Pent-up demand for the new pancreatic cancer therapy Rasonque helped RevMed soar past analysts’ sales expectations and reach 5,000 patients in the third quarter.
Remarkable, historic, impressive, outstanding, stellar—these are a few of the words analysts used to describe the launch of Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer medicine Rasonque.
RevMed reported $198 million in revenue for the asset on Wednesday, despite only five weeks of sales following its late August approval. The value was 10 times Truist Securities’ $19 million estimate.
“‘Que the duck boats,” Truist Securities quipped on Wednesday evening.
That revenue stems from the more than 5,000 patients Rasonque has so far reached, RevMed’s Chief Global Commercialization Officer Anthony Mancini said on a Wednesday afternoon earnings call. The impressive launch reflects pent-up demand for the RAS inhibitor, analysts said, which arrived on the market to cheers from across the industry and beyond.
Patients with pancreatic cancer had few options prior to Rasonque, with the disease among the deadliest forms of cancer. The drug was cleared in August for treating adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have received at least one prior systemic therapy or are not candidates for multiagent systemic therapy.
Rasonque arrived to “a sizable bolus of treatment option-exhausted patients,” Leerink Partners wrote on Thursday morning.
Specifically, demand was driven by three channels, Mancini explained. First, RevMed worked to convert participants in the Early Access Program (EAP) into commercial patients, an effort that was completed for U.S. users in the quarter. “We prioritized continuity of care and successfully supported patients in obtaining their medication through the transition,” he said.
Then there were those treatment-exhausted patients, who Mancini said included patients who were later in their treatment journey and had been waiting for a new option.
The third pillar was patients newly diagnosed with second-line disease, where RevMed was particularly impressed with uptake.
“We’re encouraged by the speed with which we were able to begin serving patients following approval, which reflects the significant unmet need in metastatic pancreatic cancer, the strength of Rasonque’s clinical profile and label, the strong launch readiness and initial execution across functions as well as payer engagement and patient support in line with our expectations,” Mancini said.
But the commercial chief also sought to temper expectations about how this launch curve may flatten out. “These early results are highly encouraging. At the same time, with only five weeks of commercialization activity, it’s too early to draw conclusions about the normalized trajectory of the launch,” he said. The EAP patients and those awaiting new options in particular represent a “finite” group of patients.
“As our launch matures, revenue will increasingly reflect ongoing treatment for newly eligible patients and ongoing treatment duration,” Mancini said.
Still, analysts were bullish on Rasonque’s growth potential. For the rest of the year, RevMed will look to bring on new patients as they advance to second line treatment for the disease. Leerink revised sales expectations to $440 million for the fourth quarter, compared to $330 million on the high end of previous estimates.
RevMed is still working on insurance coverage for Rasonque as well, Mancini noted.
Meanwhile, RevMed CEO Mark Goldsmith wants to make the drug available all over the world so that all patients with the difficult cancer may benefit. Europe’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion of the drug, with a formal approval decision pending with the European Medicines Agency.
Digging in
RevMed reported a net loss of $407.5 million for the third quarter, compared to $305.2 million for the same period a year earlier. The company had $3.7 billion in cash on hand as of September 30, not including royalty payments that began flowing from Royalty Pharma in line with Rasonque sales. The company expects to invest deeper into its RAS(ON) inhibitor portfolio while supporting launch efforts for Rasonque into 2027, according to CFO Jack Anders.
Meanwhile, the biotech will also move toward adding additional lines of treatment for Rasonque, including first-line metastatic and resectable disease. Enrollment for the Phase 3 RASolute 303 trial studying the drug alone and with chemotherapy in patients with first-line metastatic pancreatic cancer recently wrapped in the U.S., Chief Development Officer Alan Sadler said on the call. And dosing has begun in another first-line Phase 3 test called RASolute 309, which features patients with RAS G12D pancreatic cancer. This study pairs Rasonque with RevMed’s up-and-coming therapy zoldonrasib.
RevMed is also running two other Phase 3 trials of Rasonque, RASolute 304 in the adjuvant setting and RASolute 305 in first-line, as well as studying the drug in non-small cell lung cancer, where RAS mutations drive disease. Zoldonrasib, meanwhile, is also under investigation in colorectal cancer.
RevMed has key clinical development partnerships with BeOne Medicines and Summit Therapeutics underway as well, featuring Rasonque and other pipeline assets.
“Rasonque’s approval and launch mark a monumental step forward for patients living with RAS-dependent cancers and open an important new chapter for Revolution Medicines,” Goldsmith said. “With this momentum, we continue our deep commitment to discovering, developing and delivering innovative targeted medicines with the urgency patients deserve.”
