However Most Surveyed MCO Pharmacy Directors Consider Gemcitabine Plus Erlotinib To Be the Most Efficacious Treatment for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer, According to Findings from Decision Resources
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Decision Resources, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the majority of surveyed U.S. oncologists (57 percent) identified FOLFIRINOX* as the most efficacious treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer, when compared to other currently available agents. Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who received FOLFIRINOX experienced a considerably longer median overall survival compared with patients who received gemcitabine (Eli Lilly’s Gemzar, generics) monotherapy.
The findings from Decision Resources’ analysis of the pancreatic cancer drug market also reveal that, based on the pivotal Phase III PRODIGE-4/ACCORD-11 clinical trial data, interviewed thought leaders describe FOLFIRINOX as a milestone in pancreatic cancer treatment. However, contrary to the view of surveyed oncologists, the majority of surveyed managed care organizations’ (MCOs) pharmacy directors (55 percent) consider gemcitabine plus erlotinib (OSI/Roche/Genentech/Chugai’s Tarceva) the most efficacious treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer. Gemcitabine plus erlotinib, the first therapy to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in survival over gemcitabine monotherapy in a Phase III clinical trial, improved median overall survival by approximately 12 days over monotherapy using gemcitabine.
“Surveyed pharmacy directors likely perceive any increase in survival, however slight, as an improvement, and they may not be familiar with the FOLFIRINOX data as only ten percent of surveyed pharmacy directors selected FOLFIRINOX as the most efficacious treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer,” said Decision Resources Analyst Rachel Webster, D.Phil. “Only 15 percent of surveyed oncologists chose gemcitabine plus erlotinib as the most efficacious treatment which is likely because, as the majority of interviewed experts tell us, the meager improvement in survival over gemcitabine is not clinically beneficial. Also, given erlotinib’s added toxicity and cost, many interviewed physicians say they choose not to prescribe the regimen.”
The findings also reveal that the pancreatic cancer drug market will remain relatively flat over the next decade, increasing from more than $693 million in 2009 to approximately $829 million in 2019 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan. Despite the modest overall market growth, the first-line patient population will witness a dynamic change in treatment practice owing to increasing uptake of FOLFIRINOX and the approval and launch of the albumin-bound cytotoxic drug nanoparticle paclitaxel (Celgene’s Abraxane). Although both treatments are destined for the metastatic patient population, market penetration will be constrained because these therapies will be used in select patient populations.
*FOLFIRINOX: 5-fluorouracil (5-FU, generics), leucovorin (folinic acid, generics), irinotecan (Pfizer’s Camptosar/Campto, Daiichi Sankyo’s Topotecin, Yakult Honsha’s Campto, generics) and oxaliplatin (Sanofi-Aventis’s Eloxatin/Eloxatine, Yakult Honsha’s Elplat, generics.)
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KEYWORDS: United States North America Massachusetts
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Oncology Pharmaceutical
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