Shionogi banks on Crestor for first-quarter growth
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
A continued rise in royalties deriving from AstraZeneca's global sales of Crestor (rosuvastatin) again helped Japanese company Shionogi weather domestic sales declines for many of its major products in the first quarter to June 30th.
A continued rise in royalties deriving from AstraZeneca's global sales of Crestor (rosuvastatin) again helped Japanese company Shionogi weather domestic sales declines for many of its major products in the first quarter to June 30th.
Royalties from the high cholesterol drug for the period were ¥7.2 billion ($66.9 million), a rise of 8%, and helped to nudge into positive territory the mid-sized firm's overall prescription sales, which inched up by less than 1% to ¥38.0 billion. Mainstay product Flomox (cefcapene) suffered from competition and the general April reimbursement price cut in Japan, slipping by 6% to ¥6.1 billion, and sales of many other major drugs also declined.
Shionogi's co-marketing of Crestor in Japan also helped its top line, the company booking sales of ¥3.8 billion for the three months, virtually double those in last year's first quarter.
Group sales were 3% higher at ¥51.7 billion and overall operating and net profit reached ¥8.1 billion (+1%) and ¥5.4 billion (virtually no change) respectively, affected by the lacklustre sales growth and an 8% rise in R&D spending to ¥10.4 billion. Earnings per share were 2% higher at ¥16.08. Shionogi noted that from this fiscal year it had adopted Japanese accounting standards for its quarterly figures.
Current forecasts for the first half and full year remain unchanged, as does Shionogi's expectation of ¥2 billion in full-year sales for the angiotensin II antagonist Irbetan (irbesartan). The Sanofi-Aventis-originated compound was sublicensed from Bristol-Myers Squibb for the Japanese market, where it has recently been launched with local partner Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, which sells it as Avapro.
In a pipeline update accompanying the results, Shionogi noted that it had now begun a Phase I clinical trial in Europe with the prostaglandin D2 antagonist for allergic disorders, S-555739.