Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the majority of surveyed clinicians say they will use Amgen/GlaxoSmithKline's Prolia as either a second- or third-line therapy for osteoporosis if the drug receives regulatory approval for the indication. Prolia, which is expected to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration in early 2010, will be prescribed in later lines of therapy as most surveyed clinicians indicate that they will likely continue using bisphosphonates as first-line treatments. Bisphosphonates, most notably alendronate (Merck's Fosamax, generics) and Sanofi-Aventis/Procter & Gamble's Actonel, currently dominate the osteoporosis and osteopenia drug markets.
The new Physician & Payer Forum report entitled How Will Clinician and Payer Attitudes Determine How Prolia Will Compete with Established Brands in the Dynamic Osteoporosis Market? finds that surveyed endocrinologists, PCPs and gynecologists are more likely to consider Prolia to be the most efficacious drug to treat osteoporosis, than any existing drug. However, between 25 percent and 45 percent of these clinicians consider Prolia to be less safe than existing drugs. The report also finds that approximately two thirds of endocrinologists and PCPs, and a third of gynecologists, do not see a need for additional agents within the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) drug class. Clinicians say they expect to prescribe two emerging therapies from this drug class -- Pfizer's Viviant and Pfizer/Ligand Pharmaceuticals' Aprela -- to fewer patients with osteoporosis or osteopenia than the existing agent in this drug class, Eli Lilly's Evista.