Strong Growth For Lundbeck's 1995 Sales And Profits

Danish drugmaker Lundbeck saw group sales for 1995 advance 39.3% to 1.85 billion Danish kroner, and operating profit improve 35.9% to 204.2 million kroner, which resulted in net profits of 159.1 million kroner, a rise of 54.2% on the previous year. R&D spending for 1995 amounted to 448.8 million kroner, up 39.5% on 1994.

Antidepressant and central nervous system drug specialist Lundbeck - now in the process of rolling-out its new antipsychotic drug Serdolect (sertindole; Marketletter July 15) - gains most of its sales (44.4%) from just one product. This is the antidepressant Cipramil/Seropram (citalopram), turnover of which last year jumped 76% to over 800 million kroner. The product is now registered in 43 countries, and is said to be a market leader in several. Under an agreement with Forest Laboratories, Cipramil/Seropram is expected to be marketed in the USA during the course of 1998. Sertindole, which is being developed in collaboration with Abbott Laboratories, should reach the US market by end-1996 (Marketletter June 22).

As well as Cipramil/Seropram, Lundbeck says in its 1995 annual report that its older, established products are still continuing to show sales growth, particularly the antipsychotics Fluanxol (cisflupenthixol decanoate) and Cisordinol (zuclopenthixol acetate) in depot form, and Lyogen (fluphenazine).