Despite lackluster sales of Eylea’s high-dose formulation and Sanofi-partnered Dupixent, Regeneron beat Q4 forecasts overall thanks in part to cancer therapy Libtayo and gave shareholders a cut of the profits for the first time in the company’s long history.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals beat analyst consensus despite the underwhelming performance of its key assets, the company said in its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings report on Tuesday. The company also revealed that for the first time in the company’s 37-year history, it will start offering quarterly dividends at $0.88 per share.
Sales of its blockbuster eye injection Eylea in the quarter dropped 11% year-on-year to $1.19 billion, though it still came slightly ahead of the consensus expectation of $1.16 billion. The high-dose (HD) formulation of Eylea, on the other hand, came far below the projected analyst figure of $336 million with just $305 million in sales.
Dupixent, another blockbuster asset, made $3.7 billion in the quarter. This represents a 15% increase from the same period in 2023 but also falls short of the $3.96 billion analyst consensus. Dupixent sales are recorded by Sanofi, which co-develops the anti-IL4 and anti-IL13 antibody with Regeneron.
Overall, Regeneron made $3.79 billion in the fourth quarter, a modest 1% beat versus the $3.74 billion consensus. For the entire year, Regeneron recorded total revenue of $14.2 billion, an 8% jump from 2023. The revenue beat was driven by “better than expected sales” of the cancer therapy Libtayo, which brought in $367 million in the quarter versus the expected $316 million, analysts at Truist Securities said in an investors’ note on Tuesday morning.
Of note, Regeneron also revealed on Tuesday that for the first time in the company’s history, it will start offering quarterly dividends at $0.88 per share. The first batch of dividends will be paid out on March 20.
BMO Capital Markets analysts called Regeneron’s results “good enough,” writing in a note to investors that “execution remains paramount” for the pharma, especially amid the growing pressure on its Eylea franchise. Company officials addressed Eylea directly on the call, noting that the pharma’s “commercial efforts remain focused on driving Eylea HD uptake, while preserving share for Eylea in an increasingly competitive category,” president and CEO Leonard Schleifer said.
In particular, Regeneron this year plans to strengthen the profile of the high-dose formulation “by offering a more convenient pre-filled syringe administration, broadening its label to include macular edema following retinal vein occlusion . . . and aiming [for] more dosing flexibility,” Schleifer added.
He also encouraged investors to “look beyond” Eylea, pointing instead to the launch of Dupixent in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as well as several big data readouts that the pharma anticipates in the coming months.
“Our strategy is not to be solely dependent on any one thing yet still optimize every single thing,” Schleifer said. “We don’t want to become dependent on any one thing, which is why we’re so excited about the pipeline.”
For the BMO analysts, “the most notable update from the 4Q print is the announcement of a quarterly dividend,” which they say is “as a healthy evolution of the business” and points to the company’s confidence in the business’ long-term strength and growth.
Regeneron did not reveal a full-year 2025 revenue guidance on Tuesday.
