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Growth in New Drugs to Give a Boost to Roche (RHHBY) Q1 Sales
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Swiss pharma giant, Roche (RHHBY - Free Report) , is set to report sales figures for the first quarter of 2020 on Apr 22.
The company reported sales growth in the fourth quarter of 2019, propelled by the strong performance of new drugs. This trend has most likely continued in the first quarter of 2020.
The company reports results under two divisions — Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Strong growth in multiple sclerosis (MS) drug, Ocrevus; the new hemophilia drug, Hemlibra; immuno-oncology drug, Tecentriq; and breast cancer drug, Perjeta, drove the pharmaceutical division in the last quarter. We expect the trend to have continued in this quarter as well. Additional label expansion of these drugs is likely to have resulted in incremental sales in the quarter. In particular, Ocrevus is likely to report higher sales growth due to increased demand.
However, competition is expected to have been stiff for Tecentriq from Bristol-Myers’ (BMY - Free Report) Opdivo and Merck’s (MRK - Free Report) Keytruda and might have weighed on sales for the drug in the first quarter.
Lung cancer drug, Alecensa, must have also contributed to sales on sustained global growth. Apart from these, Actemra and Gazyva sales are likely to have fueled the top line.
The approvals of lymphoma drug, Polivy, and lung cancer drug, Rozlytrek, in 2019 are likely to have resulted in incremental sales in the first quarter.
Sales growth from these drugs must have countered biosimilar competition for key drugs like Herceptin (biosimilar competition in Europe and Japan), Avastin (biosimilar competition in the United States) and Rituxan (biosimilar competition in Europe and Japan).
Along with the top-line numbers, the focus will be on pipeline updates in this segment.
In February 2020, the FDA accepted the company’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) and granted Priority Review to Tecentriq as a first-line (initial) monotherapy for patients with advanced non-squamous and squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A decision is expected by Jun 19. In March 2020, the European Commission approved Venclyxto in combination with Gazyvaro for the treatment of adult patients with previously-untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
The FDA has also approved a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravenous rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug, Actemra (tocilizumab), plus standard of care in hospitalized adult patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
The Diagnostics segment also performed well in the last quarter and the same is expected for this quarter as well. Notably, new approvals are likely to have driven growth. Last month, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Roche’s cobas SARS-CoV-2 Test. The test will be used for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, in nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples from patients who meet COVID-19 clinical and/or epidemiological criteria for testing.
Roche’s stock has gained 4.9% in the year so far against the industry’s 1.3% decline.
Overall, a good sales performance is expected to be reported by Roche for the first quarter.
Apart from Roche, biotech bigwig Biogen (BIIB - Free Report) is scheduled to release results on Apr 22. The company has a strong MS franchise. However, Biogen’s fourth-quarter MS revenues, excluding Ocrevus royalties, declined year over year. It remains to be seen if MS revenues have improved in the first quarter.
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Growth in New Drugs to Give a Boost to Roche (RHHBY) Q1 Sales
Swiss pharma giant, Roche (RHHBY - Free Report) , is set to report sales figures for the first quarter of 2020 on Apr 22.
The company reported sales growth in the fourth quarter of 2019, propelled by the strong performance of new drugs. This trend has most likely continued in the first quarter of 2020.
The company reports results under two divisions — Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Strong growth in multiple sclerosis (MS) drug, Ocrevus; the new hemophilia drug, Hemlibra; immuno-oncology drug, Tecentriq; and breast cancer drug, Perjeta, drove the pharmaceutical division in the last quarter. We expect the trend to have continued in this quarter as well. Additional label expansion of these drugs is likely to have resulted in incremental sales in the quarter. In particular, Ocrevus is likely to report higher sales growth due to increased demand.
However, competition is expected to have been stiff for Tecentriq from Bristol-Myers’ (BMY - Free Report) Opdivo and Merck’s (MRK - Free Report) Keytruda and might have weighed on sales for the drug in the first quarter.
Lung cancer drug, Alecensa, must have also contributed to sales on sustained global growth. Apart from these, Actemra and Gazyva sales are likely to have fueled the top line.
The approvals of lymphoma drug, Polivy, and lung cancer drug, Rozlytrek, in 2019 are likely to have resulted in incremental sales in the first quarter.
Sales growth from these drugs must have countered biosimilar competition for key drugs like Herceptin (biosimilar competition in Europe and Japan), Avastin (biosimilar competition in the United States) and Rituxan (biosimilar competition in Europe and Japan).
Along with the top-line numbers, the focus will be on pipeline updates in this segment.
In February 2020, the FDA accepted the company’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) and granted Priority Review to Tecentriq as a first-line (initial) monotherapy for patients with advanced non-squamous and squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A decision is expected by Jun 19. In March 2020, the European Commission approved Venclyxto in combination with Gazyvaro for the treatment of adult patients with previously-untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
The FDA has also approved a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravenous rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug, Actemra (tocilizumab), plus standard of care in hospitalized adult patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
The Diagnostics segment also performed well in the last quarter and the same is expected for this quarter as well. Notably, new approvals are likely to have driven growth. Last month, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Roche’s cobas SARS-CoV-2 Test. The test will be used for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, in nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples from patients who meet COVID-19 clinical and/or epidemiological criteria for testing.
Roche’s stock has gained 4.9% in the year so far against the industry’s 1.3% decline.
Overall, a good sales performance is expected to be reported by Roche for the first quarter.
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Apart from Roche, biotech bigwig Biogen (BIIB - Free Report) is scheduled to release results on Apr 22. The company has a strong MS franchise. However, Biogen’s fourth-quarter MS revenues, excluding Ocrevus royalties, declined year over year. It remains to be seen if MS revenues have improved in the first quarter.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
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