New ulcerative colitis biologic could earn significant patient share in Europe and US

21 January 2010

Decision Resources, a research and advisory firm for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, has found that a biological therapy with a mechanism of action other than tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibition for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, would earn a 25% patient share according to surveyed US gastroenterologists.

Similarly, in Europe, such an agent is forecast to earn a 25% patient share according to surveyed European gastroenterologists. These findings highlight the significant opportunity for a biological therapy with a novel mechanism of action to serve as an alternative to Centocor Ortho Biotech/Merck/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma's Remicade (infliximab) for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.

The new report entitled Ulcerative Colitis: Gastroenterologists Identify Emerging Drugs That Will Challenge the Benchmark Therapy Infliximab for Moderate to Severe UC, finds that two emerging TNF-alpha inhibitors — Abbott/Eisai's Humira and Centocor Ortho Biotech/Merck/Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma/Janssen's Simponi — will earn Decision Resources' proprietary clinical gold standard status for ulcerative colitis in 2013 following their approval for the indication. Both Humira and Simponi have competitive advantages over the sales-leader Remicade in efficacy, delivery and safety and tolerability.

"Although clinical trial data are limited, interviewed experts believe that both Humira and Simponi's fully human composition will translate into incremental advantages in efficacy for maintenance of remission and maintenance of response compared to Remicade, which is a chimeric monoclonal antibody," said Decision Resources Analyst Kathryn Benton.

 

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