In the face of broader rollout challenges that could limit uptake of Arexvy, GSK said it is confident that sales for its blockbuster asset will continue to grow in the forthcoming RSV vaccine season that starts next month.
The company also said that second-quarter sales for its Shingles vaccine Shingrix dropped by 36% in the US, according to its earnings release.
During GSK’s call with the media, CEO Emma Walmsley said the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ delay on recommending RSV vaccines for younger adults aged 50 to 59 in May was “surprising.” The committee also restricted its preexisting recommendation, from supporting the use of the vaccine in all people over 60, to only those at high risk of severe disease in the 60-to-74 cohort and all those aged 75 and older.
The UK pharma remains “very confident that the benefit Arexvy can offer to the [50 to 59] age group, like other cohorts, will be fully recognized, and this best-in-class vaccine will reach its full sales potential,” Walmsley said. Arexvy received an FDA label expansion to people aged 50 to 59 at increased risk of disease back in June.
The shot first won US approval for adults aged 60 and older in May last year and has since dominated over Pfizer’s Abrysvo in sales. Last year, Arexvy reached £1.2 billion ($1.5 million) in sales and went on to retain two-thirds of RSV market share in retail during the first three months of 2024. The next RSV vaccine season is between August and October.
But competition is heating up with the recent entry of Moderna’s mRESVIA, which was approved a few months ago. In GSK’s home turf, the UK selected Pfizer’s shot instead of Arexvy, securing a deal for 3.5 million doses for older adults and 1.4 million for pregnant people.
GSK’s broader vaccines portfolio missed Barclays consensus estimates by 9% in Q2, with vaccine sales up just 1% in constant exchange rates to £1.99 billion ($2.55 billion). In particular, US sales of the drugmaker’s Shingles vaccine Shingrix plummeted 36% due to reductions in channel inventory and changes in retail vaccine prioritization, according to its earnings release.
Shingrix recently made headlines after results from a retrospective study showed the vaccine was linked with a reduced risk of developing dementia compared with the Zoster live vaccine. While the science is still in the “early stage,” GSK is looking at conducting other studies, both mechanical and retrospective, to explore a potential causal link, Walmsley said.
Elsewhere in its pipeline, GSK dropped a Phase 1 proteasome inhibitor candidate for visceral leishmaniasis and a Phase 2 recombinant protein candidate for human papillomavirus. Walmsley said the cuts reflected the company’s commitment to “big bets on new and differentiated assets.”