Amgen's Prolia·Evenity generate KRW 2T in quarterly sales

Amgen presents Q3 sales performance…Prolia recorded KRW 1.5 trillion in sales

Evenity, up 33% YoY…results of a well-established sequential therapy

Amgen

Amgen's Prolia and Evenity for the treatment of osteoporosis continue to show sales growth.

 

Prolia and Evenity led Amgen's performance, generating sales of KRW 2 trillion in Q3.

 

Analysis suggests that sequential therapy, using Evenity followed by Prolia for the treatment of osteoporosis with high-risk fractures, has been widely used, and it has led to continued increases in sales.

 

Sources said on November 6th, Amgen's sales in Q3 were US$ 8.50 billion (approximately KRW 11.72 trillion), up 23.1% year-over-year (YoY).

 

Operating profit for the same period was US$ 2.047 billion, up 1.3% from 2022.

 

Prolia generated the highest sales among Amgen's products.

 

Prolia's sales in Q3 were US$1.045 billion (approximately KRW 1.44 trillion), up 6.0% YoY.

 

Prolia recorded US$3.20 billion (approximately KRW 4.42 billion) for the nine months this year, up 9.1%.

 

Last year, Prolia's annual sales were US$40.48 billion.

 

Developed by Amgen, Prolia is a treatment for osteoporosis.

 

It was approved in the United States, and after that, Amgen successfully received Prolia's approval in major countries, including South Korea, Europe, and Japan.

 

Prolia sales nearly doubled to US$352 million in Q1 of 2016 in two years from US$196 million (approximately KRW 270 billion) in Q1 of 2014.

 

Prolia's sales continue to grow, generating US$852 million (approximately 1.2 trillion) in Q1 of 2022.

 

In Q2 of 2023, its quarterly sales topped US$1 billion.

 

In Q1 of this year, it dropped to US$9.99 billion, but then successfully rebounded in Q2, recording US$1.165 billion.

 

Prolia's strength lies in having secured real-world data.

 

Based on its FREEDOM and FREEDOM Extension clinical studies spanning 10 years, Prolia effectively reduced the risk of fractures than the conventional osteoporosis treatment, Alendronate.

 

Unlike other medications, Prolia continues to increase bone density.

 

Prolia is categorized as a medication that can be administered for long-term.

 

As a result, pharmaceutical companies are developing Prolia biosimilars.

 

Earlier this year, U.S.-based Sandoz received approval for a biosimilar of Prolia and Korean pharmaceutical companies such as Celltrion and Samsung Bioepis also plan to complete clinical trials and prepare for approval.

 

Prolia's patent is set to expire in 2025.

 

Quaterly sales performance of Prolia (green) and Evenity (oranage) in 2023 and 2024 (unit: US$1 million).

Evenity records KRW 550 billion in Q3 sales…continues to increase The success of the osteoporosis treatment Evenity has contributed to Amgen's sales performance.

 

Evenity's Q3 sales amounted to US$399 million (approximately KRW 550 billion), up 30.0% from US$307 million in 2022.

 

Evenity is a bone-forming agent that provides dual effects of promoting bone formation and inhibiting bone absoption.

 

It was approved in the United States in 2019.

 

Evenity recorded sales of US$100 million for the first time in Q1 2020, and it continues to grow.

 

In Q3 2022, Evenity recorded sales of US$200 million, more than doubling its initial launch.

 

In Q3 of Last year, Evenity surpassed US$300 million and showed steady growth, reaching sales of US$400 million in Q3 of this year.

 

Evenity's increase in sales is mainly due to its osteoporosis treatment strategy.

 

As part of its marketing strategy, Amgen has strategized a sequential therapy of using the bone-forming agent Evenity followed by the bone resorption inhibitor, Prolia.

 

Based on their approved indications, Bone-forming agents have a maximum duration of use of 2 years.

 

Therefore, after a certain period of treatment, switching to bone resorption inhibitors such as Prolia or bisphosphonate agents are mainly used.

 

According to Evenity's ARCH study or a study comparing teriparatide and risedronate, a sequential therapy using bone-forming agents first followed by bone resorption agents is more effective in preventing the risk of bone fractures in patients.

 

Korea-based or overseas guidelines for osteoporosis treatment recommend bone-forming agents, such as Evenity, as first-line treatments for high-risk individuals.