Sector News

Categories

Borderless Insights

Image
Negotiating Terms with a New Employer
Image
Beyond Flowers and Platitudes: Reclaiming the Essence of International Women’s Day
Image
Visionary or ‘Stuck-in-the-Mud’? Where are you on Workplace Flexibility?

Will docs jump on new biosims? Survey shows they’ll need some nudging

August 17, 2015
Life sciences
Drugmakers are well aware of the biosimilars threatening to steal sales and market share from some of the world’s best-selling biologics.
 
Doctors, though? Not so much, a new report suggests.
 
Doctor platform and community QuantiaMD recently surveyed 300 primary care physicians and specialists to find out just how much healthcare providers knew about the drugs. 78% of those polled said they were familiar with the term “biosimilar,” but only 38% could name one under consideration for FDA approval that would be relevant to their patients, Medical Marketing & Media report.
 
To make matters worse, only 17% of the doctors Quantia deemed most likely to prescribe biologics–and, thus, the most likely to prescribe biosimilars in the future–said they were “very likely” to do so. 70% said they either weren’t sure or were “somewhat likely” to write a biosimilar script.
 
That’s a problem for the copycat pharmas looking to steal a piece of the pie from blockbusters like Amgen’s Neupogen, AbbVie’s Humira and Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade. Whether biosimilars pick up steam will largely depend on doctors–and on their likelihood to order them for patients.
 
Right now, only one biosimilar has FDA approval, and that’s Zarxio, a Novartis copy of Neupogen that won’t roll out until September, per court orders.
 
In the meantime, though, what can drugmakers do to get the word out to docs? “There’s a lot of opportunity for education,” Rachel Daricek, QuantiaMD’s senior director of client services, told MM&M. ” … They haven’t seen any efficacy and safety data or seen any communication from pharma or their organization–they don’t know what to think.”
 
By Carly Helfand
 

comments closed

Related News

April 20, 2024

CureVac and MD Anderson Cancer Center partner to develop new cancer vaccines

Life sciences

CureVac and the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center have announced a co-development and licensing agreement to develop novel messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based cancer vaccines. The strategic collaboration will focus on the development of differentiated cancer vaccine candidates in selected haematological and solid tumour indications with high unmet medical needs.

Read more
April 20, 2024

FUJIFILM plans $1.2 billion investment in major US manufacturing facility

Life sciences

FUJIFILM Corporation is planning to invest $1.2 billion to expand the planned FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US. This news follows the organisation’s announcement of a $2 billion investment in the facility in March 2021. This additional financial boost totals the investment to over $3.2 billion, FUJIFILM confirmed.

Read more
April 20, 2024

Sanofi cuts staff in Belgium as early-stage research dwindles

Life sciences

Sanofi’s global restructuring and downsizing is now fully underway, with layoffs stretching to the company’s Belgian offices. Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports that 67 employees have been laid off at a site in Ghent and 32 jobs are on the chopping block at Sanofi’s Belgium HQ in Diegem.

Read more
More news

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach