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By Christy Santhosh
(Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals on Thursday reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales of the higher dose version of its blockbuster eye disease drug Eylea, sending its shares down 9%.
That overshadowed the company surpassing Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit and revenue.Regeneron has been looking to upgrade patients who use Eylea to the high-dose version, as the drug that has long been its cash cow faces the threat of biosimilar products and stiff competition from rivals, including Roche's Vabysmo.
Quarterly sales of $392 million for the higher-dose version, called Eylea HD, missed expectations for a second straight quarter.
"Investors are likely to question a second sequential miss for Eylea HD, given its importance to the growth story," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman. However, total U.S. net sales of Eylea, jointly developed with Bayer AG, rose 3% to $1.54 billion, above analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Eylea's net sales got a boost of about $40 million from a rise in wholesaler inventory levels for the higher-dose version at the end of the third quarter, said Regeneron.
"As a result, we expect fourth-quarter Eylea HD net sales to be negatively impacted as this increase in wholesaler inventory is absorbed," said Marion McCourt, executive vice president, commercial, at Regeneron.
The higher-dose version of the eye disease drug was launched in August 2023 and allows for longer intervals between injections for patients. Regeneron's total revenue of $3.72 billion beat expectations of $3.67 billion. The company reported an adjusted profit of $12.46 per share for the quarter, above estimates of $11.69.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
