Almost three years into his tenure as Lundbeck’s CEO, Charl van Zyl is confident the company can prove its mettle as a “neuroscience challenger” capable of “punching above its weight.”
This newfound momentum continued to play out over the first half of 2026, when Lundbeck reported sales growth of 16%. It is being sustained by brands like Vyepti and the Otsuka-partnered Rexulti, a series of near-term clinical readouts and a constant “acquisitive” disposition to pounce on innovation both within the company and beyond, van Zyl told Fierce in an interview.
By the numbers, Rexulti, approved in major depressive disorder (MDD) and Alzheimer’s disease-associated agitation, continued to lead the pack for the earnings period, growing 17% at constant currencies over the first six months of the year to 3.3 billion Danish kroner (nearly $515 million), while migraine prevention med Vyepti climbed an impressive 46% to reach 2026 first-half sales of 2.9 billion kroner ($447 million).
Van Zyl described Lundbeck’s overall sales momentum as “healthy growth for us.”
While the company remains on track to meet the raised guidance (PDF) it issued after the first quarter, van Zyl did caution that commercial inventory buildouts from the first half of the year won’t repeat in the second, and he added that generic entrants to the company’s atypical antipsychotic Abilify Maintena—particularly in Canada and Australia—could start to chip away at sales in the final six months of 2026.
Nevertheless, van Zyl appeared confident that Lundbeck’s two core products are positioned to continue holding their own.
The company currently expects that Vyepti could reel in peak U.S. sales of $1.1 billion, per the CEO, who noted that commercial opportunities are starting to come online in regions like Europe, alongside plans to launch into China, Japan and South Korea next year.
Rexulti is also growing well across its indications, though “that will naturally slow down” as competition in those fields increases—as Lundbeck has itself telegraphed—van Zyl added.
In late April, the FDA approved Axsome’s Auvelity as the second drug in the U.S. to treat agitation associated with dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Auvelity also boasts an FDA nod in MDD, positioning it as a direct rival to Lundbeck’s drug.
Rising to the challenge
While long known for its psychiatric drug development bona fides, Lundbeck has in more recent years pivoted to other indications “where we believe we understand the biology of neuroscience more,” van Zyl said. The CEO admitted that psychiatry treatments can be “challenging sometimes” due to trial design and the placebo effect.
That has led to a foray for Lundbeck into “neurospeciality,” he explained, highlighting areas like preventative migraine—a field that has proven highly fruitful for Vyepti—in the near term, plus future opportunities in niches like Parkinson’s disease and beyond.
Elsewhere, Lundbeck is also exploring rare neurological diseases, with van Zyl noting that the company aims to position itself as a true “neuroscience challenger.”
“You know, mid-cap and punching above its weight,” he explained, adding that Lundbeck is further prioritizing innovation “in the sense that we will not develop anything that’s ‘me-too.’”
That ever-expanding R&D focus also covers moves beyond the firm’s prior bread-and-butter small molecules and, more recently, monoclonal antibodies, as Lundbeck pursues development of other modalities, too. That said, the company these days is doing “a little steering away from gene therapy,” van Zyl caveated, adding that there are “still many questions” around that therapeutic approach.
Among the company’s most advanced assets, 5-HT2C receptor agonist bexicaserin, acquired in Lundbeck’s 2024 acquisition of Longboard Pharmaceuticals, is being aimed at severe childhood epilepsies, with two late-stage studies—DEEp Ocean and DEEp Sea—slated to read out in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, respectively.
Should those readouts prove successful, Lundbeck is eyeing a potential approval for the drug sometime in 2028, van Zyl said.
That would give the company time to find its commercial footing with a new drug “so that we are well on our way by 2029 and growing into the next decade with this asset,” he added.
Slightly further afield, the company is anticipating a phase 3 readout on its multiple system atrophy contender amlenetug at the end of 2027, the CEO said.
Also part and parcel to Lundbeck’s strategy is “to be acquisitive,” van Zyl said, noting that “we look very much at external and internal innovation and business development that makes sense for us.”
The Longboard buyout continues to serve as a guidepost for the types of deals Lundbeck wants to forge, van Zyl said.
The CEO described that deal as a “string of pearls”—referring to bolt-on assets like bexicaserin—and Lundbeck will continue to hunt for similar transactions in the $1.5 billion to $2 billion ballpark, he said.
Beyond that, Lundbeck is also constantly assessing targets that could bring both revenue and innovation onboard, and for those deals, the company is more comfortable spending in the $2 billion to $3 billion range.
“A good biopharma strategy is one of constantly searching,” van Zyl said.