{"id":115017,"date":"2026-08-13T12:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/115017\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T12:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:20:24","slug":"roche-defends-6b-franc-vabysmo-peak-target-despite-another-miss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/115017\/","title":{"rendered":"Roche defends 6B franc Vabysmo peak target despite another miss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roche\u2019s Vabysmo disappointed investors again. In the second quarter, the eye drug\u2019s sales of about 1.04 billion Swiss francs ($1.27 billion) missed analysts\u2019 expectations by 7.1%.<\/p>\n

Speaking on an investor call Thursday, Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO Teresa Graham assured analysts that the U.S. branded market has stabilized after a period of contraction, though the explosive growth<\/a> that Vabysmo enjoyed early in its launch is likely behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing that 2% to 3% growth in the overall retinal market,\u201d Graham said. \u201cWe do expect that this is going to be the new normal, and we don\u2019t expect a rebound to previous levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vabysmo\u2019s Q2 sales figure represents a 1% decline year over year. But Roche expects the drug\u2019s revenue in the U.S. to grow by a low- to mid-single-digit for the full year, and its global sales to increase by low double-digits, according to Graham.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to consider consensus peak sales expectations for Vabysmo of around 6 billion [Swiss francs], it\u2019s very reasonable, and we\u2019re confident that we\u2019re on track to achieve this number,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

Initially approved by the FDA in early 2022, Vabysmo started to show signs of a deceleration<\/a> toward the latter half of 2025, partly thanks to the closure of certain copay assistance programs. The first biosimilar to a key rival drug, Regeneron\u2019s Eylea, was also launched toward the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

Graham stressed that the Eylea biosimilar didn\u2019t impact Vabysmo. In the ophthalmology space, biosimilars tend to only affect the originators that they reference, without much bleed-over to other products, she observed.<\/p>\n

Citing physician surveys, Graham noted that Vabysmo is a physicians\u2019 favorite and therefore expects it to \u201ctake a disproportionate share\u201d of the overall branded market growth.<\/p>\n

Beyond Vabysmo, immunology drug Xolair was cited as the biggest growth driver in Roche\u2019s pharma business. In Q2, Xolair\u2019s sales jumped 21% year over year, reaching 965 million Swiss francs ($1.18 billion) while crushing Wall Street consensus by 10.5%.<\/p>\n

A slowdown could be around the corner. Roche currently projects a September entry for the first Xolair biosimilar in the U.S. But the Swiss pharma is still guiding to roughly 20% growth for the entire year of 2026.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the immunology department, Graham expressed excitement over the potential of Gazyva\u2014a CD20 antibody initially utilized as a cancer therapy\u2014in autoimmune indications. Despite continued competitive pressure in the chronic lymphocytic leukemia field pulling back Gazyva to flat sales year over year, Graham cited \u201cfirst early indications\u201d of its launch progress in lupus nephritis. In the U.S., Germany and the U.K., where Gazyva is available in lupus, Roche recorded Gazyva quarterly sales growth with patient share approaching 10%, according to Graham.<\/p>\n

Roche expects FDA decisions on three Gazyva label expansion opportunities this year, including idiopathic nephrotic syndrome on Sept. 27, membranous nephropathy on Nov. 15 and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on Dec. 4. With all of Gazyva\u2019s immunology indications filed with the FDA, Roche expects that they will fuel its 2 billion Swiss francs peak sales ambition. In Q2, Gazyva sales of 242 million Swiss francs missed consensus by 8.4%.<\/p>\n

In lupus, Roche has stopped development<\/a> of a CD19xCD3 bispecific after evaluating the drug in a phase 1 SLE trial. Simultaneously, the company has moved Lunsumio, a CD20xCD3 T-cell engager approved for blood cancer treatment, into phase 2 testing for SLE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSLE is a very heterogeneous and complex disease,\u201d Graham explained on the Q2 call. \u201cWhile we saw great results with Gazyva, we do believe there\u2019s an opportunity for more benefit for patients, and based on Lunsumio\u2019s mechanism of action and its safety profile, we think it could actually be a really great option for patients with SLE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Roche\u2019s 12.16 billion Swiss francs in pharmaceutical sales came 1.3% ahead of consensus, boosting group-wide sales to 15.5 billion Swiss francs during Q2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roche\u2019s Vabysmo disappointed investors again. In the second quarter, the eye drug\u2019s sales of about 1.04 billion Swiss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[124],"tags":[230,41499,41939,625,6649,6851,2536,134,2050,32276],"class_list":["post-115017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-roche","tag-earnings","tag-eylea","tag-fierce-pharma-homepage","tag-financials","tag-gazyva","tag-lunsumio","tag-pharma","tag-roche","tag-teresa-graham","tag-vabysmo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117088172335728005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}