Pfizer’s Inflectra, Takeda’s Entyvio, and Janssen’s Simponi Projected to Gain Ground in the Increasingly Competitive Ulcerative Colitis Market
According to the latest quarterly update from Spherix Global Insights, US gastroenterologists are gearing up for near term change
EXTON, Pa., July 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Results from a recent study just released by Spherix Global Insights reveal that US gastroenterologists (n=103) project significant growth of Takeda’s Entyvio, Janssen’s Simponi, and Pfizer/Hospira’s infliximab biosimilar, Inflectra over the next six months. While the positive bumps to Entyvio and Simponi’s share will be mostly driven by increased prescriptions by current users, Inflectra’s projected growth is primarily driven by increases to the user base, which is anticipated to more than double over the next six months.
Despite expected growth of the infliximab biosimilar, the leading current barrier to Inflectra adoption has been the lack of insurance mandates for use. Indeed, only 14% of respondents report ever being contacted by a pharmacy or insurance company regarding use of Inflectra instead of Janssen’s Remicade. Furthermore, among the few that have been contacted most made no changes to the treatment plan, and continued to prescribe Remicade. With branded Remicade leading the UC biologics market, it is expected that payers will soon increase the pressure in favor of prescribing Inflectra, fueling the biosimilar’s anticipated future gains.
An additional potential impact to the UC market comes in the form of off-label use of products being studied for IBD, but approved in other autoimmune conditions, such as Pfizer’s Xeljanz and Janssen’s Stelara. Half of the respondents agree that they would be more comfortable prescribing a newly approved drug in IBD that already has significant post-marketing experience in another indication, than a completely novel MOA. Furthermore, when asked about familiarity with pipeline agents, gastroenterologists report the highest familiarity with Pfizer’s Xeljanz, significantly greater than with Celgene’s mongersen and ozanimod, or Roche/Genentech’s etrolizumab.
Off-label use of Stelara was shockingly prevalent in the results of RealWorld Dynamix™: Biologic Switching in IBD, a large scale syndicated chart analysis of over 1,000 biologic treated patients that have recently switched biologic brands. The key to market entrants in the UC space will not only be getting patients on these new therapies, but augmenting current persistency rates, as the study revealed that over half of the patients spent no more than six months on their prior biologic brand before being switched. Opportunity to improve UC outcomes abounds, as the participating gastroenterologists report that only 58% of their biologic-treated UC patients are well-managed on their current agent.
The next wave of this study, RealTime Dynamix™, will field in August with a unique sample of gastroenterologists and will further explore the shifting IBD market.
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About Spherix Global Insights
Spherix Global Insights is a business intelligence and market research company, specializing in renal, autoimmune, neurologic and rare disease markets. Our aim is to apply our commercial experience and unique relationships within core specialty markets to translate data into insight, enabling our clients to make smarter business decisions.
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