pathology prior to treatment. But coverage limitations from CMS for the entire class of anti-amyloid treatments mean access will initially be restricted. When questioned on Wednesday’s Q4 call about pricing the drug strategically, Viehbacher said he thinks patient costs for the pricey drug will lower over time. “We’re talking about $26,500 for the drug costs, but there’s a lot more cost to the system for the treatment of patients,” Viehbacher noted. “And as we move into maintenance dosing regimens, we may find that the average annual cost of a patient goes down although we’re not necessarily touching the price of the drug.” Aduhelm also took a dive in Q4 with just $0.3 million in sales, down from $1 million in Q4 of 2021, thanks in a large part to those same CMS restrictions. Biogen reported Q4 revenue of $2.5 billion and full-year 2022 revenue of $10.1 billion. That’s down from $11 billion in 2021 and $13.4 billion in 2020.
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