Novartis AG
NVS
announced that the European Commission has approved its B-cell therapy Kesimpta (ofatumumab) for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (“RMS”) in adult patients with active disease defined by clinical or imaging features.
In January 2021, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion and recommended granting marketing authorization of Kesimpta for the given indication.
The approval in Europe was based on data from two phase III ASCLEPIOS studies which met the primary endpoints. Results from the same showed that treatment with Kesimpta demonstrated superiority over
Sanofi
’s
SNY
Aubagio (teriflunomide) in significantly reducing annual relapses by more than 50% as a first-line treatment in MS.
Per the company, Kesimpta is the first B-cell therapy, which can be self-administered once a month at home via the Sensoready autoinjector pen. It can become a first-choice treatment option for patients with RMS. Notably, in Europe, over one million people are living with MS. Hence the approval for Kesimpta gives another treatment option for people living with RMS in the continent.
Shares of Novartis have declined 7.5% so far this year against the
industry’s
increase of 0.1%.
.jpg)
Last August, the FDA approved Kesimpta as a subcutaneous injection for the treatment of adult patients with RMS including a clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting disease and an active secondary progressive disease.
In 2020, Kesimpta generated sales of $15 million. The approval in Europe should boost the drug’s sales in 2021.
Notably, in December 2015, Novartis in-licensed rights to ofatumumab from
GlaxoSmithKline
GSK
for all indications including RMS.
We remind investors that that multiple sclerosis is a crowded market with many companies jostling for space with drugs in their portfolio already approved for the same indication.
Biogen
BIIB
holds a strong position with a wide range of products in the given market space.
In a separate press release, Novartis announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to develop/commercialize therapeutic applications for a library of Fibroblast Activation Protein targeting agents including FAPI-46 and FAPI-74 through an assignment agreement with iTheranostics, Inc.
With this deal, Novartis is looking to expand its oncology radioligand pipeline.
Zacks Rank
Novartis currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
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.
See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.
Click to get this free report
