Just a few months into a new launch in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), agrenx’s Vyvgart is already making headway in the rare disease space, just one of the long-term growth indications for the versatile medicine.
Vyvgart won its original nod in generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) in late 2021 and picked up its FDA endorsement in CIDP this summer. The company rolled out the drug in CIDP as Vyvgart Hytrulo, a Halozyme Therapeutics-partnered subcutaneous version that can be taken as a weekly injection.
So far, the treatment has already reached more than 300 CIDP patients, helping it to deliver $573 million in total third-quarter sales. The quarterly haul brought argenx's sales for the first 9 months of the year to $1.45 billion, a 77% increase from the same period in 2023.
“The strength of our data, combined with execution across the team to reach key stakeholders, contributed to the initial success of our CIDP launch,” CEO Tim Van Hauwermeiren said in the company’s earnings release. “There remains significant opportunity ahead as we work towards achieving our Vision 2030, with innovation implemented across our pipeline to deliver transformative outcomes to more patients.”
Argenx’s Vision 2030 roadmap aims to secure 50,000 patients on the company's products globally. Currently, Vyvgart is at different stages of testing in thyroid eye disease, Sjögren’s disease, bullous pemphigoid, antibody-mediated rejection, lupus nephritis, and several other treatment areas. Argenx did, however, scrap a program evaluating the med in membranous nephropathy.
Given those ambitions, the company has a lot riding on Vyvgart despite another asset in its pipeline and a goal of five new molecules by 2030. Along with the additional disease indications, argenx is anticipating an FDA decision next year on a pre-filled syringe for gMG and CIDP patients.
GMG is an increasingly popular market with notable competing drugs from UCB and AstraZeneca. Still, back in May the company shrugged off the potential threats, noting that as the competition swells, “the more the biologic share overall is going to grow and the more we’ll be able to help lead within that biologic share,” chief operating officer Karen Massey said at the time.
Analysts at ODDO BHF expect Vyvgart to deliver peak sales of $14 billion by 2035, above the consensus of $13.6 billion, based in part on the Vyvgart Hytrulo launch and the CIDP indication growth. In a note to clients this week, the analysts highlighted the “excellent commercial execution” for the launch so far.