AstraZeneca hosted its Q4 ’19 and FY ’19 earnings call and provided updates to its diabetes business. Of note, AZ disclosed it received Fast Track designation for the development of cotadutide (dual GLP-1/GCG agonist) for the treatment of NASH. Below, FENIX provides highlights and insights from the call.
A series of diabetes-related news items were observed today from AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and MannKind. AZ announced FDA filing acceptance and granting of priority review for the Farxiga DAPA-HF sNDA. According to AZ, the PDUFA date is in Q2 2020. Additionally, Novo announced US approval of Fiasp for pediatric populations. Further, MannKind announced that it has received approval of the proposed price of Afrezza in Brazil, and intends to commence marketing and distribution the week of January 13, 2020. Below, FENIX provides context and insights regarding these news items.
Earlier this week, Sanofi hosted its 2019 Capital Markets Day and the company disclosed plans to re-structure its diabetes and cardiovascular business. As part of the discussion, senior management entertained the idea that it would consider divesting the business and/or its assets if it found the right suitor. Below, FENIX provides analysis of companies who could potentially be interested in Sanofi’s DCV assets and why AstraZeneca, Teva, or even Viatris (Mylan/Upjohn) could be viable options.
Today, a series of diabetes-related news has been observed including the EC approval of AZ’s Qtrilmet (dapa+saxa+met triple FDC)as well as new data from Fractyl, Dario, and Valeritas related to the concurrent Diabetes Technology Meeting occurring in Bethesda. Below, FENIX provides highlights and insights on the respective news items.
AstraZeneca announced FDA approved a Farxiga heart failure indication in T2DM patients based on results from the DECLARE CVOT. Below, FENIX provides a DECLARE label analysis as well as potential market implications to the SGLT2i class particularly ahead of the DAPA-HF FDA filing/approval.
AstraZeneca announced it received a positive CHMP opinion for the FDC of dapagliflozin+saxagliptin+metformin branded as “Qtrilmet.” Recall, FDA approved AZ’s triple FDC (called Qternmet XR in the US) in May 2019. Below, FENIX provides brief thoughts on the Qtrilmet positive CHMP opinion.
The CHMP agenda for this week’s meeting (September 16-20) has been released, and it includes two notable items (REWIND and dapa/saxa/met triple FDC opinions). Below, FENIX provides diabetes-related highlights and insights from the CHMP agenda.
Full results from AstraZeneca’s Farxiga DAPA-HF trial were presented at ESC 2019. Data from the trial showed an impressive 26% RRR (p<0.0001) in the primary composite endpoint (CV death or worsening of heart failure) with both components contributing to the highly statistically significant result. Additionally, Novartis presented results from the Entresto PARAGON-HF trial (patients with HFpEF) which narrowly missed statistical significance on the primary endpoint but showed benefit in key subpopulations. Of note, it appears that DAPA-HF has not yet been published in any scientific journal, and the p-value in the AZ press release did not exactly match what was presented during ESC 2019. Below, FENIX provides thoughts on the DAPA-HF and PARAGON-HF results in the context of the evolving HF market.
AstraZeneca announced that the Farxiga DAPA-HF study will be presented on Sunday, September 1, 2019 the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress in Paris. Of note, DAPA-HF will be presented during the same session as THEMIS (Brilinta in patients with established CAD and T2DM) and PARAGON-HF (Entresto in patients with HFpEF). On August 20, AZ announced positive topline results from the trial. FENIX will be providing an in-depth analysis of the data following the ESC presentation.
AstraZeneca announced FDA granted Fast Track designation to Farxiga for the prevention of renal failure and CV/renal death in patients with CKD. Recall, AZ recently announced positive topline results for DAPA-HF and subsequently purchased a priority review voucher (PRV) which FENIX believes could be used for the Farxiga HF filing. Below, FENIX provides thoughts on the Farxiga Fast Track designation in the context of Janssen’s CREDENCE FDA filing which received FDA priority review.