Despite IV Vancomycin’s Stronghold on the MRSA Antibiotic Hospital Market, Surveyed ID Specialists Report Shifting Away from IV Vancomycin to Branded Agents, Including Pfizer’s Zyvox and Cubist/Novartis’s Cubicin
BioTrends Research Group and Arlington Medical Resources (AMR) in their report find that decreasing susceptibility to IV vancomycin and preference for other therapies that target methicillin-resistant (MRSA) are among the most frequently cited factors that are driving physicians to decrease usage of IV vancomycin for the management of MRSA infections in the inpatient setting. In fact, nearly one-third of surveyed physicians report prescribing less IV vancomycin over the past twelve months and 29 percent of physicians anticipate decreasing their use of the drug for MRSA infections in the future. Additionally, a notable share of ID specialists report a significant increase in MRSA cases with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin over the past two years and high treatment failure rates among patients treated with IV vancomycin across key MRSA indications. On the contrary, physicians report increasing their prescribing of Pfizer’s Zyvox (linezolid), Cubist/Novartis’s Cubicin (daptomycin) and Forest/AstraZeneca/Dainippon Sumitomo’s Teflaro (ceftaroline) for the management of MRSA infections in the hospital.
“Rising vancomycin MICs levels among MRSA isolates together with vancomycin’s shortcomings, present new opportunities for current and emerging therapies to capitalize on and steal market share from the MRSA workhorse drug,” said Associate Therapeutic Class Director of Infectious Diseases Brenda Perez-Cheeks, Ph.D. “Competing therapies can differentiate themselves in areas that are important to physicians, such as improved safety and tolerability and demonstrated efficacy in difficult-to-treat infections.”
Although ceftaroline, the newest entrant to the MRSA and serious Gram-positive infection market, has only been available for over a year, approximately half of physicians report using the drug for treating MRSA infections in the past twelve months and some have prescribed ceftaroline for a variety of infections.
With respect to awareness of therapies in development for the treatment of MRSA infections, ID specialists report the greatest awareness with products with the longest history in development, specifically Durata’s dalbavancin, Basilea’s ceftobiprole and The Medicines Company’s oritavancin. However, only 9 percent of physicians report awareness of Trius’ tedizolid, a second-generation oxazolidinone, which is likely to be a significant challenge to linezolid. With its potentially improved safety and tolerability profile over linezolid –a physician reported unmet need for the management of MRSA infections– it is not surprising that the majority of ID specialists are willing to use tedizolid if it were to become available.
is an annual report that provides insight into the treatment of patients with MRSA and other Serious Gram-positive infections in the hospital setting. Research with 103 infectious diseases specialists analyzes the usage and uptake of antibiotics for the treatment of key infections due to emerging and clinically important Gram-positive pathogens, specifically MRSA. is a syndicated report series that provides longitudinal information on market dynamics, including insight into practice patterns, attitudes and perceptions, unmet needs, and projected and current use of antibiotics in the hospital. , the companion study, tracking the usage of antibiotics to treat MRSA and other key serious Gram-positive infections in Europe will publish in October 2012.
BioTrends Research Group provides syndicated 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 (610) 321-9400 or . BioTrends is a Decision Resources Group company.
AMR () serves the market intelligence needs of the pharmaceutical and diagnostic imaging industries. Research includes clinical inpatient databases that directly link anti-infective drugs with indication/procedure, formulary and stocking status tracking studies, drug purchasing audits and diagnostic imaging procedure volume/contrast media usage audits. AMR is a Decision Resources Group company.
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