By Marta Frackowiak
(Reuters) -Finnish drug manufacturer Orion posted a smaller-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter profit on Thursday as robust sales of its prostate cancer drug Nubeqa failed to offset rising costs and the fading effects of a pandemic boost.
The Helsinki-based firm forecast 2022 sales and operating profit at a “similar level” to last year, seeing lower sales of its intensive care sedatives Dexdor and Simdax which face more competition after recent patent expirations as pandemic demand eases.
The outlook assumes that sales of Nubeqa, a drug developed jointly with Germany’s Bayer, will increase in 2022, the company said.
Nubeqa was shown to prolong https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bayers-nubeqa-drug-improves-survival-prostate-cancer-trial-2021-12-03 the lives of men suffering from metastatic prostate cancer in a clinical study, Bayer said in December, which could pave the way for an enlarged market.
Orion, which makes a wide variety of drugs including intensive care sedatives, prescription drugs, self-care products and veterinary medicines, also flagged higher raw material and logistics costs due to supply bottlenecks.
“For Orion, the increase in costs is particularly challenging, as raising the prices of prescription medicines for human use in Orion’s markets is often not an option,” Chief Executive Officer Timo Lappalainen said in a statement.
While full-year sales fell 3.4% from a year earlier, demand for Nubeqa showed strong growth throughout the year, which should help the company offset effects from rising costs and higher investments on 2022 profit, Orion added.
Orion’s operating profit rose 16.7% to 39.9 million euros ($45.7 million) in the last three months of the year compared with the same period a year earlier, but fell short of analysts’ average forecast of 51.8 million euros according to Refinitiv data.
($1 = 0.8740 euros)
(Reporting by Marta Frackowiak; editing by Milla Nissi and Elaine Hardcastle)
