Biogen Beats Q1 Profit Estimates as Leqembi Sales Start to Take Off

 Biogen released its first-quarter 2024 financial results on Wednesday, beating Wall Street’s profit expectations and reporting a substantial spike in the uptake of its Alzheimer’s disease therapy Leqembi (lecanemab).

The biotech’s total revenue dipped 7%, at constant exchange rates, to $2.29 billion in the first quarter and missed analyst expectations of $2.31 billion. However, its net income increased to $393.4 million versus $387.9 million during the same period the year before.

Biogen also reported an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.67 in the most recent quarter, exceeding Wall Street forecasts of $3.45, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.

The multiple sclerosis therapy Tysabri (natalizumab) was Biogen’s top seller in the first quarter, bringing in $431.3 million in revenue, followed by the spinal muscular atrophy treatment Spinraza (nusinersen) which brought in $341.3 million.

CEO Christopher Viehbacher, who assumed leadership of Biogen in November 2022, in a statement attributed the company’s strong fiscal performance to “solid execution across our new product launches along with the realization of meaningful cost savings and margin improvement.”

Throughout 2023, Biogen implemented a sweeping cost-cutting plan, which included layoffs in April and July, in a bid to generate $1 billion in operating expense savings by 2025.

“We were encouraged that Leqembi in-market revenue for the first quarter nearly tripled sequentially,” Viehbacher continued in Wednesday’s announcement, adding that the Alzheimer’s disease therapy accrued “significant build in month-to-month” initiation of new patients during the first quarter.

Developed and commercialized in partnership with Eisai, Leqembi won the FDA’s accelerated approval in January 2023, which was subsequently converted into full approval in July of the same year. Shortly after, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it would provide broader coverage for the anti-amyloid antibody, which in turn led to a spike in uptake, according to Eisai.

During the first quarter of 2024, Leqembi generated $19 million—which Biogen will share equally with Eisai—representing a nearly threefold increase from its $7 million revenue during the last three months of 2023. In March 2024, the partners documented a “significant increase” in Leqembi new patient starts, Biogen said. The number of patients now on Leqembi has increased nearly 2.5 times since the end of 2023.

Still, a recent survey from Reuters indicates that Leqembi will still contend with a major hurdle in its bid for widespread use: physician skepticism. Interviews with 20 neurologists and geriatricians revealed that many doctors still doubted the therapy’s efficacy and safety, while others had “therapeutic nihilism,” or a pervasive belief that it is futile to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

This reluctance has seemed to manifest in uptake figures. In February 2024, Eisai reported that it was likely to miss its March 2024 target of administering Leqembi to 10,000 patients.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Biogen reaffirmed its 2024 guidance, estimating full-year EPS of $15 to $16, representing 5% growth at the midpoint. The biotech also expects its total revenue to dip by a low- to mid-single digit percentage versus 2023.

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