Biogen touted strong Q3 sales of its Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi a day after announcing a deal worth up to $1.45 billion with Neomorph to discover and develop molecular glue degraders.
Biogen came out on top in the third quarter, exceeding revenue expectations overall and beating Wall Street expectations for Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, which is slowly beginning to pick up steam after a slow start.
The Cambridge, Mass.–based biotech reported $2.5 billion for the third quarter and raised its guidance for the year, expecting earnings per share (EPS) between $16.10 and $16.60, up from between $15.75 and $16.25, according to its report released Wednesday.
In June and July 2024, Biogen hit $237 per share, but since then, its shares have been consistently falling. In premarket trading Wednesday morning, the company’s shares were down more than 1%, sitting at $180 per share.
Sales of Biogen’s multiple sclerosis drugs were down across the board compared to Q3 2023, with Tecfidera falling to $232.8 million from $239.5 million and Tysabri down to $406.1 million from $456.3 million. On Biogen’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call, CEO Chris Viehbacher noted the company’s pivot away from its “legacy multiple sclerosis franchise” as one of five key primary objectives aimed at returning the company to growth.
Biogen predicts total 2024 sales to decline by a low-single-digit percentage compared with last year but said it expects these decreases in multiple sclerosis product revenue to be offset by new product launches.
One key product launch is that of Leqembi, which received full FDA approval in July 2023 but has struggled to gain traction in the market, in part due to delays in building intravenous infusion infrastructure, diagnostic test requirements and regular brain scans. However, sales have been increasing over the last few quarters, CNBC reported. The anti-amyloid antibody brought in $67 million in sales in the third quarter, exceeding Wall Street predictions of $50 million.
Also on the neuro front, Biogen and partner Sage announced they will not pursue further development of recently approved postpartum depression (PPD) drug Zurzuvae in major depressive disorder (MDD). This news was revealed by Sage in its third-quarter earnings report on Tuesday.
The companies won approval for Zurzuvae in August 2023 as the first pill for PPD but had hoped to capture a piece of the much broader MDD space.
Meanwhile, Biogen became the latest biopharma company to ink a deal in the molecular glue space, tying up with Neomorph in a multi-target research collaboration. The deal, which will see Biogen lay down up to $1.45 billion, is aimed at discovering and developing molecular glue degrader clinical candidates in Alzheimer’s, rare neurological and immunological diseases. The partnership will marry Neomorph’s “leading molecular glue discovery platform” with Biogen’s “deep expertise” in these therapeutic spaces, according to a Tuesday press release.
This is the second significant deal struck in molecular glues this week after Novartis announced Monday it would pay Monte Rosa Therapeutics $150 million upfront for the rights to that company’s VAV1-targeting molecular glue degraders. Under the agreement, Monte Rosa is eligible for up to $2.1 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones.
