The success of daratumumab, sold under the name Darzalex against bone and marrow cancer, continues unabated for Genmab.

The sale, which took place in the US after the target was approved in November last year, is performing so well that Genmab raised its expectations for 2016.

After the presentation of financial statements for 2015 in February, Genmab’s CEO Jan van de Winkel said to MedWatch:

"We are very encouraged by signals from the market. We can follow the prescription figures week by week, and we can see that sales are increasing all the time. I would say that expectations are realistic for now. We can say more in a few quarters but I am very optimistic that we will reach expectations if not exceed them."

And that is precisely what is happening now

Genmab expects 2016 revenue to fall between USD 141 million – USD 148 million (DKK 925-975 million) against an earlier USD 125 million – USD 148 million (DKK 825-975 million). Darzalex is estimated to sell for between USD 400 million - USD 450 million in 2016 (DKK 400 - 450 million), when the previous expectation sat between USD 250 - USD 300 million (DKK 250 - 300 million).  This will give Genmab royalties of between USD 46 million - USD 53 million (DKK 300 - 350 million) against an earlier expected USD 30 million – USD 38 million (DKK 200-250 million). The revenue also recognizes milestone payments for Darzalex for USD 61 million (DKK 400 million) in royalties from the sale of the drug Arzerra, milestones from the Duobody collaboration and the amortization of deferred revenue on the company’s partner agreements.

Robust sales

Genmab also upgraded its expectations for operational costs with an improvement of USD 15 million (DKK 100 million), which will now land between USD 19 million and USD 27 million (DKK 25 - 175 million), against an earlier expected range of USD 3.8 million – 11.4 million (DKK 25-75 million).

By the end of the year, liquidity is expected to sit between USD 519 million – USD 534 million (DKK 3.4-3.5 billion) against an earlier expected USD 504 million – USD 519 million (DKK 3.3-3.4 billion).

"We are pleased to be able to upgrade our expectations for 2015 based on the robust Darzalex sales levels, which we have seen since the product was launched in November 2015," said Jan van de Winkel in a press release after the upgrade.

2016 operating costs will continue at USD 118 million – USD 126 million (DKK 775-825 million). The increasing costs when compared with last year are due to the increasing investment in Genmab’s product pipeline, including further development of the tisotumab vedotim and drug candidates HuMax-AXL-ADC, HexaBody-DR5/DR5, DuoBody-CD3xCD20 and other preclinical programs.

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