Leading the charge on the innovation front for Alexion is the blockbuster drug Soliris, and the emergence of its successor, Ultomiris; combining to help drive Alexion 7th place ranking on the 2020 innovation scale. A core tenant of their high innovation score were study designs allowing for patients to switch from Soliris onto Ultomiris- enabling a sustainable paradigm for the former drug’s revenue growth as it seeks expand into new innovative areas.

Soliris, a drug first used to treat patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) serves as the predecessor to Ultomiris. The plan for Alexion regarding these two drugs is essentially to facilitate a switch from patients using Soliris to Ultomiris while optimizing the multiple indication potentials of both drugs throughout the transition. This strategy has been progressing smoothly thus far, as 51% of patients taking Soliris for PNH had made the transition to Ultomiris by late October 2019 following the drug’s approval in December of 2018. Early success within just the first 10 months following the approval of Ultomiris put the drug well on its way to the target 70% conversion rate for the condition by mid- 2020.

In addition to successful transitioning strategy, Soliris has recently been approved for the treatment of patients with myasthenia gravis (gMG). This development allowed the drug to boast 3rd quarter sales of $990.5 million (12% increase from the previous year) despite Ultomiris rapidly gaining market share as it adds more approved indications to its label. The only potential roadblock to the continued growth of Soliris is pricing concerns stemming from new indications in the treatment of adult anti-aquaporin-4 antibody-positive patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). The competitor drug–Roche’s Rituxan–costs $60,000 as opposed to proposed over tenfold price increase to $700,000 for first year Soliris patients.

Despite the fact that Soliris makes up around 88% of Alexion’s sales, it isn’t expected to have many biosimilar threats for years to come, and with the innovative strategy that is switching the revenue stream over to Ultomiris, the prospect for higher rankings in the future looks promising. Additional partnerships with companies like Caelum Biosciences, BridgeBio and Stealth with treatments diversified through all phases of clinical trials could lead to flexibility in both invention and innovation in the coming years.

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