The Upjohn Co.

CRANBURY, N.J.--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT), a fully integrated, late-stage biotechnology company advancing a sustainable pipeline of genetic therapies for rare disorders with high unmet need, today announced the appointment of Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D., as an independent director to its Board of Directors. Dr. Dolsten is an accomplished industry executive with extensive global pharmaceutical management experience. “ As an industry-leading pharmaceutical executive, I am very pleased to welcome Mikael to our Board of Directors,” said Gaurav Shah, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Rocket Pharma. “ His research and development experience will help advance our leading scientific capabilities and contribute to our mission of developing and delivering potentially transformative treatments for patients.” Throughout his career, Dr. Dolsten has held several positions and is currently the Chief Scientific Officer, President, Research & Development (R&D) at Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), focused on advancing gene therapies, small-molecule medicines, biotherapeutics, and vaccines. Dr. Dolsten’s previous roles include President of Research at Wyeth and Executive Vice President, Head of Worldwide Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, and senior R&D positions at AstraZeneca, Pharmacia, and Upjohn. He is a member of the Board of Overseers for the Scripps Research Institute and a Foreign Member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He also advised the Obama administration on regulatory and drug development issues and then Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative. “ Rocket has an impressive pipeline of clinical programs which have shown tremendous promise potentially curing genetic disease,” said Dr. Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientific Officer and President, Pfizer Research & Development. “ I am excited to bring my passion and experience to Rocket as it becomes a commercial organization and strives to reach more patients in need.” About Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT) is a fully integrated, late-stage biotechnology company advancing a sustainable pipeline of investigational genetic therapies designed to correct the root cause of complex and rare disorders. Rocket’s innovative multi-platform approach allows us to design the optimal gene therapy for each indication, creating potentially transformative options that enable people living with devastating rare diseases to experience long and full lives. Rocket’s lentiviral (LV) vector-based hematology portfolio consists of late-stage programs for Fanconi Anemia (FA), a difficult-to-treat genetic disease that leads to bone marrow failure (BMF) and potentially cancer, Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I), a severe pediatric genetic disorder that causes recurrent and life-threatening infections which are frequently fatal, and Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKD), a monogenic red blood cell disorder resulting in increased red cell destruction and mild to life-threatening anemia. Rocket’s adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector-based cardiovascular portfolio includes a late-stage program for Danon Disease, a devastating heart failure condition resulting in thickening of the heart, an early-stage program in clinical trials for PKP2-arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a life-threatening heart failure disease causing ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, and a pre-clinical program targeting BAG3-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart failure condition that causes enlarged ventricles. For more information about Rocket, please visit www.rocketpharma.com and follow us on LinkedIn , YouTube, and X . Rocket Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Rocket’s future expectations, plans and prospects that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they do not materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We make such forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this release are forward-looking statements. You should not place reliance on these forward-looking statements, which often include words such as “could,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “will give,” “estimate,” “seek,” “will,” “may,” “suggest” or similar terms, variations of such terms or the negative of those terms. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning Rocket’s expectations regarding the safety and effectiveness of product candidates that Rocket is developing to treat Fanconi Anemia (FA), Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I), Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKD), Danon Disease (DD) and other diseases, the expected timing and data readouts of Rocket’s ongoing and planned clinical trials, the expected timing and outcome of Rocket’s regulatory interactions and planned submissions, including the timing and outcome of the FDA’s review of the additional CMC information that Rocket will provide in response to the FDA’s request, the safety, effectiveness and timing of pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, Rocket’s ability to establish key collaborations and vendor relationships for its product candidates, Rocket’s ability to develop sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market its product candidates, Rocket’s ability to expand its pipeline to target additional indications that are compatible with its gene therapy technologies, Rocket’s ability to transition to a commercial stage pharmaceutical company, and Rocket’s expectation that its cash, cash equivalents and investments will be sufficient to funds its operations into 2026. Although Rocket believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, Rocket cannot guarantee such outcomes. