(Reuters) -Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc’s first-quarter sales of blockbuster eye drug Eylea came in below Wall Street targets on Thursday as competition heats up, sending the company’s shares down 4% in premarket trade.
Eylea has been a key growth driver for the drugmaker for years but its sales have fallen over the past few quarters, partly due to rising competition from Roche’s Vabysmo since the rival secured U.S. approval last year.
Regeneron is hoping to get approval for a high-dose version of Eylea that could allow longer intervals between injections for patients – a feature that analysts expect will offer the company a better defense against Vabysmo.
The quarterly results from Regeneron “place even more emphasis on the need for near-flawless execution with the upcoming approval and likely launch” of the high-dose Eylea, BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said in a note.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision on the new version is expected by June 27.
Eylea recorded sales of $2.28 billion in the quarter, missing expectations of $2.43 billion, according to an average of six analysts’ estimates polled by Refinitiv.
The company has also been leaning on its anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent – a treatment currently approved for five indications including asthma and atopic dermatitis, or eczema.
Quarterly sales of Dupixent, recorded by Regeneron’s partner Sanofi, rose about 37% to $2.49 billion, above expectations of $2.38 billion.
The lackluster numbers for Eylea took the shine off an otherwise strong quarter for Regeneron.
Its total revenue of $3.16 billion beat estimates of $3 billion. Excluding items, the company reported a profit of $10.09 per share, above estimates of $9.56.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Raghav Mahobe in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
