Eisai is hoping to grow Leqembi sales 13-fold to around $360 million in fiscal year 2024, as it plans “aggressive investment” and looks to expand its Biogen-partnered Alzheimer’s drug’s market both in the US and around the world.
The new projection is “considerably higher” than Jefferies’ and consensus estimates, Jefferies analysts wrote in a Wednesday note. It comes as Eisai and Biogen announced the start of a rolling submission for the subcutaneous formulation of Leqembi.
The Japanese drugmaker is banking on $7 billion in global sales by 2030, even as Leqembi — which won FDA accelerated approval in January 2023 and full approval in July — has seen a slow commercial rollout. Sales in the first quarter of 2024 registered at $19 million, compared to $7 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Of the $360 million projected, Eisai expects $279 million (43.5 billion Japanese yen) to be generated in the US, $64 million to come from Japan and the rest from other countries.
Over the next fiscal year — from April 2024 to the end of March 2025 — Eisai is “planning to invest more than in the previous fiscal year for early expansion of patient contribution for Leqembi, including strengthening the sales structure in the United States, and launch in China and Europe,” according to its Q1 earnings report.
Its partner Biogen is similarly looking to expand work on the product, with a planned 30% expansion in the US field force, according to a recent quarterly update.
So far, Eisai and Biogen’s total investment in R&D and selling, general, and administrative expenses for Leqembi is just above $705 million (110 billion Japanese yen), according to a presentation.