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, without limitation, Rocket’s dependence on third parties for development, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of product candidates, the outcome of litigation, unexpected expenditures, Rocket’s competitors’ activities, including decisions as to the timing of competing product launches, pricing and discounting, Rocket’s ability to develop, acquire and advance product candidates into, enroll a sufficient number of patients into, and successfully complete, clinical studies, the integration of new executive team members and the effectiveness of the newly configured corporate leadership team, Rocket’s ability to acquire additional businesses, form strategic alliances or create joint ventures and its ability to realize the benefit of such acquisitions, alliances or joint ventures, Rocket’s ability to obtain and enforce patents to protect its product candidates, and its ability to successfully defend against unforeseen third-party infringement claims, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Rocket’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed February 27, 2024 with the SEC and subsequent filings with the SEC including our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All such statements speak only as of the date made, and Rocket undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Viatris completed the last of its $3.37bn divestitures, signing a deal with Cooper Consumer Health to transfer of its OTC business. Credit: SOPA Images via Getty Images. Viatris announced the finalisation of a transaction to divest its over-the-counter (OTC) business, completing the last step in its previously declared $3.37bn divestitures. The US-headquartered company divested its entire OTC business to Cooper Consumer Health, a European OTC drug manufacturer, on 3 July. In the agreement, Cooper Consumer Health has gained access to two manufacturing plants based in Merignac, France; and Confienza, Italy, and a research and development site in Monza, Italy. In its strategic plan, Viatris retained the rights for its blockbuster generic drugs Viagra (sildenafil) and Dymista (azelastine hydrochloride and fluticasone propionate) alongside certain other OTC therapies. Viatris first spread word of the OTC divestiture in October 2023 declaring definitive agreements to divest other areas of the company. Over the last few months, the nutraceutical company Matrix Pharma Private gained access to Viatris’ active pharmaceutical ingredients division and Spanish pharmaceutical company Insud Pharma acquired Viatris’ women’s health business. The latter deal gave Insud Pharma two manufacturing plants in India. Furthermore, a December 2023 definitive agreement transferred Viatris’ European rights for therapies such as Duphaston (Dydrogesterone) and Femoston (estradiol) to Theramex . The generics company also divested commercialisation rights in some non-core markets that were acquired, when Viatris was formed through the combination of Mylan and UpJohn. As per a 3 July press release, Viatris made the various divestitures to help achieve its “long-term gross leverage target” and “increase shareholder return through share buybacks and dividends”. The generics company also plans to use the money to acquire, develop and commercialise more therapies in the future. Last year, the company generated a total revenue of $15.4bn, reaching a free cash flow of $2.4bn. By 28 January 2024, the company had already completed $250m in share repurchases for this year. See Also: Left in limbo: When pharma halts rare disease research The pathway to preventative health: How pharma can support the NHS Long Term Plan In November 2022, Viatris released a strategic update detailing a two-stage plan for business growth with plans to end Phase I by the end of this year and execute Phase II between 2024 and 2028. In the first phase, the company aimed to complete all planned divestitures, have seven consecutive quarters of strong performance and continue progress on key science programmes among other things. At the January 2024 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Viatris announced that it had achieved its goals for Phase I and will be advancing to Phase II, which prioritises the growth of the company’s ophthalmology division and prevention of base business erosion.

In the first quarter, 18 of the biopharma industry's top 25 companies posted year-over-year revenue increases, led by Eli Lilly with a 28% gain. The momentum the biopharma industry showed in the fourth quarter of 2023 has continued into this year. With 18 of the industry’s top 25 companies achieving year-over-year revenue gains, the first quarter of 2024 nearly matched the final quarter of last year, when 21 of the industry's top 25 companies posted sales increases. Additionally, nine companies realized double-digit growth in the first three months of this year, which was one more than in the previous period. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/17990552/ Once again, the dominant players were the sellers of GLP-1 diabetes and obesity drugs. While Novo Nordisk dropped out of the top spot with its 22% year-over-year revenue increase, Eli Lilly took over as No. 1 thanks to its 28% quarterly boost. Lilly may hold the top spot for a while. Last month, GlobalData projected Lilly’s Mounjaro will overtake Novo’s Ozempic as the top blood sugar-modulating treatment, generating staggering sales of $34 billion by 2029. “Mounjaro’s novel dual mechanism not only underscores its clinical value but also its potential to become the top-selling drug in its category,” Eleni Tokali, pharma analyst at GlobalData, said in a release. “Mounjaro’s projected growth rate signifies a potential shift in market dynamics in Eli Lilly’s favor.” While Novo’s older GLP-1 medicines outsold Lilly’s by a margin of better than 2 to 1, the momentum appears to be on Lilly’s side. In the first quarter, while Ozempic generated sales of $4.3 billion, good for a 35% growth