ZURICH, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Swiss generic maker Sandoz reported a 9% jump in second quarter net sales on Wednesday, slightly above analyst expectations, as it reaped the benefits of patent expirations in its biosimilars unit.
Net sales amounting to $3.01 billion compared to the $2.99 billion analysts were expecting in a Vara-compiled consensus.
Biosimilar net sales rose 22% at constant currencies from the same quarter last year, after already jumping 18% in the first quarter, a trend the company said at the time should continue throughout the year.
Sandoz is increasingly pushing into biosimilars, which are biological drugs based on reference medicines for which patents have expired and market exclusivity has been lost.
These are usually sold at much cheaper prices as they do not factor in significant research and development costs.
The company is currently benefiting from what innovator drugmakers like former parent company Novartis consider to be their biggest patent cliffs in decades. In stark contrast, Sandoz’s management has deemed it the “golden decade” for biosimilars.
(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier, Editing by Friederike Heine)
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