As Regeneron faces loss of exclusivity for two of its top-performing blockbuster drugs, Eylea and Dupixent, the company will continue to lean on its internal R&D capacity to develop next-generation assets and expand into new indications.
Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco, held from 12 to 15 January, Regeneron CEO Leonard Schleifer said that the company expects to invest $6bn in R&D in 2026, highlighting its strategy to prioritise internal research capabilities.
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While industry conversations have largely centred around acquisition to combat looming patent cliffs for many companies, Schleifer said large M&A deals often result in “value destruction.” He said that companies can often become “overly reliant” on external sources and are “in most cases, dramatically overpaying.”
Despite the volume of deals being down in 2025, average value was up, suggesting that there is currently a premium in M&A pricing.
Regeneron will be looking to continue the transition of its Eylea (aflibercept) patient base to the high dose version of the drug, branded Eylea HD, amid an emergence of biosimilars in the market. In Q4 2025, the combined US net sales for Eylea and Eylea HD were $1.1bn, said Schleifer. For Eylea HD alone, net sales in the US were $506mn, up 66% compared with Q4 2024.
“We’re trying to get as much HD traction as we can, and it seems to be going quite well,” says Schleifer, though noting that further biosimilar competition is expected later in the year.
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By GlobalDataEylea HD, which offers a more convenient dosing method to the original drug, had its market potential bolstered by two recent FDA approvals – a indication expansion for treating patients with macular oedema following retinal vein occlusion and a monthly dosing option for some patients in approved indications, in November 2025. Eylea was already indicated for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), diabetic macular oedema (DME), and diabetic retinopathy (DR).
In a blow to the transition to the higher dose version, the company received an FDA rejection for a prefilled syringe version of Eylea HD due to an unresolved issue at its manufacturing facility, which is owned by Novo Nordisk. It now awaits a decision on a resubmission for approval expected in Q2 2026.
The blockbuster drug Dupixent, co-marketed with Sanofi, is Regeneron’s best-selling asset. Now approved in eight different diseases driven by type-2 inflammation, the annualised global net sales for Dupixent exceeded $19bn based on Q4 results, according to Schleifer.
Loss of market exclusivity for Dupixent is expected around 2031, meaning the company is looking to offset anticipated loss of revue. Regeneron is a developing novel long-acting fully-human IL-4 and IL-13 antibodies with enhanced binding, as well as a long acting bispecific with the same targets.. The company is pursuing an expedited clinical development plan for the IL-13 antibody, and it is expected to enter clinical testing soon, Schleifer said. The CEO added that the focus will be improving on convenience factors related to the drug as “it is hard to imagine that one can actually improve upon the safety and efficacy.”
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