rate, Mounjaro brought in $1.8 billion, triple its haul from the first quarter of 2023. As for the companies’ obesity follow-on treatments, Novo’s Wegovy pulled in $1.3 billion, a 107% increase, while Lilly’s Zepbound accounted for $517 million in sales in its first full quarter on the market. While Novo’s 22% growth rate put it among the top companies in the industry in the first quarter, it was a decline from the gaudy 37% growth rate it enjoyed in the previous quarter. Novo’s 65.3 billion Danish kroner ($9.4 billion) in the first quarter also was a slight decline from the 65.9 billion Danish kroner the company achieved in the previous quarter. It was the first sequential drop for Novo since the second quarter of 2022, indicating it is not scaling up its manufacturing quickly enough to meet the overwhelming demand for semaglutide. The company hopes to remedy that with its acquisition of three plants from CDMO giant Catalent. Lilly’s edge came despite its own manufacturing challenges that are limiting its ability to meet the demand for its diabetes and obesity drugs. “Both Mounjaro and Zepbound are expected to remain supply-constrained as growing volume production is overwhelmed by building wholesaler backorders and increasing demand,” Third Bridge analyst Lee Brown recently wrote. Double-digit gainers Seven other companies—including three from Japan—realized double-digit growth in the first quarter, though there were asterisks next to a few of them. While revenues for Daiichi Sankyo were up by 25%, much of the boost can be attributed to the company’s sale of three antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) investigational treatments to Merck for $4.5 billion upfront. Daiichi is deferring the payments and booking them as revenue. Last year as a result of the deal, Daiichi jacked up its projection of 2024 revenue by 100 billion Japanese yen ($662 million). Another Japanese firm, Astellas, saw a 17% revenue increase in the quarter, though part of the gain can be attributed to geographic atrophy treatment Izervay. Astellas acquired the drug last year in the company’s largest-ever M&A deal, a $5.9 billion buyout of Iveric Bio. Amgen’s sales were up 22% from the first quarter of 2023. But of the firm's $1.3 billion year-over-year revenue bump, $914 million can be chalked up to products gained in the company’s buyout of Horizon Therapeutics. Companies that achieved mostly organic double-digit growth were AstraZeneca (17%), Vertex (13%), Takeda (10%) and Novartis (10%). AZ and Vertex also showed their momentum with sequential revenue increases of 6% and 7%, respectively. AstraZeneca was boosted by its wealth of blockbusters that are in their prime, including heart treatment Farxiga, rare disease drug Ultomiris and cancer therapies Calquence, Imfinzi and Tagrisso. Vertex continues to climb behind its cystic fibrosis drugs while laying the groundwork for the launch of sickle cell disease gene therapy Casgevy. Single-digit gainers Several giants of the biopharma industry are among the companies that posted single-digit revenue increases in the first quarter, including Merck (9%), GSK (6%), Bristol Myers Squibb (5%), Gilead (5%), Teva (4%), Sanofi (2%), Johnson & Johnson (2%) and AbbVie (1%). Merck’s rise paralleled the continued growth of mega-blockbuster Keytruda, which was up 20% to $6.9 billion in the quarter. Meanwhile, HPV vaccine Gardasil was up 14% to $2.2 billion. Together, the two products accounted for 58% of the company’s revenue of $15.9 billion for the quarter. GSK and J&J showed growth after a year in which they shed their consumer health units in an industry trend where companies are becoming increasingly focused on their prescription drug units. Gilead’s 5% increase came after it was down 4% in the previous quarter, owing largely to an 18% boost in its oncology products and a 9% increase in its liver disease portfolio. On the downside, in addition to reporting its revenue increase, BMS also revealed a massive cost-cutting plan in which it will lay off more than 2,000 employees. The news came months after the company pulled off pricey acquisitions of Mirati, Karuna and RayzeBio in an M&A splurge.   Seven in decline in Q1 Of the companies that saw sales declines in the first quarter, the new surprise member is Regeneron, which had a 1% drop despite the continued growth of Dupixent. The decline for the New York biotech is due largely to a drop in sales for eye disease treatment Eylea. The company’s Eylea partner Bayer also was down by 3% in the period, continuing a trend for the troubled German company which is undergoing a massive restructuring under CEO Bill Anderson. With quarterly sales falling by 19%, Pfizer was the only company in the industry that sustained a double-digit decrease in the first quarter. The fall, of course, is due to declining demand for its COVID products. That effect should now be in the rear-view mirror, the company said. There were plenty of positive numbers for Pfizer as its $14.9 billion revenue haul was $1 billion higher than the analyst consensus. It also was the third straight quarter in which Pfizer had a sequential revenue increase. Excluding sales of COVID products, the company was up 11% in the most recent quarter. Two other companies that saw sales declines in the quarter—Roche at 6% and Merck KGaA at 5%—also chalked it up to the loss of revenue from COVID products and related services. Roche’s drop came despite skyrocketing sales of its eye disease treatment Vabysmo, which has quickly taken market share from Eylea. Other companies that suffered revenue declines were Biogen, at 7%, and Viatris at 2%. With sales falling for its multiple sclerosis products, Biogen sees the trend continuing in 2024 as it is projecting an annual revenue decline for the fifth straight year. Viatris’ decline also reflects an overall trend for the company which has seen annual revenues fall each year since 2021 when it was formed by merging generics powers Mylan and Upjohn.