Blood-Cancer Drug Hits $1 Billion
By KEITH J. WINSTEIN
DECEMBER 5, 2008, 3:17 P.M. ET
Year-to-date sales of blood-cancer drug Velcade hit $1 billion in November, indicating the medicine's sales grew more than 25% in a year that saw broadened approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Velcade is marketed, and its revenues are shared, by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s Millennium Pharmaceuticals unit and Johnson & Johnson.
Friday, Millennium, of Cambridge, Mass., said it learned that Velcade's total sales in 2008 passed the $1 billion mark last month, surpassing the level that typically defines "blockbuster drug" status. That includes sales by Millennium inside the U.S., and by J&J overseas. J&J pays Millennium a royalty on sales outside the U.S.
World-wide Velcade sales were $799 million in 2007.
Velcade treats multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, and has been shown to delay the progression of the disease and increase survival among patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Millennium an accelerated approval to market Velcade in 2003, based on preliminary evidence.
Earlier this year, the FDA broadened Velcade's approval to include myeloma patients with newly diagnosed cancer who hadn't necessarily failed with previous, cheaper therapies.
A nine-month treatment with Velcade costs about $40,400 on average, according to data from the U.S. Medicare program
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