I am proud and happy of all the achievements we have already achieved together at Orion this year. We are eager to continue on our growth path!
Published on 8 August 2024
"In January–June 2024, our net sales increased by 12.2 percent to EUR 636.7 (567.5) million and operating profit increased by 19.5 percent to EUR 121.8 (102.0) million.
Nubeqa® continued to perform well and was a clear growth driver for Orion and the Innovative Medicines business division. Nubeqa® sales recorded by Orion, i.e. tablet deliveries to Bayer and royalties, grew faster than we expected, reflecting the strong performance of the product and our partner Bayer in the market.
Demand for Easyhaler® products remained strong, which explains the growth of the product portfolio and, to a large extent, of the Branded Products business division. The net sales of the Generics and Consumer Health business division were almost at par compared to the comparative period.
The first half of 2024 was strong for our Animal Health business division. The development is explained by the weak comparative period when soft market and optimisation of partners' inventory levels were causing headwinds.
Fermion's important strategic role is to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients for Orion's innovative medicines as well as for other important medicines. Fermion also increased its external sales in the early part of the year, although more capacity has recently been reserved for the manufacture of Orion's own products.
Orion's operating profit grew faster than net sales, even though operating expenses increased in a planned and anticipated manner. The good development of all business divisions contributed to the increase in operating profit, but the strongest impact was on Nubeqa® royalties.
After the review period in July, we reported that Orion and MSD have exercised the option to convert the companies’ ongoing co-development and co-commercialization agreement for opevesostat and other candidates targeting CYP11A1 into an exclusive global license for MSD. The conversion of this collaboration into a license agreement allows Orion to focus our resources to progress our other promising development candidates while both remaining well positioned to benefit from the development and potential commercialisation of opevesostat and meeting our financial objectives. We believe MSD provides the best choice to maximise the potential of opevesostat, a compound discovered by Orion’s scientists. As a consequence of the exercise of the option, we will release a EUR 60 million item from our balance sheet, which will have a positive impact on the third quarter 2024 net sales and operating profit, and as a result, we upgraded the outlook for the current year.
In mid-July, together with our partner Bayer, we reported that the ARANOTE trial had met its primary endpoint, showing that darolutamide in combination with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly increases radiological progression-free survival compared to placebo plus ADT. Safety analysis shows darolutamide plus ADT to be comparable to placebo plus ADT, reconfirming the established tolerability profile of darolutamide as observed in the ARAMIS and ARASENS trials. The results of the ARANOTE trial reconfirm that darolutamide, a compound discovered by Orion scientists, is a viable treatment option for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.
Otherwise, our clinical development pipeline remains the same. We are preparing to start the clinical phase II program with the ODM-111 molecule for the treatment of acute and chronic pain during 2024 or early 2025.
I am proud and happy of all the achievements we have already achieved together at Orion this year. We are eager to continue on our growth path!”