Lundbeck’s Charl van Zyl has about 100 days under his belt as the company’s new CEO. For the next 100 days and beyond, the chief exec is buckling down on his efforts to sustain the company's growth trajectory through upcoming patent cliffs.
Van Zyl came to Lundbeck after a six-year stint at UCB, where he most recently served as that company’s head of neurology solutions. UCB credited the exec with integrating two major acquisitions after UCB bought Zogenix for $1.9 billion in 2022 and Ra Pharma for $2.5 billion in 2019.
With that experience, van Zyl could be ready to strike deals for his new employer.
Under a goal to bolster long-term growth prospects, Lundbeck’s approach to M&A is really “programmatic" and "systemic,” the CEO said in a recent interview. The strategy could include a series of “two or three” deals that build on the company’s existing strengths and enable it to balance its pipeline, the chief said.
For now, Lundbeck has two strong growth drivers on hand with its antipsychotic Rexulti, which recently scored an FDA approval for Alzheimer’s disease agitation, and the migraine med Vyepti. Lundbeck's commercial efforts on those meds will command much of the company's attention as it works to grow in the medium term, the CEO said.
Recently, Rexulti overtook the antidepressant Trintellix/Brintellix as Lundbeck’s top brand by sales, bringing in a haul of 3.3 billion DKK ($481 million) over the first nine months of 2023. The drug is still early in its Alzheimer’s agitation launch, but with a high unmet need in an area with “huge societal impact,” van Zyl is confident that for Lundbeck, “this is the right space to be [in].”
The drug's rise comes at a good time. The company’s long-time largest product, Trintellix/Brintellix, is slated to lose patent protection at the end of 2026. Rexulti loses exclusivity in 2029, allowing Lundbeck a longer runway to grow the brand.
Currently, Lundbeck is “investing significantly” to grow the med in its new use, particularly in the U.S. with direct-to-consumer ads, the CEO said.
With a “strong cash flow” and a solid financial position, the time is right to invest and grow, van Zyl emphasized. Lundbeck's former CEO, Deborah Dunsire, stepped down in June after the 109-year-old company hit a record high for quarterly revenues.
In a broader sense, the primary focus across the industry going into 2024 is trending toward setting the bar “very high” for innovation, especially in areas of unmet need. As for Lundbeck, the drugmaker is specifically active in chronic neuroscience as it looks to address lifelong conditions.
Like many of its peers, upcoming patent cliffs are pushing Lundbeck toward building a pipeline that can deliver over many years.
The company’s pipeline is still in relatively early stages, with many assets in phase 1 and phase 2. But out of those, van Zyl is “really excited” about its migraine prospects.
In April, the drugmaker read out positive results of a proof-of-concept study testing a new migraine approach. If successful, the asset could complement Vyepti and help Lundbeck build out a portfolio of migraine prevention medicines.