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South Korean biopharmaceutical group Celltrion is betting that new variants of Covid-19 will fuel growth in the US and Europe for the treatment of the disease, even if these markets vaccinate their populations.
The company expects its new Covid-19 antibody treatment to generate up to $ 1.5 billion ($ 1.3 billion) in annual sales after animal testing proves it is effective against rapidly spreading coronavirus variants.
Celltrion is the only Asian developer of antiviral treatments for Covid-19 alongside Regeneron, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline, which has received the equivalent of emergency approval from the European Medicines Agency.
Kee Woo-sung, CEO of Celltrion, told the Financial Times that there was a huge market for treatments like those used to boost the immune systems of patients struggling to respond to the disease.
“The Covid-19 vaccine market is larger than the treatment market, but there is a large enough market for treatment producers because production facilities are limited in relation to growing demand,” Kee said.
“It’s only a matter of time before we see a flood of orders for our treatment, as Regeneron has no room to increase production, while Lilly has admitted problems with her treatment to address variants.”
Celltrion developed South Korea’s first Covid home treatment CT-P59, which last month said it significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 70% in patients and reduced the recovery period by nearly five days. in Phase 3 global clinical trials.
It obtained conditional approval for CT-P59 for emergency use by Korean health authorities in February and has administered it to 6,000 patients in the country. It has signed a contract with Pakistan to provide treatments to 100,000 people.
It has also obtained emergency use authorization from the EMA and is in talks with several European countries to export the treatment as soon as final approval from the EMA is given, which Celltrion hopes to obtain in August. It also seeks approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“The hardest thing about developing treatments is how to respond to the variants,” Kee said. “But animal testing has shown that our treatment is effective in addressing most variants.”
Celltrion plans to announce later this month the results of animal testing on the highly infectious Delta variant, first discovered in India. The company targets the United States and Europe, which account for approximately 70% of the global antibody treatment market. These treatments are expensive and difficult to administer, as they are an infusion and not a pill.
Celltrion is also studying the development of Covid-19 vaccines. However, the group has been targeted by short sellers in Korea due to concerns about valuations of biotech stocks. The company’s operating profit increased 88% to Won712 billion in its 2020 fiscal year.
Some analysts said Won1.5tn’s sales target seemed “too bullish,” as Celltrion’s likely entry into the U.S. market next year means it will catch up with Regeneron and Lilly.
Lee Dong-geon, an analyst at Shinhan Investment, expects Celltrion to take 15% of the U.S. market for Covid-19 antibody treatments and 25% in Europe, as the company is likely to sell its treatment at a 30- 50% to their rivals.
“The number of patients with Covid is likely to fall next year as countries speed up vaccinations,” he said. “Being a lag with relatively weak brand power and no sales experience in the US, it won’t be easy to steal a gear from its American rivals.”
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