J&J, Alkermes, AbbVie, others set to learn from increasing schizophrenia drug market

A rise within the affected person inhabitants mixed with new therapies in improvement implies that the schizophrenia drug market will soar to $13B in 2031 from $9B in 2021, in accordance with consulting and analytical agency GlobalData.

And there are a number of pharma firms — amongst then Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS), and AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) — that might be among the many key beneficiaries.

Whereas GlobalData pharma analyst Christie Wong says that the schizophrenia market is presently dominated by generic antipsychotics used as first-line remedies, adjunctive therapies, particularly these with a special mechanism of motion, are more likely to see uptake.

One of the vital standard branded antipsychotics presently in use is Otsuka’s (OTCPK:OTSKF) (OTCPK:OTSKY) and H. Lundbeck’s (OTCPK:HLBBF)(OTCPK:HLUBF) Abilify Mantenna (paliperidone prolonged launch), which is given as soon as month-to-month. In Q2 2022, Lundbeck reported ~DKK1.4B (~$184.7M) in gross sales.

GlobalData notes that Otsuka is growing an oral model of brexipiprazole fumarate and Otsuka (OTCPK:OTSKF) and H. Lundbeck (OTCPK:HLBBF) are Otsuka (OTCPK:OTSKY) are engaged on two-month aripiprazole.

In 2021, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) gained approval of their very own long-acting schizophrenia remedy, Invega Hafyera (paliperidone palmitate) that’s given each 6 months. J&J (JNJ) additionally markets Invega as a pill, although it should be given each two months. In Q2, the corporate reported simply over $2B in gross sales from the Invega franchise worldwide.

AbbVie (ABBV) markets the atypical antipsychotic Vraylar (cariprazine). In Q2, the corporate reported $492M in Vraylar income.

GlobalData famous that apart from Otsuka (OTCPK:OTSKY) and H. Lundbeck (OTCPK:HLUBF), different firms are growing reformulated variations of atypical antipsychotics. These embody Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE:TEVA) and MedinCell’s (OTC:MDCLF) mdc-IRM (risperidone) and Luye Pharma’s LY03010 (paliperidone).

The agency famous that the 4 reformulations within the pipeline are anticipated to grow to be 4.1% of the schizophrenia market in 2031, or ~$532.5M.

A relative new schizophrenia remedy, Alkermes’ (ALKS) Lybalvi (olanzapine and samidorphan) hit the market in October 2021. It’s a mixture of the now generic Zyprexa and samidorphan, a brand new chemical entity. The drug is designed to have much less weight acquire than is usually seen with atypical antipsychotics. Lybalvi recorded $20.1M in gross sales for Q2.

There are a number of candidates in late-stage improvement price keeping track of. The primary is Karuna Therapeutics’ (KRTX) KarXT (xanomeline-trospium), presently in part 3 as each a monotherapy and adjunctive remedy. The candidate has two muscarinic receptor agonists with a possible twin mechanism of motion.

One other is Cerevel Therapeutics (CERE) with its part 2 candidate emraclidine for schizophrenia. It’s thought-about a optimistic allosteric modulator (PAM) that selectively targets the muscarinic acetylcholine 4 receptor subtype (M4).

Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal lately mentioned that emraclidine may have higher than $2B in peak gross sales.