Which of the Blockbuster Drugs on the Autoimmune Drug Market Will Show the Glory that Humira Had?(3)

Among other autoimmune diseases, anti-IL-12/23 Stelara does not have advantages over TNFα inhibitors, as TNFα plays a greater role than interleukin in abnormal immune responses, however, Stelara is proved by clinical studies to have great effects in treating psoriasis. Its sales have been fast growing since marketed in 2009, and reached USD 4 billion in 2017, becoming the top drug for psoriasis.

And the biggest competitor of Stelara is the first anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody: Cosentyx of Novartis marketed in January 2015.

Cosentyx reached USD 261 million sales in 2015 when marketed, and beat Stelara in the head-to-head CLEAR study for patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting in 2016 (AAD2016). It has been advancing triumphantly on the market, with sales soaring to USD 2.07 billion in just three years and the growth of up to 84%.

The market share of Eli Lilly’s Taltz, the second anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibody marketed in the world, is far from that of Novartis’ Cosentyx, however, Taltz’s sales also greatly increased, with 2017 sales revenue of USD 559 million.

Surrounded by strong competitors and with the core product Stelara chased after menacingly by anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibodies, J & J did not intent to be "captured" and came up with own answer in 2017: guselkumab.

As the first anti-IL-23 monoclonal antibody drug marketed in the world, guselkumab has attracted much attention since marketed. In the head-to-head study with Humira, the skin clearance of guselkumab group was better than that of Humira group in week 16, 24, and 48. For patients who did not receive good treatment effect with Stelara, 31% patients achieved complete or nearly complete skin clearance in week 28 with guselkumab, far higher than the 14% of Stelara.

J & J is conducting a head-to-head study between guselkumab and Cosentyx to respond and avenge, just like Novartis did with the head-to-head study between Cosentyx and Stelara.

And to seize the market, J & J also largely reduced prices to attempt to reverse the disadvantages.

The hotness of the anti-IL-23 monoclonal antibodies has also attracted many giants: AbbVie reached cooperation with Boehringer Ingelheim in March 2016 to obtain the global development right of the latter’s Phase III anti-IL-23 monoclonal antibody: risankizumab (BI 655066) for USD 565 million initial upfront payment, which is expected to be marketed in 2018 to become another blockbuster product of AbbVie.

Otezla of Celgene was approved for marketing in March 2014 to become the first oral drug for psoriatic arthritis, which selectively inhibits phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) and inhibits human rheumatoid synovial cells from producing TNFα.

Otezla has its own advantage: the medication does not require routine laboratory monitoring and it is an oral drug that can improve patients’ compliance; its sales in 2015, one year after its marketing, reached USD 472 million, showing brilliant performance, while its sales reached USD 1.279 billion in 2017, maintaining good growth.

The competition of anti-IL-12/23, anti-IL-17, and anti-IL-23 monoclonal antibodies, and PDE4 inhibitors in the psoriasis field has become increasingly intensified in recent years, and we will soon see the results.

Frequent Blockbuster Drugs in the Intensely Competitive Psoriasis Drug Market

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