Six months after having received the green light from the FDA in the United States, Sanofi has obtained an authorisation to the european medicines Agency to market the dupilumab (under the brand name of the Dupixent). From this Thursday, 28 September, the French laboratory will be able to commercialize this treatment against atopic dermatitis(form of eczema the most common) severe to moderate, developed with Regeneron.
This molecule could yield three to five billion dollars per year to the French laboratory and in the biotech american, if the next two indications referred to are also validated by health authorities. Those against the polyposis, a form of chronic sinusitis and persistent asthma and uncontrolled. For this last indication, Sanofi announced two weeks ago of the positive results in a phase III study.
The pressure of competition
Sanofi, however, will face fierce competition Abbvie if it manages to launch on the market its molecule called upadacitinib. The u.s. laboratory has published, at the beginning of the month, the results of phase IIB clinical trials for eczema treatment. It is reached results comparable to dupilumab on the reduction of inflammation. Sanofi still has a very significant advance on the us laboratory, because his salary is already on the market. Abbvie hopes to increase its molecule in phase III in 2018, the final phase before a request for a green light to the agencies of medicines. It could arrive on the market in 2019.
If it were to be approved for asthma, dupilumab could also cross swords with a future rival developed by Amgen and AstraZeneca, the tezepelumab, which has obtained positive results in phase IIb, while a treatment by the british company GlaxoSmithKline, Nucala (mépolizumab), is already present on the market.
