Early development of the peanut allergy product
continued according to plan via a formulation feasibility
study in partnership with Catalent, which aims to
confirm the suitability of ALK’s tablet technology for
the project. The results of this are expected to be
available later in 2021.
requirements for adrenaline auto-injectors to be on
hand when administering COVID vaccines.
With many European countries experiencing a further
wave of infections and re-introducing containment
measures, ALK continued to see fluctuating sales of
legacy products as many of these rely on more
frequent clinic visits, and patients were either unable
or unwilling to visit clinics and, in any case, capacity at
many clinics – especially in southern Europe – was
significantly reduced. Venom treatments were
particularly affected since they are almost exclusively
administered within hospitals.
Patient engagement activities continued to show
progress, with a near-doubling of consumers mobilised
via digital channels to approximately 50,000 across all
markets, around 3,000 of which were in the USA.
Meanwhile, final preparations for an expansion of
ALK’s klarify digital patient engagement platform into
Canada were completed ahead of a planned Q2
launch.
Sales in Germany grew strongly as the shift towards
registered, evidence-based allergy medicines
accelerated. This has been supported by recent
changes to the fee model which have mitigated
unintended disincentives for prescribing tablets, and
an update to national reimbursement guidelines
recommending that AIT patients in each region should
be initiated onto registered products only. These
changes to the market structure in Germany represent
a significant commercial opportunity for ALK.
ALK continued to progress its optimisation programme
of portfolio rationalisation, manufacturing site
specialisation, and other initiatives. To support these
efforts, during Q1, ALK submitted a total of 482
regulatory changes covering 86 products to 30
different regulatory authorities.
Q1 SALES AND MARKET TRENDS
(Comparative figures for Q1 2020 are shown in brackets.
Revenue growth rates are stated in local currencies, unless
otherwise indicated)
Meanwhile, there was strong sales growth from the
tablets in the important French market, where ALK
secured a reimbursement agreement for the use of
ACARIZAX® in adolescent patients, although overall
revenue decreased on the impact of COVID and the
transition of some sales to the tablets from legacy
products. The Nordic markets and several other
central European markets also saw strong
performances.
Revenue by geography
DKKm
Q1-
2021
753
Share of
revenue
74%
Q1-
2020
720
150
86
Growth*
5%
Europe
North America
Int’l markets
160
108
1,021
16%
29%
9%
16%
10%
100%
Revenue
956
North America
* In local currencies
Revenue in North America increased by 16% in local
currencies to DKK 160 million (150).
Europe
Revenue in Europe increased by 5% in local
Tablet sales grew by 12%, driven by Canada, where
ALK is seeing an increasing acceptance of the tablet
portfolio, boosted by the recent introduction of
ITULATEK®.
currencies to DKK 753 million (720). Planned product
discontinuations impacted growth in Europe by
approximately 4 percentage points.
The primary driver of growth was tablet sales, which
increased by 34% on several factors. These included
the continuing successful roll-out of ITULAZAX®, a
clear uplift in sales of other tablets in markets where
ITULAZAX® has been launched – especially for
GRAZAX® – as well as the continuing benefits of
ALK’s salesforce excellence programme.
Sales of bulk SCIT products increased by 4% while
sales of other products were up 37%, both largely on
the gradual normalisation of access to clinics and
hospitals towards the end of the quarter in the wake of
the USA’s mass COVID-vaccination programme,
which is leading to an easing of virus containment
measures. ALK estimates that patient consultations in
Q1 were at around 80% of pre-COVID levels.
Combined sales of SCIT and SLIT-drops were down
11% on the ongoing impact of COVID, the effects of
portfolio rationalisation, and the transition of some
sales to the tablets from legacy products.
Sales of other products were down 19%, largely due to
COVID, with European Jext® sales impacted in the UK
in particular, by lower pen replacement rates by
patients, likely because of COVID lockdowns. Global
sales of Jext® increased in Q1 following good
performance in International markets due to local
Page 4 of 15
Company release No 11/2021 – 5 May 2021
ALK-Abelló A/S – Bøge Allé 6-8 – DK-2970 Hørsholm – Denmark – www.alk.net
Tel +45 4574 7576 – CVR No 63 71 79 16 – LEI code: 529900SGCREUZCZ7P020