Sandoz Biosimilar Earnings Jump 15% in 2023

Sandoz revenues increased 7% overall last year, including a 15% spike in biosimilar sales, according to the company’s earnings report for the fourth quarter (Q4) and full year (FY) 2023.

Additionally, the company’s overall revenue for Q4 2023 was up 10% from the same quarter in 2022, with net sales reaching $2.5 billion. Net sales for FY 2023 reached $9.6 billion, including $2.2 billion from biosimilars and $7.1 billion from generics.

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“2023 was a year of many achievements for Sandoz, thanks to the passion and tireless efforts of our employees worldwide”, said Richard Saynor, CEO of Sandoz. “We launched Hyrimoz (biosimilar adalimumab) in the US, expanded our biosimilar pipeline through a commercialization agreement with Samsung on biosimilar ustekinumab (reference medicine Stelara) and enhanced our generic portfolio with the acquisition of Mycamine (an anti-fungal agent), while becoming an independent public company.”

By region, sales were up 20% in North America and 10% in Europe during Q4 2023. Net sales in Europe reached $1.3 billion, which was primarily driven by solid generic volume growth and strong performance of Omnitrope, a somatropin biosimilar in Europe. The growth in North American sales, which reached $2.1 billion, was driven by Omnitrope and the launch of Hyrimoz, 1 of 9 adalimumab biosimilars to enter the US market in 2023. Sandoz noted that Omnitrope is the current somatropin market leader with 34% market share globally.

Hyrimoz (adalimumab-adaz) received FDA approval in October 2018 and is 1 of 2 adalimumab biosimilars that is available in high-concentration and low-concentration versions. Although the high-concentration version is citrate-free, the low-concentration version is not.

For biosimilars, European sales of biosimilars reached $1.2 billion for Q4 and $5.0 billion for the year. In North America, biosimilars brought in $615 million and $2.1 billion for Q4 and FY, respectively.

The report comes after Sandoz received FDA approval for the first denosumab biosimilars (Wyost and Jubbonti; denosumab-bddz) for the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions. Sandoz also recently acquired the rights to Coherus Biosciences’ Cimerli (ranibizumab-eqrn), a biosimilar referencing Lucentis (ranibizumab) used to treat retinal conditions, such as neovascular age-related macular degeneration. In August 2023, Sandoz received approval for Tyruko (natalizumab-sztn), which was the first biosimilar approved to treat multiple sclerosis.

Coherus Biosciences also reported growth for Q4 and FY 2023, citing biosimilars as main drivers for the increases. Q4 earnings more than doubled from the same quarter in 2022, and FY earnings were 12 times higher in 2023 compared with 2022.