AbbVie Skyrizi may gain more market share

in an increasingly crowded market for psoriasis, a large number of next-generation biologics are trying to overturn older drugs in order to gain a sales advantage. Dermatologists seem to agree with the shift, which is good news for AbbVie's new product Skyrizi, but bad news for Amgen, which paid a premium last year for the new oral anti-inflammatory drug Otezla, according to a study.In a report to clients, Geoffrey Porges, an analyst at US investment bank SVB Leerink, cites a medaCorp survey that suggests dermatologists tend to shift psoriasis patients from old drugs such as Otezla to new biologics, most notably AbbVie's latest Skyrizi.Skyrizi is an IL-23 inhibitor, an immune biologic agent that is growing steadily. Dermatologists predict that Skyrizi will catch a large number of patients with severe psoriasis in the coming years, including in early treatment. According to the report, the IL-23 category will target 18% of moderate and 29% of severe patients over the next three years or so across the biologics market. For Skyrizi, dermatologists believe the drug will eventually account for about 60 percent of all IL-23 users, which would be a significant share., dermatologists also favor Skyrizi's competitors in the same category, including Johnson and Johnson's Tremfya. Doctors surveyed generally preferred IL-23 inhibitors over older IL-17 inhibitors, which included Novaral's best-selling psoriasis drug Cosentyx. "Overall, dermatologists predict that over the next three years, the IL-23 category will gain 5 to 8 percent more market share of biologics than the IL-17 category," Geoffrey Porges said in the report. " of course, these numbers don't look good for anti-tumor necrotic drugs such as AbbVie's Humira) and non-biological agents such as Amgen's Otezla. At the end of last year, Amjin bought Otezla, an oral drug for psoriasis from New Base, for $13.4 billion in cash, net of $2.2 billion in present value and projected tax revenue of $11.2 billion.In May, Amgen applied to extend the Otezla label to moderate plaque psoriasis, and according to Phase 3 clinical trial data, patients taking Otezla showed significantly better symptoms than placebo patients. But dermatologists are not optimistic about Otezla's future prospects, arguing that the drug's market penetration rate for moderate to severe psoriasis will fall by 20-25% over the next three years.the decline will hit Amjin's valuation of Otezla, which, according to Porgeges, is five times its 2020 sales of about $2.3 billion. SVB Leerink believes Otezla's peak sales are $4 billion a year, but the possible introduction of oral psoriasis drugs by Pfizer and BMS will challenge that forecast.same time, Skyrizi's future looks brighter as AbbVie's $63 billion acquisition of AerGem and Humira face biosynthics in the U.S. market in 2023.said Skyrizi's sales reached $330 million in the second quarter of this year. The company hopes the combined sales of Skyrizi and rheumatology product Rinvoq will peak at $20 billion, surpassing Humira's peak sales. Currently, Skyrizi and Rinvoq treat a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases are in Phase 3 clinical.To that end, AbbVie is targeting some of Skyrizi's most powerful competing products. In June, the company released head-to-head Phase 3b clinical data showing that Skyrizi beat Novartis Cosentyx in the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe plaque-type psoriasis: in week 52, 66% of the Skyrizi treatment group achieved complete skin loss removal (PASI 100), compared with 40% in the Cosentyx treatment group, with statistically significant differences (p<001). (Sina Pharmaceutical News)reference source: AbbVie's Skyri stands to gain as docs move away from older psoriasis meds-Amgen's Otezla