Pharmaceuticals company Shield Therapeutics is making rapid progress in its aims to sell its iron deficiency tablets to US customers.
An update the London Stock Exchange details how the firm, which has operations in Gateshead, saw US prescriptions of its flagship Accrufer tablets ramp up to 15,800 in Q2, a 50% increase compared to the previous quarter. Across the first half of 2023, total prescriptions grew to around 26,300 which is more than the entire volume for 2022 and an increase of 210% on the first half of that year.
Shield said the performance put it on target to meet its goals for its major push into the market stateside which has involved a partnership with Pennsylvania healthcare company Viatris. As part of the deal both firms have recruited 50 salespeople to tackle the sizeable US market where iron deficiency is a problem and existing treatments can cause side effects.
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Having been recruiting and training for some months, Shield told investors that the joint venture's 100-strong team is now in place and targeting more than 12,000 of the highest prescribers in the US. The firm has also launched new branding and a marketing campaign targeted at patients and clinicians.
Greg Madsion, chief executive officer at Shield, said: "I am pleased to report that Shield's commercial growth strategy for Accrufer/Ferracru is continuing to deliver encouraging results, even at this early stage, as evidenced by progress across each of our key performance indicators for the first half of 2023. We've achieved this through excellent collaboration with our partner Viatris - completing our commercial expansion, refreshing the brand positioning and launching a bold, new innovative marketing campaign, and increasing our presence at medical conferences.
"Looking ahead, the growth in Accrufer prescriptions seen in the second quarter provides further reason for optimism in the second half of the year, as the still relatively new teams hit full stride. We continue to believe there is a very substantial market opportunity for Accrufer and we are looking to identify ways to maximise the momentum we are building in order to further drive continued Accrufer growth."
Shield also included mentioned of its new chief commercial officer, Andy Hurley, who was hired in April to lead the newly expanded commercial team focused on Accrufer. Meanwhile, as of the end of June, unaudited cash on hand at the firm was $13.6m, excluding receipt of shared marketing costs from Viatris for Q2. Shield also said its cash burn was in line with management expectations with sufficient funds for operations to be cash flow positive by the end of next year.
