Potential of UCB's lupus drug candidate will depend on pricing, says analyst

UCB (Euronext Brussels; UCB), Belgium’s largest drugmaker, has announced the initiation of a Phase III clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of dapirolizumab pegol (DZP) as an add-on treatment to standard of care (SoC) medication for lupus.

Key opinion leaders interviewed by data and analytics company, GlobalData, noted that although DZP was not entirely successful in its Phase II trial, it is still possible to attain success - as evidenced by the fact that GlaxoSmithKline’s (LSE: GSK) Benlysta (belimumab) also did not do well in its Phase II trial.

GlobalData forecasts that DZP will enter the market in 2024 and will be the third subcutaneous (SC) biologic launched after GSK’s Benlysta and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) subsidiary Janssen’s Stelara (ustekinuma). This will hamper DZP’s uptake, especially if Stelara shows better efficacy than DZP. It is essential that UCB prices DZP effectively, as the drug will have the potential to overtake both Stelara and Benlysta in sales if it can be priced at a discount, especially compared to Stelara’s annual price of over $100,000 per patient in the USA.