Sanofi Dupixent surpasses Stelara to become the market leader in interleukin inhibitors
[Newsmp] AbbVie is showing off its presence in the autoimmune disease market.
While Rinvoq and Skyrizi are expanding sales with fierce momentum, Humira is maintaining its growth despite the offensive of biosimilars.
According to quarterly reports of major global Big Pharma, Humira posted sales of about KRW 7.4 trillion in the fourth quarter with a growth rate exceeding 4%. (Based on the exchange rate as of February 27)
Humira’s annual sales also increased by 2.6% from 2021 to KRW 28 trillion. Among the autoimmune disease therapeutics, only two products, Humira and Humira biosimilar Amjevita (Amgen) continue to grow in the TNF-α inhibitors market.
MSD's Remicade saw its annual sales plunge by more than 30%, while Johnson & Johnson's (Janssen) sales also fell by nearly 30%. In the fourth quarter, both companies' sales decreased by about 35%.
While Pfizer Enbrel’s annual sales declined by more than 15%, Amgen’s sales also fell by nearly 8%.
Simponi also saw sales of Johnson & Johnson drop by more than 4% while MSD's sales decreased by nearly 15%.
While Humira is leading the TNF-α inhibitor market, Rinvoq, which suffered from safety issues last year, is dominating the JAK inhibitor market.
Rinvoq also slowed in the first quarter of last year but increased its sales every quarter and exceeded KRW 1 trillion in the fourth quarter. Annual sales also increased by more than 50% from 2021, exceeding KRW 3 trillion.
In contrast, the sales of Xeljanz (Pfizer) and Olumiant (Eli Lilly) fell by more than 25%.
Stelara (Janssen) and Dupixent (Sanofi) are leading the interleukin inhibitors market, and Skyrizi is making rapid progress.
Skyrizi exceeded KRW 2 trillion with a growth rate of 76.1% in the fourth quarter, ranking third after Dupixent and Stelara, which recorded the KRW 3 trillion mark.
Moreover, Skyrizi widened the gap between Cosentyx (Novartis) even more by surpassing KRW 2 trillion in the fourth quarter after surpassing Cosentyx in the third quarter.
Skyrizi’s annual sales also surged 75.7% to KRW 6.82 trillion, approaching the KRW 7 trillion mark, outdoing Cosentyx's KRW 6.3 trillion.
Stelara, the best-selling drug in the interleukin inhibitors market, maintained its lead with annual sales of KRW 13 trillion last year but allowed Dupixent to turn around in the fourth quarter.
Dupixent, which achieved more than KRW 3 trillion in the third quarter of last year and caught up with Stelara by about KRW 10 billion, recorded KRW 3.3 trillion in the fourth quarter, surpassing Stelara by KRW 200 billion. Annual sales also increased by nearly 60% in one year to exceed KRW 11.5 trillion.
Cosentyx's growth is slowing as latecomers join. In the fourth quarter, it fell 13.1% from the same period last year, falling below KRW 1.5 trillion.
Tremfya (Janssen) and Taltz (Eli Lilly) as latecomers, which are competing in the same indication as Stelara, Skyrizi, and Cosentyx, remained at single-digit growth rates in the fourth quarter.
