Elder care is a very big deal in Japan right now, as its population ages with some troubles emerging in refreshing the population. But now, one biotech stock, Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB), might have a way to help with one of the biggest problems in elder care: Alzheimer’s disease. This caused its stock to tick up modestly in Wednesday afternoon’s trading as a result.
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Biogen, along with its partner Eisai (OTHEROTC:ESALF), brought out its Leqembi treatment to Japan earlier today. This makes it the second country, immediately after the United States, to see Leqembi on store shelves. Leqembi will actually be available starting in a week on December 20, when the National Health Insurance adds it to its Drug Price List, making it official. The drug will be available starting at just over $20,000, around 2.98 million yen, per patient per year. Biogen and Eisai look for Leqembi to bring in around $676 million in gross sales, or just under 100 billion yen.
A Useful Development at Just the Right Time
There’s no doubt that the Japanese healthcare system has done wonders for the elderly. In fact, some of the longest life spans on Earth are found in the Japanese healthcare system, which assigns a great deal of respect to the elderly. But there are some serious issues as well, as Japan’s entire society ages overall, and there are fewer and fewer young workers to help keep things up and running. That actually makes Leqembi a particularly valuable drug over there; if Alzheimer’s is less of a factor, then the elderly are more likely to be able to take some of that workload themselves. Not all of it, certainly, but some, and every little bit helps when you’re running low on young people to do the job.
The news also helps Biogen, who, back in October, launched sweeping cost cuts to reduce its operating expenses.
Is Biogen a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on BIIB stock based on 20 Buys and six Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 12.76% loss in its share price over the past year, the average BIIB price target of $311.54 per share implies 23.59% upside potential.
