The Performance of AstraZeneca’s Symbicort and Pulmicort in 2017

In 4Q17, AstraZeneca’s (AZN) Symbicort generated revenues of $752.0 million, which is ~2.0% growth on a year-over-year (or YoY) basis and 12.0% growth on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

In fiscal 2017, Symbicort reported revenues of $2.8 billion, which is an ~6.0% YoY decline. In 2017, Symbicort’s revenues represented 14.0% of AstraZeneca’s net revenues from product sales.

In the inhaled corticosteroids/long-acting beta agonist class of drugs, Symbicort held the leadership position in 2017.

In emerging markets, Symbicort reported revenues of $439.0 million, which reflected ~9.0% YoY growth. In China and Latin America (excluding Brazil) in 2017, Symbicort generated revenues of $177.0 million and $46.0 million, respectively, which reflected ~13.0% and ~24.0% YoY growth.

In 2017 in the US market, Symbicort reported revenues of $1.1 billion which is an ~12.0% YoY decline. Increasing competition primarily contributed to the decline in revenues in the US market.

In 2017 in Europe and Japan, Symbicort generated revenues of $819.0 million and $205.0 million, respectively, which represents declines of ~10.0% and ~3.0% YoY. Increasing competition from other branded products and Symbicort analogs in the market led to the decline of revenues in the Europe and Japan in 2017.

In 4Q17, Pulmicort reported revenues of $371.0 million, which is ~29.0% YoY growth and 53.0% quarter-over-quarter growth.

In fiscal 2017, Pulmicort reported revenues of $1.18 billion, which is ~11.0% YoY growth. In 2017, Pulmicort’s revenues represented ~6.0% of AstraZeneca’s net revenues.

In 2017, Pulmicort generated revenues of $840.0 million from the emerging markets. In 2017, the revenues from the emerging markets represented 70.0% of net Pulmicort revenues.

In the asthma and COP drugs market, Symbicort’s and Pulmicort’s peers include Mylan’s (MYL) Perforomist GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Advair, and Merck’s (MRK) Dulera.