Novartis offloads lagging endocrine drugs to Recordati for 390M Dollars.

Novartis was optimistic about Signifor LARs prospects when the FDA approved it in 2014. At that time, the Swiss drugmaker was hoping it could help make up sales lost to Sandostatin copycats. But after years off-patent, the Sandostatin franchise in 2018 still turned in $1.59 billion in worldwide sales. And the majority came from Sandostatin LAR, which still faces no generic competition in the U.S. or the E.U. As for Signifor, it only sold $72 million last year, according to Recordati—a figure that was clearly too small for Novartis’ taste.

While Signifor must be administered by a healthcare professional by intramuscular injection, phase 3 candidate osilodrostat is an oral drug that inhibits 11 beta-hydroxylase, an enzyme involved in cortisol synthesis.