12-month sales growth: 46.5 %
Innovation premium: 72.3%
Alexion was created in 1992 after a casual chat in a US grocery store between friends Leonard Bell and Steve Squinto when Bell mentioned he wanted to launch his own biotech company.
After initially struggling to attract funding, Alexion was on the brink of closure when Bell realised that innovating on unusual diseases and little-known medical niches could prove profitable. Subsequently, the business got $5 million to aid pig organ transplants for humans.
Alexion’s real cash cow has been Soliris, launched in 2007, which treats a rare cause of anaemia. The drug has raised the business $1.1 billion in revenue, at a net margin of 22%.
A key part to the business’ success is pricing its innovation highly. Soliris costs a whopping $440,000 per patient per year, but because it operates in a niche and is highly effective, private health insurers around the world – including Australia – shell out for it.
“We focus on patients with absolutely devastating disorders that are also either lethal or life-threatening,” Bell tells Forbes. “They’re also very, very rare, so they get no attention from anybody.”
