Biosimilar Erosion of Branded ESA Market Share Will be More Rapid in the U.S. Than in Europe

BURLINGTON, Mass., Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that biosimilar erosion of branded erythropoietin stimulating agent (ESA) market share is likely to be more rapid and more complete in the United States compared to biosimilar erosion seen in Europe since biosimilar ESAs entered the European market in 2007. According to Biosimilars Advisory Service: Physician Perspectives on Erythropoietin Stimulating Agents, Insulin, and Human Growth Hormone, Decision Resources expects the timeline for the uptake of biosimilars among U.S. nephrologists will be fairly aggressive.

More than half of surveyed U.S. physicians anticipate they will begin prescribing a biosimilar ESA within six months of its launch and 88 percent expect to be using biosimilar ESAs within a year. In contrast, the majority of surveyed German nephrologists did not begin using biosimilar ESAs until the drugs had been on the market for 13-24 months. Uptake of biosimilars among surveyed French nephrologists has been even more conservative—60 percent of surveyed physicians report they still do not prescribe biosimilars ESAs.

Decision Resources forecasts that branded ESAs across the seven major pharmaceutical markets (U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan) will lose $3 billion in combined sales to biosimilar erosion in 2019 alone, and $17.3 billion in combined sales to biosimilar erosion over Decision Resources' 2009-2019 forecast period.

"The global ESA market will be characterized by pricing pressures from a declining market and multiple biosimilar competitors," said Decision Resources Analyst MaryEllen Klusacek, Ph.D. "Biosimilars' lower costs compared with branded biologics will likely be the primary driver of both U.S. and European nephrologists' prescribing of biosimilar ESAs."

The Physician Perspectives on Erythropoietin Stimulating Agents, Insulin, and Human Growth Hormone module of the Biosimilars Advisory Service offers extensive primary research with U.S., French and German nephrologists and endocrinologists to highlight the key expectations that will drive or constrain biosimilar adoption.

Analyst Call

Members of the media are welcome to attend our upcoming analyst call entitled A Forecast of Biosimilars in Nephrology and Endocrinology: How Will Physicians' Perceptions of "Similarity" Affect Prescribing Behavior? This analyst call will be held on Friday, November 12 at 10 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. For more information, contact Lisa Osgood at [email protected].

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SOURCE Decision Resources