In June 2021, as part of a broader restructuring, Merck (MSD globally) spun off its women’s health, legacy products, and biosimilars businesses. The new company formed, Organon, is positioning itself as “the only player of its size (USD 6.3 billion in revenues for 2021, 9,000 employees) focused on women’s health at every stage of life.”
The company’s full year adjusted EBITDA for 2021 was USD 2.4 billion and for 2022, it is projecting revenues in the range of USD 6.1 billion and 6.4 billion, with adjusted EBITDA margins in the 34 to 36 percent range.
On the announcement of these results, Organon CEO Kevin Ali said, “In 2021 we delivered on our financial objectives across the board. Organon has taken significant steps to advance our vision to become a leader in women’s health through meaningful business development that addresses areas of significant unmet need for women and society.”
Organon has already completed two major acquisitions in its short history: Finnish clinical-stage drug discovery company Forendo Pharma and Alydia Health, a commercial-stage medical device company focused on preventing maternal morbidity and mortality caused by postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) or abnormal postpartum uterine bleeding.
An important part of achieving 2021’s strong results was the firm’s biosimilars portfolio; revenue for which grew 28 percent as-reported and 25 percent ex-FX for full year 2021 compared with 2020, driven by continued growth in the US and Canada.
Looking beyond 2022, the firm is pinning growth hopes on the launch of its own biosimilar version of AbbVie’s blockbuster Humira, developed in partnership with Samsung, in the US in 2023, as reported by Fierce Pharma. Amgen expects to bring out its Humira biosimilar (Amjevita) in January 2023, while the Organon/Samsung drug Hadlima will be second to a market potentially worth USD 18 billion by 2025 six months later.
However, aside from biosimilars, “women’s health” looks like remaining Organon’s priority, with its contraceptives and fertility businesses driving growth in 2022. UK & EUI Cluster Lead Simon Nicholson explained the company’s focus to PharmaPhorum last year.
“The company exists to create a better and healthier every day for every woman,” he said. “In many global pharmaceutical companies, the breadth of the portfolio is a huge strength of the organisation, that diversity. But it also means you have to make decisions and tradeoffs, whether it’s resource deployment or share of management attention … We’ve taken the decision to dedicate…our resource deployment to that mission. This separation essentially allows us to be ruthlessly determined to deliver against that one focused mission.”
This has involved a global listening exercise, taking on the insights of women across the world about unmet needs in healthcare delivery and how the health needs of women vary throughout their life. Nicholson was also keen to highlight how the company’s operations might evolve beyond the pill. “Our CEO Kevin Ali talked about the future plans to diversify the portfolio and not be limited to medicine, but actually look at diagnostics, devices, and services as well,” he said. “That ultimately will contribute to the overall mission of the healthier every day for every woman.”
