Approval Of Celgene’s Revlimid In Japan In-Line With Expectations

Analysts at JP Morgan reiterate their "overweight" rating on Celgene

. Celgene announced that Revlimid has been approved in Japan for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). According to JP Morgan, “This news was in line with expectations based on prior company guidance and the recent panel recommendation. Management has been focused on the global expansion of Revlimid, and Japan represents a new leg of growth on top of the emerging maintenance opportunity. Based on our conversations with the company today, we expect a launch in 4Q10, and our model currently includes a modest impact of Revlimid in Japan (including the Pacific Rim) of $42M in 2010 sales.” “We continue to like CELG shares following recently presented data from the IFM and CALGB studies, which further support Revlimid’s opportunity in the maintenance setting. Furthermore, we expect a regulatory filing in first-line MM based on data from the MM-015 trial by year-end. Therefore, multiple growth drives for Revlimid remain,” the analysts say.