The pharma division of German healthcare group, Bayer, is counting on its recently approved drug, Kerendia, among some other potential blockbuster drugs, which the Bayer pharma chief, Stefan Oelrich, has entitled as “the kidney medicine”. The company has predicted that the said drug could generate over €1 billion in its peak sales.
For Kerendia, Oelrich said to the investors, “We really think that we have the kidney medicine… The kidney medicine means we have the product that is designed to treat kidney with five different indications.”
The drug was approved last month which can be used as the treatment for reducing risks of kidney function decline, hospitalization of patients with heart failure due to chronic kidney disease, final-stage kidney disease, cardiovascular death and non-fatal heart attacks, all associated with Type-2 diabetes.
Being an adversary to mineralocorticoid receptors, Kerendia has similar mechanism of action with similar heart drugs like Viatris’ Inspra.
SGLT2 inhibitors, such as AstraZeneca’s Farxiga, are also being approved as the treatment for different kidney and/or heart-related ailments. As noted by one of the analysts, SGLT2s are cheaper in price as compared to Kerendia.
Farxiga has been widely used as a diabetes drug so Oelrich pleaded that the pricing of the drugs must not be compared. “This is not a diabetes drug,” he said of Kerendia.
Kerendia’s launch took place after Bayer’s pharma unit recovered from the deceleration of firm’s operations due to the pandemic. Bayer witnessed a 16.2% growth in sales from its pharmaceutical unit at constant currencies, to €4.49 billion ($5.32 billion), in second quarter.
Owing to its strong show, the company is now expecting a 6% growth in pharma instead of the prior estimate of 4%, this year.
The sales for the entire company upsurged by 12.9%, to €10.85 billion, in the second quarter. The healthcare group is now projecting its yearly revenues to be nearly €44 billion, up from the previous €42- €43 billion.
