Sandoz H1 2025 slides: Biosimilars drive growth as margins expand significantly

Introduction & Market Context

Sandoz Group AG (SIX:SDZ) presented its H1 2025 results on August 7, 2025, highlighting strong performance across key financial metrics and significant progress in its biosimilars business. The company’s stock responded positively to the results, trading at 45.24, up 6.94% on the day of the presentation.

The pharmaceutical company demonstrated resilience in an increasingly competitive generics market while capitalizing on growth opportunities in biosimilars, which now represent 29% of total net sales, up from the 27% reported in Q1 2025.

H1 2025 Financial Highlights

Sandoz reported accelerated sales growth in the second quarter, contributing to overall H1 2025 net sales of $5.2 billion, representing a 4% increase at constant currencies. The company achieved a significant core EBITDA margin expansion of 2.5 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 20.0%.

Core diluted earnings per share reached $1.46, growing 33% at constant currencies, while management free cash flow more than doubled to $503 million, demonstrating the company’s improved operational efficiency and cash generation capabilities.

As shown in the following breakdown of net sales performance:

The business mix reveals generics still forming the backbone of Sandoz’s revenue at 71% ($3.7 billion), while biosimilars contribute 29% ($1.5 billion). Geographically, Europe remains the company’s strongest market, accounting for 54% of sales ($2.8 billion), followed by International markets at 25% ($1.3 billion) and North America at 21% ($1.1 billion).

The financial performance shows particularly strong momentum in biosimilars:

Biosimilars Growth and Pipeline

Sandoz’s biosimilars business continues to be a key growth driver, with several successful product launches in the first half of 2025. The company executed launches according to plan, including Wyost® and Jubbonti® (denosumab) in the US, Pyzchiva® (ustekinumab) in the US, and the Pyzchiva autoinjector in the EU.

Pyzchiva has shown particularly strong performance in Europe, maintaining a substantial market share:

Similarly, Tyruko, the first and only biosimilar approved for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, has shown encouraging progress in Europe with market share growing from just 2% in Q1 2024 to 20% in Q1 2025:

Omnitrope continues to demonstrate Sandoz’s long-term leadership in the biosimilars space, maintaining a 35% global market share as a market-leading growth hormone biosimilar:

Looking ahead, Sandoz boasts an industry-leading biosimilars pipeline with 27 assets in development, targeting approximately $200 billion of originator net sales, which represents 64% of total losses of exclusivity (LoEs) over the next decade:

Strategic Initiatives and Expansion

Sandoz is strengthening its manufacturing capabilities with an end-to-end European hub across three key locations in Slovenia: Ljubljana (technical development center), Lendava (drug substance production), and Brnik (aseptic production center announced in July).

The company has also signed a non-binding term sheet for the potential acquisition of Just-Evotec Biologics EU SAS, which would reinforce its in-house biosimilar capabilities for development and manufacturing while providing access to strategic proprietary platforms for integrated development and advanced continuous manufacturing.

Additionally, Sandoz has signed a license agreement with Henlius to commercialize a Yervoy biosimilar, strengthening its position in oncology across 42 European countries and regions, the US and Canada, and Australia and Japan. This agreement targets a $2.5 billion market value.

The company emphasized that while biosimilars are driving growth, generics continue to be a cornerstone of its business, with more than 180 launches in H1 2025. Sandoz maintains a solid launch program with over 300 launches planned for the full year 2025 and more than 400 total assets in development.

Outlook and Guidance

Sandoz confirmed its full-year guidance for 2025, projecting net sales growth in the mid-single digits at constant currencies and a core EBITDA margin of around 21%. This guidance is consistent with what the company reported in its Q1 2025 earnings.

For the second half of 2025, Sandoz anticipates several key product launches, including Wyost and Jubbonti in Europe (Q4), Afqlir (aflibercept) in Europe (Q4), and Tyruko (natalizumab) in the US by year-end, subject to regulatory approval.

The company’s strong H1 2025 performance, expanding biosimilars portfolio, and strategic initiatives position Sandoz well to capitalize on the growing demand for cost-effective alternatives to branded drugs, particularly in the high-value biosimilars market, which represents over $300 billion in total losses of exclusivity over the next decade.

Full presentation:

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.