Sales of the groundbreaking cystic fibrosis drug, Kaftrio was the main driver behind Vertex Pharmaceutical’s revenues surging to $2.3bn (€2.07bn) last year.
New accounts show revenues at the Dublin-registered Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Ireland) Ltd last year increased by 18% from $1.95bn (€1.75bn) to $2.3bn.
The Irish company fulfils all EU-wide sales and the firm now sells a suite of cystic fibrosis (CF) drugs that includes Kalydeco and Orkambi across the EU.
The firm’s four main CF medicines are used to treat three-quarters of the 92,000 people with CF in North America, Europe, and Australia.
Against the background of the sharp increase in revenues at the Dublin arm, sales, and pre-tax profits at the company increased by 56% to $13.7m (€12.33m).
Globally, Vertex’s sales of of Kaftrio/Trikata accounted for 90.6% or $8.8bn (€7.9bn) or global sales of $9.89bn (€8.9bn) whereas the Irish-based unit accounted for 23.4% of global sales.
The Irish firm employs six people and pay last year totalled $1.3m (€1.17m) in staff costs which was comprised of salary costs of $941,000, (€846,801), $253,000 (€227,673) in share-based payments, and $113,000 (€101,688) in social security costs.
Expansion
The directors for the Dublin unit state that during the year the company, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc and affiliated companies further expanded access to the group’s portfolio of CF medicines for younger age groups in European countries.
The directors state that during the year the group completed Phase 3 development of a triple combination of vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/ deutivacaftor, which, they say, “has demonstrated the potential to provide additional clinical benefits, as well as once-daily dosing, to people with CF who have at least one mutation in their CFTR gene that is responsive to CFTR modulators”.
They state: “Global regulatory filings for this new triple combination regimen have been submitted in 2024.”
Globally, vertex expects its revenues to increase this year as a result of the continued performance of Kaftrio/Trikata label expansion into young age groups for previously approved products, and expanded access to Vertex’s medicines.
The directors of the Irish company did not receive any pay in 2023. However, the pay package for the CEO and president of Vertex’s global operations Reshma Kewalramani last year totalled $20.59m (€18.53m) — an increase of 30% on the 2022 pay package of $15.86m.