Biogen Hedged Its Bet and Won Big
Sometimes a drugmaker's best move isn't developing a new drug but protecting sales of an established one.
Sales of Biogen's (NASDAQ: BIIB) top-selling multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera brought in almost $4.3 billion last year, and sales are on pace to be even higher this year. Much of that sales volume was at risk with Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) developing Vumerity, which was designed to have fewer side effects than Tecfidera.
Vumerity and Tecfidera are almost the same drug. The chemical name for Vumerity is diroximel fumarate, while Tecfidera is dimethyl fumarate. The base "fumarate" is the part that does the work, with both drugs breaking down into monomethyl fumarate.
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