PLANEGG/MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Biotech company Morphosys expects only small growth at best for its key blood cancer drug Monjuvi in 2023. The SDax company expects net product sales of $80 million to $95 million for Monjuvi in the U.S. in the new year, according to a statement Thursday. Last year, U.S. Monjuvi revenues of $89.4 million (84.9 million euros) fell just short of its annual target of around $90 million. As recently as October, the company had to lower its forecast for the second time within a few months due to increased competitive pressure.

Analyst Richard Vosser from the bank JPMorgan had warned only a few days ago of only low Monjuvi growth in 2023 and also referred to the competition expected from the second half of the year by drugs from Genmab/Abbvie and Roche. The expert therefore calculated US revenues of only $97 million in the new year. Even this rather cautious estimate is now probably too high.

Morphosys shares fell around four percent on the news. The papers were among the biggest SDax losers in 2022, down 60 percent, due to numerous business challenges. Recently, however, they had attempted to stabilize./mis/men