Johnson & Johnson's Zytiga set to earn peak sales of $910 million for metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer; study

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) will earn peak year sales of $910 million in the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Japan for the treatment of metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (MCRPC), according to a new report from advisory firm Decision Resources.

The Pharmacor findings from the topic entitled Prostate Cancer reveal that, following its recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for treating MCRPC patients who were previously treated with Sanofi’s Taxotere (docetaxel), Zytiga is also expected to launch in this same setting later this year in Europe (The Pharma Letter May 3). In a pivotal Phase III (COU-AA-302) trial, Zytiga demonstrated a survival improvement when used in combination with prednisone (3.9 months) as compared with placebo plus prednisone.

“With labeling for Zytiga as expected and mirroring the Phase III trial patient population, Zytiga will be positioned to compete with Sanofi’s cytotoxic agent Jevtana, which launched in July 2010, also for MCRPC patients who had received prior docetaxel-containing chemotherapy,” said Decision Resources analyst Rachel Webster, adding: “Zytiga’s survival benefit, coupled with its favorable safety and tolerability profile and familiar mechanism of action, will ensure that this orally available agent will experience robust uptake through 2019.”