Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaks during a press conference with the President of the European Commission after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s factory in Puurs, April 23, 2021.
John Tys | AFP | Getty Images
Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla on Monday said the pharmaceutical giant would find a way to deliver Seagen cancer therapy worldwide “on an unprecedented scale” with a $43 billion acquisition.
“We will add value to what Seagen brings,” Bourla said in an interview with CNBC. “It’s kind of like when the mRNA was in our hands. With our scale, with our capabilities, it’s the same here.”
Seagen is a leading manufacturer of the so-called antibody-drug conjugatesor ADCs which can be supposed to kill cancer cells and spare healthy ones. ADCs use antibodies to deliver small molecule drugs directly to the tumor site, which might reduce uncomfortable side effects and supply greater efficacy, according to Seagen website.
Bourla called ADC “one among the best technologies to fight cancer” and compared it to the successful mRNA or messenger RNA technology the company helped produce with BioNTech for Covid-19 vaccines. mRNA technology is essentially used as a carrier to deliver instructions to cells. In Covid vaccines, mRNA technology is used to trick our immune system into making antibodies against the virus.
ADCs “are turbocharged guided missiles that concentrate on cancer cells and might make a huge difference,” he said.
Seagen will expand Pfizer’s anti-cancer drug portfolio with 4 approved cancer therapies combined sales of nearly $2 billion in 2022. Seagen’s best-selling Adcetris, which treats cancers of the lymphatic system, brought in $839 million in sales last 12 months alone. This is a rise of 19% compared to the previous 12 months, according to the latest report from Seagen wage release.
Sale Padczewa drug for urinary tract cancer, also rose 33% to $451 million last 12 months, the company said.
“These drugs are on a strong growth trajectory, with significant lifecycle programs projected to drive further impact and growth,” Bourla said in a conference call Monday morning.
Seagen expects to generate roughly $2.2 billion in revenue this 12 months, up 12% year-over-year, according to a Pfizer press release. Pfizer added that Seagen could bring in greater than $10 billion in risk-adjusted sales by 2030, “with the potential for significant growth” after that 12 months.
The deal comes as Pfizer prepares for a drop in Covid-related sales this 12 months, after its vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid boosted 2022 revenue to a record $100 billion. It will help Pfizer focus on oncology, a field the company believes will be the industry’s largest growth market.
Pfizer’s oncology division earned $12.1 billion last 12 months. The corporate has 24 approved treatments in the division, including the Ibrance treatment for breast cancer, according to the release.
Pfizer expects to close the deal later this 12 months or early 2024. The corporate also expects antitrust authorities to look closely at the deal due to its size, but Bourla said during an interview: “We imagine we’ve got a clean case.”
“The environment is all the time difficult and we’re preparing for it, but I do not expect problems,” he added.
Cancer was chargeable for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 World Health ORganisation. The American Cancer Society expects the global burden of cancer to increase significantly by 2040, projecting recent cases to 27.5 million and cancer deaths to 16.3 million
Bourla emphasized during the interview that the impact of cancer goes far beyond the patients themselves: “If not patients, they will be affected as husband or wife, they will be affected by daughter or son.”
He added: “We will make a big difference with this technology in our hands.”