J&Js blockbuster drug abirbit is under threat from generic competition in the US

J&j said it would immediately seek emergency assistance from the Supreme Court and try to overturn the ruling and block any generic drugs from going on sale.At present, abitron's importance to j&j cannot be overstated, with quarterly sales of the drug approaching $1 billion (its sales in the United States are well over half) and growing at a healthy 45% rate.That means j&j could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in sales when generic drugs arrive in the U.S. earlier than expected.

Abitron has been growing faster since it was approved as a first-line treatment in combination with prednisone for metastatic castrated resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), according to LATITUDE trials.In a recent filing with the securities and exchange commission, the company said that if the temporary ban was lifted before the appeal ruling, "it expects a generic version of abitron to enter the market and lead to a significant decline in Johnson & Johnson drug sales."

Manufacturers of abitron generics that have received FDA approval include mylan, teva and Hikma pharmaceuticals.Since the ban was rejected, there is little to stop them from producing abitron, although no company has said it will.Taubert, j&j's pharmaceuticals director, recently insisted that while abitron was still an important product for the company, "we absolutely don't rely on it".Even if the product were removed entirely from its revenue mix, j&j's third-quarter growth would still be 6.6%, she noted.
J&j has been trying to expand its prostate cancer business by introducing Erleada (apalutamide), a non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer drug.J&j believes Erleada is one of 10 new drugs whose annual sales could eventually exceed $1 billion.Johnson & Johnson isn't the only company affected by early sales of abitron's generic drugs.Pfizer's castration-resistant prostate cancer rival, enzalumide, may also come under pressure from low-cost generic drugs.

BTG is affected.

At the same time, the decline in Abbey sales will also affect BTG.Smith, an analyst at Edison, said BTG received royalties from Abbey, which accounted for 28 percent of its revenue in the first half of the year.The ban came a day after Boston technologies announced a 3.3 billion euro takeover, although it said it would not disrupt the deal.

"The risk to the whole deal may be small, but given that there is no break-up fee, it may not be negligible," Smith said in a research note.