BLOG: Minor league designation? Novartis’ five pillars do not include eye care
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Wow. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks on the industry side of eye care, eh?
Allergan let go of more than 200 folks on the sales side, and now Novartis is sending out some pretty clear signals that it may be losing interest. “Forward-going guidance” describes the five pillars of the Novartis plan to become a top five company in the U.S. pharmaceutical market. Topping that off, Novartis let go of its entire professional relations team on Oct. 10.
Eye care gets sent to the minors.
Why is this? I think there is still a lot of disappointment with the upended Beovu launch. This was enough to blunt the news that Novartis got Medicare Part D coverage for Xiidra. Xiidra looks like it is on track for approximately $550 million in net sales (after rebates) this year. With access to the whole market, doctors can pit lifitegrast directly against cyclosporine in a home run derby. Just the appearance of a win here might make Xiidra another $250 million to $500 million net per year, in my opinion.
Now? A billion dollars isn’t enough. As if this were soccer, eye care has been relegated to the minors.
Novartis is essentially saying that it will be prioritizing those “pillars” that house a multibillion dollar drug or drugs. Face it, Xiidra isn’t ever going to fit that bill. It’s hard to see Beovu ever getting a chance. This is really discouraging. First, Allergan sends out a super negative signal after the problematic launch of Vuity. Now, Novartis downgrades.
What’s next? I was really hoping that both Allergan and Novartis were going to be on the “buy” side of the ledger. You know, like MLB franchises that look at where they sit at the All-Star Break and decide to keep their stars on the team and go out into the market to acquire a superstar or two for the pennant race. Now? Man, I’d bet that both would be delighted to be “sellers,” but who’s out there to be the “buyers?” Who has enough commitment to the eye care space and enough cash/credit to snag the Allergan or Novartis portfolios? Who can create the right mix of products? Is this Alcon’s chance to become, you know, Alcon?
I don’t know. Novartis and Allergan have made some awfully big moves. I’d hate to see either one of them abandon our space. All eyes are now on Bausch + Lomb and Alcon as we wait to see what’s coming next.
Reference:
- Novartis unveils new focused strategy, underpinned by eight potential multi-billion dollar peak sales brands & deep pipeline, at Meet the Management event. https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-unveils-new-focused-strategy-underpinned-eight-potential-multi-billion-dollar-peak-sales-brands-deep-pipeline-meet-management-event. Published Sept. 22, 2022. Accessed Oct. 12, 2022.
Collapse