The Bristol Myers Squibb Research and Development Center at Cambridge Crossing in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on Wednesday, December 27, 2023.
Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bristol Myers Squibb believes Alzheimer's is the largest market for its newly approved schizophrenia drug Cobenfy, which it expects will ultimately generate billions of dollars in revenue.
In an interview, company executives said each treatment use they are exploring for Cobenfy has multibillion-dollar potential, including Alzheimer's psychosis, Alzheimer's agitation and cognition, bipolar disease and autism. But Alzheimer's is the “really big market” here, Bristol Myers Squibb CFO David Elkins told CNBC on Tuesday at the JPMorgan Health Care Conference in San Francisco.
There are nearly 6 million patients with Alzheimer's disease in the U.S., and about half of them suffer from psychosis or symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, Elkins said. Cobenfy could be the first drug approved specifically for Alzheimer's-related psychosis, Chief Commercialization said Officer Adam Lenkowsky.
Atypical antipsychotics – drugs used to treat various psychiatric disorders – are often used to treat psychosis in Alzheimer's patients, although they are not approved for this purpose. However, according to Bristol Myers Squibb, these treatments can increase the risk of death, which is not the case with Cobenfy.
According to some studies, it is estimated that approximately 60 to 70% of patients are affected by Alzheimer's agitation, a symptom that can cause a patient to feel restless and worried.
Bristol Myers Squibb said Monday that it plans to publish initial trial data on Cobenfy in the treatment of Alzheimer's-related psychosis in the second half of the year, earlier than expected. The company also expects to begin Phase 3 trials in Alzheimer's agitation, Alzheimer's cognition and bipolar disorder in 2025, while trials in autism will begin in 2026.
JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott expects Cobenfy sales to reach about $5 billion by 2030, with peak sales potential in the $10 billion range for various treatment applications, according to a research note Tuesday. That's a big boon for Bristol Myers Squibb as the company faces pressure to offset potential lost sales of top-selling treatments whose patents are expiring.
Cobenfy drug from Bristol Myers Squibb
Courtesy: Bristol Myers Squibb
This brings Cobenfy full circle, which, when approved in September, became the first novel treatment for the roughly 3 million U.S. adults with schizophrenia in decades. The drug comes from Bristol Myers Squibb's whopping $14 billion acquisition of biotech company Karuna Therapeutics in late 2023.
However, the drug's roots lie in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Eli Lilly originally tested part of the drug – xanomeline – in the 1990s to reduce cognitive decline before shelving it due to serious side effects including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation. Xanomeline activates certain so-called muscarinic receptors in the brain to reduce dopamine activity without causing the side effects associated with antipsychotics.
More CNBC Health coverage
Andrew Miller, founder and former president of research and development at Karuna Therapeutics and now an advisor to Bristol Myers Squibb, recognized xanomeline's potential in neuroscience and theorized that combining xanomeline with a second existing drug – trospium – would reduce these side effects. He then founded Karuna to develop the combination to treat schizophrenia.
Other groundbreaking treatments for Alzheimer's have recently come to market, including: Biogenic And Eisai's Lekmbi and Eli LillyThis is Kisunla. These treatments work in part by eliminating toxic plaques in the brain called amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimer's, to slow the decline in memory and thinking in patients with early Alzheimer's disease
But as people's disease progresses, they experience symptoms such as psychosis and agitation, said Elkins of Bristol Myers Squibb.
“Cobenfy fits here,” he said. “If you can get rid of the psychosis and the restlessness, people's perception improves. Imagine how impactful this drug could be for caregivers and the healthcare system as a whole for these patients and their families. It's really exciting when you think about it in this context.
Comments are closed.