(AOF) – Coherus BioSciences is expected to rise sharply after announcing today an agreement to sell its Cimerli (ranibizumab-eqrn) ophthalmology franchise to the Sandoz group for an initial amount of $170 million. This product is a biosimilar to Lucentis intended to treat loss of visual acuity due in particular to AMD (age-related macular degeneration) “Since our entry into the ophthalmology market in 2022, we have gained a strong market share and achieved significant value creation,” said boss Denny Lanfear.
“We believe it is prudent to now monetize these non-core assets to pay down debt, reduce financial costs and focus on our core therapeutic area, oncology,” he added.
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Oncology, priority of pharmaceutical giants
Sanofi’s stock market disappointment recorded at the end of October 2023 underlines the new direction for the group, which has now set oncology as its number 1 priority. Efforts in this segment, where therapies are advancing the fastest, notably involve investments in R&D which weigh on profitability. Sanofi therefore announced a drop in its earnings per share in 2024 and the abandonment of its objective of an operating margin of 32% in 2025. Merck has just unveiled a new alliance. It will pay up to $22 billion to the Japanese group Daiichi Sankyo as part of a partnership on experimental cancer treatments. While some experts estimate that the United States represents nearly half of global oncology spending (drugs and treatments), or $196 billion in 2022, Chinese spending in this area has more than doubled in five years, going from 5 to 11.8 billion dollars.