Eisai delays Alzheimer’s patient goal deadline amid subpar sales for Leqembi – Endpoints News
https://endpts.com/eisai-delays-alzheimers-patient-goal-deadline-amid-subpar-sales-for-leqembi/
February 6, 2024 11:50 AM EST
Pharma
With subpar sales for Leqembi, Eisai delays Alzheimer’s patient goal deadline
Ayisha Sharma
News Reporter
Eisai said it could struggle to meet uptake targets for its Biogen-partnered Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi by the end of March as it detailed disappointing fiscal third quarter sales for the intravenous therapy.
Leqembi won US accelerated approval in January 2023 with full approval following in July. Eisai has high hopes for the treatment, projecting it could reach $7 billion in global sales by 2030.
But Leqembi sales of almost $7 million in the three months leading up to December 2023 fell short of Visible Alpha consensus estimates of $9.3 million. The drug has been administered to around 2,000 patients in the US, with four times that number on wait lists, Eisai’s global Alzheimer’s officer Keisuke Naito said on its earnings call Tuesday that was translated live from Japanese.
“Currently, 2,000 patients are on Leqembi and 10,000 is the target [by year’s end] which is rather challenging,” Naito noted. “But over the medium to long term — with triaging, blood-based biomarker tests and confirmatory testing — we would like to be able to expand our business.”
Eisai anticipates a one to three month delay to reach the 10,000-patient goal, but Jefferies analysts said it could take longer seeing as “launch dynamics have been slow to begin with.” The Japanese pharma spent roughly $505 million to promote Leqembi in the fiscal year to date, although Biogen has reimbursed some of this.
Eisai is focused on supporting US medics to establish early Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment pathways covering “treatment policies, SOPs and other processes that differ from one medical institution to another,” per a company presentation.
To help develop these pathways, Eisai has appointed neurology account specialists who act as liaisons for primary care physicians, community neurologists, integrated delivery networks and nurse practitioners, among others. The company is working to increase the number of specialists under its leadership, including those from Biogen personnel.
“We have heard that [previous] poor coordination between the two companies had been an issue in terms of facilitating specialist access,” Cantor analysts said, adding that a more integrated salesforce could bode well for future performance.
Elsewhere, the Japanese company is anticipating a CHMP opinion on Leqembi by the end of March which could lead to an EU approval in June. Leqembi was launched in Japan at the end of last year with around 100 patients in the country having started treatment as of Feb. 5.
https://endpts.com/eisai-delays-alzheimers-patient-goal-deadline-amid-subpar-sales-for-leqembi/
February 6, 2024 11:50 AM EST
Pharma
With subpar sales for Leqembi, Eisai delays Alzheimer’s patient goal deadline
Ayisha Sharma
News Reporter
Eisai said it could struggle to meet uptake targets for its Biogen-partnered Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi by the end of March as it detailed disappointing fiscal third quarter sales for the intravenous therapy.
Leqembi won US accelerated approval in January 2023 with full approval following in July. Eisai has high hopes for the treatment, projecting it could reach $7 billion in global sales by 2030.
But Leqembi sales of almost $7 million in the three months leading up to December 2023 fell short of Visible Alpha consensus estimates of $9.3 million. The drug has been administered to around 2,000 patients in the US, with four times that number on wait lists, Eisai’s global Alzheimer’s officer Keisuke Naito said on its earnings call Tuesday that was translated live from Japanese.
“Currently, 2,000 patients are on Leqembi and 10,000 is the target [by year’s end] which is rather challenging,” Naito noted. “But over the medium to long term — with triaging, blood-based biomarker tests and confirmatory testing — we would like to be able to expand our business.”
Eisai anticipates a one to three month delay to reach the 10,000-patient goal, but Jefferies analysts said it could take longer seeing as “launch dynamics have been slow to begin with.” The Japanese pharma spent roughly $505 million to promote Leqembi in the fiscal year to date, although Biogen has reimbursed some of this.
Eisai is focused on supporting US medics to establish early Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment pathways covering “treatment policies, SOPs and other processes that differ from one medical institution to another,” per a company presentation.
To help develop these pathways, Eisai has appointed neurology account specialists who act as liaisons for primary care physicians, community neurologists, integrated delivery networks and nurse practitioners, among others. The company is working to increase the number of specialists under its leadership, including those from Biogen personnel.
“We have heard that [previous] poor coordination between the two companies had been an issue in terms of facilitating specialist access,” Cantor analysts said, adding that a more integrated salesforce could bode well for future performance.
Elsewhere, the Japanese company is anticipating a CHMP opinion on Leqembi by the end of March which could lead to an EU approval in June. Leqembi was launched in Japan at the end of last year with around 100 patients in the country having started treatment as of Feb. 5.