GSK’s vaccines portfolio is front and center as it kicks off 2024.
The UK pharma said its non-Covid vaccine sales grew 22% in the first three months of the year to £2.27 billion ($2.83 billion) compared to the same period in 2023. This means its vaccines franchise now accounts for around 30% of total sales.
“We continued to strengthen our innovative vaccine portfolio this quarter,” CEO Emma Walmsley said on a media call. The company raised its 2024 operating profit growth guidance on Wednesday from a previous range of 7% to 10%, to 9% to 11%.
Walmsley said there are “new expansion opportunities” for its shingles vaccine, Shingrix, in China, and its RSV vaccine Arexvy in the US.
First-quarter sales for Shingrix grew 18% from 2023 at constant exchange rates to £945 million ($1.18 billion), driven in part by new national immunization programs in Australia and Europe. The vaccine is available in 39 countries.
There is also “earlier than anticipated supply” to GSK’s China partner, Zhifei, for Shingrix. GSK inked a £2.5 billion ($3.05 billion) co-promotion deal with Zhifei in October. “There is lots of excitement about prospects of our Chinese partnership with Zhifei, with over 100 million Chinese [patients] probably able to participate in the private market,” Walmsley said.
Last month, GSK reported that Shingrix was effective even after more than a decade in a study of adults 50 years or older. The vaccine is projected to reach more than £4 billion ($5 billion) in peak sales by 2026. But other pharma players are looking to chip into the shingles vaccine market, with Pfizer and Moderna studying mRNA-based approaches.
As for Arexvy, which was approved in May last year, Q1 sales totaled £182 million ($227 million), with £154 million ($192 million) coming from the US market.
“We’re in the early stages of the development of [Arexvy sales] being mainly US-led, but there’s lots of opportunity ahead internationally and it’s very informative for us to look at Shingrix’s prospects and performance,” Walmsley said. GSK has the option to add an RSV launch to its Zhifei partnership, she added.
Pfizer is also in the market with its RSV vaccine Abrysvo, and other vaccine makers like Moderna are looking to catch up. Abrysvo reached sales of $145 million in Q1 of 2024, according to Pfizer’s earnings report Wednesday, with $131 million coming from the US.
GSK said it has maintained around two-thirds of market share in retail, with the remaining third dominated by Abrysvo. “We are very confident in our [Arexvy] peak sales forecasts we gave of more than $3 billion and we welcome competition,” Walmsley said.
Arexvy won FDA approval to prevent RSV in people 60 years and older last year, only weeks before Abrysvo. GSK is eyeing broader use in the at-risk 50- to 59-year-old population — a market of around 15 million people in the US — with a potential approval on June 7 and a launch in time for the next RSV season.
In April, Pfizer reported a positive Phase 3 readout of Abrysvo in at-risk adults aged 18 to 59. Moderna’s RSV vaccine has a PDUFA date set for May 12 for use in adults aged 60 and older.
GSK’s first-quarter sales total reached £7.36 billion ($9.18 billion). Its specialty medicine sales grew 17% to £2.5 billion ($3.1 billion), while its general medicines sales rose by 1% to £2.6 billion ($3.2 billion).
Editor’s note: This article was updated throughout to add further context to GSK’s sales numbers and Pfizer’s RSV vaccine sales.