Eisai Q1 FY2019 Financial Results: Lenvatinib Drives 40% Sales Growth in China

Eisai Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Eisai”) announced its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2019 (ended June 30), reporting strong performance in the Chinese market. During the reporting period, the company’s global revenue amounted to JPY 154 billion (approximately USD 1.45 billion), representing a slight year-on-year increase of 0.5%. Net profit reached JPY 22.09 billion (approximately USD 210 million), a significant year-on-year growth of 40.8%. While sales declined in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and in Japan, these decreases were offset by robust growth in China and the United States. Specifically, revenue from the Chinese market increased by 40.03% year-on-year to JPY 22.09 billion (approximately USD 208.1 million), with net profit surging by 83.9% compared to the same period last year.

Lenvima (lenvatinib mesylate capsules), a multi-target tyrosine kinase inhibitor under Eisai for the treatment of liver cancer, kidney cancer, and thyroid cancer, is currently the company’s best-selling drug and primary driver of performance growth. Following the March 2018 agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) to co-develop and commercialize lenvatinib, the drug’s global sales doubled to JPY 247.59 billion (approximately USD 230 million), representing a year-on-year increase of 108.8%, with approximately 55% of sales derived from the U.S. market. Lenvatinib was approved in China in September 2018 for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), becoming the first new therapeutic agent approved in China in a decade as a first-line systemic treatment for HCC. Since its launch in China last November, the drug has generated sales of JPY 35.08 billion (approximately USD 33 million).

In July 2019, Halaven (eribulin mesylate), the world’s first microtubule dynamics inhibitor targeting cell mitosis under Eisai, received approval in China for patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who had previously received at least two chemotherapy regimens (including anthracyclines and taxanes). Regarding its global drug development pipeline, Eisai has initiated a global Phase III clinical trial (including in China) evaluating lenvatinib in combination with Merck & Co.’s pembrolizumab as first-line treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma. Additionally, Eisai has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) in China for its epilepsy medication perampanel, marking the company’s first NDA submission for perampanel in the Chinese market. In October 2018, Eisai submitted an NDA in China for perampanel as adjunctive therapy for partial-onset seizures in patients aged 12 years and older, which was granted priority review status in December of the same year.