SAN FRANCISCOWhen Amgen shelled out $13.4 billion late last year to pick up Celgene's blockbuster immunology med Otezla, it made a calculated guess the drug had some untapped fuel in its commercial tank. Now, Amgen is looking to rev up sales with new indications and launches in new international markets.

Although scant on details, Amgen CEO Bob Bradway forecast Tuesdaythat Amgen could squeeze more out of Otezla in the coming yearsafter the drug hit $547 million in sales in the third quarterassuming Amgen can follow its own mantra and execute.

"In biopharma, the focus is on innovation, innovation, innovation, and Amgen is execution, execution, execution," Bradway told investors at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

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In Bradway's telling, Otezla helped Amgen flesh out its immunology portfolio as a counterpart to stalwart Enbrel.

"We think the stars really aligned for us in 2019 when we were able to acquire Otezla," Bradway said. "Otezla is a great medicine, it has great valuefor us, and it came at a great time."

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Amgen picked up Otezla in a$13.4 billion deal with Celgene in August as the latter worked to secure its$74 billion merger with Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Bristol was forced to sell Otezla to win the Federal Trade Commission's clearance simply because it overlappedwith BMS own investigational TYK-2 inhibitor, BMS-986165. Despite Amgen's blockbuster Enbrel operating in the same market, the deal passed muster.

At the time, Amgen expected Otezla could enjoy at least low double-digit sales growth on average over the next five years. The Streets consensus currently has it reaching $2.5 billion in peak sales before presumably going off patent in the U.S. in 2028. At that rate,Amgen will at least be able to get its investment back in full by around 2024.

Looking ahead, Amgen expects phase 3 data for Otezla in mild to moderate psoriasis will read out this year, and the drugmaker hopes to launch the drug beyond the30-oddinternational markets where it's currently approved, Bradway said.

Excerpt from:
JPM: How will Amgen make its $13.4B Otezla buy pay off? New launches, for one, CEO says - FiercePharma