BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ — Decision Resources,
one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for
pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, between 2010 and
2013, surveyed European rheumatologists expect well-established
TNF-alpha inhibitors to lose considerable patient share to newer
agents in this drug class, most notably Centocor Ortho
Biotech/Merck/Mitsubishi Tanabe/Janssen’s Simponi and UCB/Otsuka’s
Cimzia. The increased use of newer agents such as Simponi and
Cimzia will most likely occur in newly diagnosed patients and/or in
patients who do not respond to initial treatment with a biologic
agent.
The new European Physician & Payer Forum report entitled
Rheumatoid Arthritis in Europe: How Are Physicians and Payers
Responding to an Expanding Arsenal of Biologic Agents? finds
that the well-entrenched TNF-alpha inhibitors that stand to lose
patient share include Amgen/Pfizer/Takeda’s Enbrel, Abbott/Eisai’s
Humira and Centocor Ortho Biotech/Merck/Mitsubishi Tanabe’s
Remicade. Surveyed European rheumatologists expect a particularly
substantial decline by 2013 in the in-class patient share of
Remicade — the only currently marketed intravenous (IV) TNF-alpha
inhibitor.
“However, Remicade’s lost patient share among TNF-alpha
inhibitors will not be fully replaced by uptake of Simponi IV,”
said Decision Resources Analyst Martin Quinn. “Additionally,
considerably more physicians from France, Germany, Spain and the
United Kingdom expect to prescribe subcutaneous Simponi than expect
to prescribe Simponi IV. This trend will be least pronounced in
Italy, where rheumatologists report high patient share for
Remicade.”
The report findings also suggest that the opportunity to gain
patient share is set to increase for recently launched and emerging
biologics with alternative mechanisms of action. These agents
include Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Orencia, Roche/Chugai’s RoActemra
and Genmab/GlaxoSmithKline’s Arzerra. M
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