Despite Krystexxa’s Availability in the U.S. for 18 Months, Aided Awareness and Familiarity with Krystexxa is Low Among Physicians in the EU5 Countries, According to a Recent BioTrends Report

EXTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioTrends Research Group, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for specialized biopharmaceutical issues, finds that rheumatologists and general practitioners in the EU5 countries—France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.—have low aided awareness and familiarity with Krystexxa, which launched for chronic refractory gout in February 2011 in the U.S. The findings come from the recent TreatmentTrends^®: Gout EU report in which 275 online physician surveys were analyzed.

After viewing a detailed product profile of Krystexxa, physicians in the EU5 gave Krystexxa a moderate favorability rating; their overall likelihood to prescribe the product for their gout patients was also moderate. On average, nearly half of rheumatologists in the five European countries will begin using Krystexxa as soon as it is approved by the health authorities, however, 40 percent of general practitioners state they will only use Krystexxa after it becomes a standard therapy. Krystexxa is perceived to be most appropriate for severe gout patients. Both rheumatologists and general practitioners perceive Krystexxa’s main advantages to be its efficacy/tophi reduction and the primary disadvantages to be the intravenous mode of administration and the risk of anaphylaxis/IV side effects.

Across the EU5 countries, allopurinol (Prometheus Laboratories/GlaxoSmithKline’s Zyloprim/Zyloric, generics) remains the market leader across all gout disease severity levels, however, Takeda’s Adenuric/Uloric (febuxostat) is making inroads particularly in France, which has the highest patient share for Adenuric/Uloric across all severity levels. Conversely, in the UK, Adenuric/Uloric has the lowest usage for gout treatment, which is due to NICE’s (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) recommendation to use it only in allopurinol-intolerant patients. On average, physicians report up to one-fifth of their gout patients in the EU5 are unable to tolerate allopurinol and up to 12 percent are unable to tolerate Adenuric, which represents an opportunity for Krystexxa. Overall, physician satisfaction is moderate for allopurinol but lower compared to Adenuric across the EU5, which may be because physicians reported that a greater percentage of their patients are able to achieve and maintain their serum uric acid targets with Adenuric and the discontinuation rate for the product is lower compared to allopurinol.

In addition to the TreatmentTrends^®: Gout EU report BioTrends has a full complement of reports focusing on gout treatment in the United States: TreatmentTrends^®: Gout U.S., ChartTrends^®: Gout U.S. and LaunchTrends: Krystexxa Wave 4 U.S. (1 year post-launch).

TreatmentTrends^®: Gout EU is an annual, quantitative publication based on online physician surveys with both rheumatologists and general practitioners fielded in June 2012 in the EU5 countries. The primary objectives of this study are to evaluate the unmet need in managing and treating gout, quantify the gout patient population refractory to UAL therapy, quantify current/intended future use of medications for treating the condition, identify key product attributes for UAL therapies which drive the prescribing decision and evaluate the reaction, advantages/disadvantages and likelihood to prescribe the newest agent, Krystexxa.

About BioTrends Research Group

BioTrends Research Group provides syndicated primary and custom market research to pharmaceutical manufacturers competing in clinically evolving, specialty pharmaceutical markets. For information on BioTrends publications and research capabilities, please contact us at [phone] or www.bio-trends.com. BioTrends is a Decision Resources Group company.

About Decision Resources Group

Decision Resources Group is a cohesive portfolio of companies that offers best-in-class, high-value information and insights on important sectors of the healthcare industry. Clients rely on this analysis and data to make informed decisions. Please visit Decision Resources Group at www.DecisionResourcesGroup.com.

All company, brand, or product names contained in this document may be trademarks of their respective holders.