Two cancer therapies have topped Clarivate Analytics’ Drugs to Watch in 2024, an annual report that identifies potential blockbusters and other medicines that could “transform treatment paradigms."
Clarivate predicts Johnson & Johnson’s combination treatment Akeega and Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca’s datopotamab deruxtecan will generate $2.7 billion in sales each in 2029. On the list of 15 transformative medicines, these are the only ones expected to exceed $2 billion in sales by 2029.
Clarivate’s report, which is in its 12th year, highlights drugs that have recently been approved or are expected to be approved in 2024. Its sales estimates cover the G7 countries—U.S., U.K., Japan, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.
J&J was the only company with more than one drug on the list. Clarivate also spotlighted J&J's Talvey, a first-in-class bispecific antibody to treat multiple myeloma. The analysts forecast Talvey’s sales will reach $850 million in 2029.
The only other cancer drug on the list is Astellas’ zolbetuximab, which was slapped with a complete response letter from the FDA last week because of third-party manufacturing issues. The monoclonal antibody is still on track to become the first approved therapy to treat one of the hottest targets in oncology—tumors that are claudin positive. Clarivate predicts sales for the stomach cancer drug will reach $1.1 billion by 2029.
As for gene therapies, Vertex and CRISPR’s Casgevy and bluebird bio’s Lyfgenia “have the potential to be transformative for a patient population with debilitating, life-altering disease that have limited symptomatic and no curative treatments currently available,” Clarivate wrote.
Casgevy and Lyfgenia are approved in the U.S. to treat sickle cell disease, while Casgevy this week picked up an expanded FDA nod in transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia.
Clarivate estimates Casgevy’s sales will reach $1.3 billion in 2029. The organization did not include a sales estimate for bluebird's Lyfgenia.
Other notable launches on the list are the RSV vaccines Abrysvo from Pfizer and Arexvy from GSK. Both vaccines are based on the RSV F protein, “which was a ground-breaking discovery,” the Clarivate team wrote.
Meanwhile, the analysts estimate two drugs will generate $1.8 billion in sales in 2029. One is Bayer and Regeneron’s high-dose Eylea, which is playing catch up with Roche’s Vabysmo, which was selected to Clarivate’s 2022 Drugs to Watch list.
The other big seller identified on this year’s list is Sanofi and Sobi’s hemophilia A drug Altuviiio, which was approved in February of last year and is distinguished by its extended half-life, which is three to four times longer than rival therapies.
Also identified by Clarivate as medicines to watch are Calliditas’ Tarpeyo, a primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) therapy which was approved last month; Eli Lilly’s Omvoh, an ulcerative colitis treatment which won an FDA nod in October; and Verona’s COPD hopeful ensifentrine, which has been shown to improve both lung function and symptoms.