Biogen plans to increase the number of salespeople selling the company’s prized drug for Alzheimer’s disease, now that some of the initial challenges launching it have been worked through.
The drug, branded as Leqembi, generated $19 million in sales between January and March, nearly triple what was recorded over the final three months of last year. Biogen co-developed Leqembi with the Japan-based pharmaceutical firm Eisai, which has led U.S. commercial operations since the therapy gained approval in early 2023.
On an earnings call Wednesday, Biogen executives said the estimated number of patients on Leqembi more than doubled between the fourth quarter and the first quarter. Order volume also tripled at 100 “integrated delivery networks” that the company has deemed high priority because they treat so many patients.
The growing demand has convinced Eisai and Biogen the time has come to invest more in their sales and marketing efforts, so the latter is expanding its Leqembi field force by 30%.
“Generally, we look at revenue as a surrogate for demand,” Biogen’s CEO Chris Viehbacher said on the call. With Leqembi, however, “that linkage is not quite so clear, because it has taken this upfront time before you see revenue pulled through.”
“In this first quarter ... we're actually seeing a little bit more of that linkage,” he said.
Viehbacher said it's too early to forecast future Leqembi sales. “But I would certainly say I'm extremely encouraged by the progress that has occurred.”
To Biogen, the commercial success of Leqembi is vital. The company’s revenue has been in decline for much of the past four years as courts knocked down key patents protecting its core multiple sclerosis business and new competition began to whittle down one of its top-selling medicines. By Biogen’s estimates, the best path to near-term growth lies with Leqembi and two other new-to-market products that, respectively, treat postpartum depression and a rare disease known as Friedreich’s ataxia.
Even though Biogen and Wall Street had high hopes for Leqembi, getting the drug to patients has proven more arduous and time-consuming than expected. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which insures a large segment of the Alzheimer’s population, has policies that, until recently, strictly limited access to Leqembi.
Administering the drug is another challenge, as it requires an hourlong intravenous infusion every two weeks as well as a series of brain scans. Treatment centers offering Leqembi have therefore had to devote significant time, money and manpower to ensure patient access.
Viehbacher said that, at one hospital he and the Biogen team visited, staff claimed it took three months to get approval to hire a nurse who could help them navigate the system. He also recalled how a different medical center had to develop a five-year business plan to be able to access infusion beds.
“I've been in this business for three and a half decades. I've lost count of how many launches I've seen. But this is an extraordinarily difficult launch, because the amount of change that physicians are facing with this is really profound,” Viehbacher said.
According to Alisha Alaimo, president of Biogen’s North American operations, the goal with the expanded field force is to hasten uptake of Leqembi at those large integrated delivery networks.
Alaimo noted how some of those networks are already opening up satellite offices, through which more patients will be diagnosed and treated. She predicts an increase throughout the rest of the year in the number of physicians prescribing Leqembi.
Across the broader business, Biogen recorded total revenue of $2.3 billion in the first quarter, down 7% from the same period a year prior. The company reiterated that total revenue is expected to decline by a low- to mid-single digit percentage compared to 2023, with its core pharmaceutical revenue being about the same.
Despite that guidance, Biogen shares traded up more than 4% Wednesday morning. Notably, the company’s earnings per share, as well as sales from its Friedreich’s ataxia drug, beat analysts’ estimates.