At Three Months Post Launch, Two-Thirds of Surveyed U.S. Rheumatologists Believe that Initiations of Pfizer's Xeljanz in the Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Algorithm Will Occur Following at Least Two Biologic Failures

EXTON, Pa., April 24 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BioTrends Research Group, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for specialized biopharmaceutical issues, finds that two-thirds of surveyed U.S. rheumatologists believe that—at three months post launch—initiations of Pfizer's Xeljanz in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment algorithm will follow methotrexate failure/intolerance and at least two biologic failures. Only one in ten surveyed physicians currently plan to use the treatment prior to biologic initiation.

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According to the BioTrends Research Group report entitled LaunchTrends^®: Xeljanz, Wave 2, surveyed rheumatologists report that among their patients currently treated with Xeljanz, 87 percent were switched from a biologic agent, while the remaining 13 percent of current Xeljanz patients were biologic naive prior to initiation. When questioned directly about agents at risk for displacement, nearly one-quarter of rheumatologists believe that Xeljanz is most likely to displace Genentech's Actemra with regard to RA patient share.

The recently published report also reveals that at three months post launch, approximately one-third of surveyed rheumatologists report prescribing Xeljanz in an average of three RA patients. Although rheumatologists anticipate Xeljanz trial rates to increase in the future, four percent claim that they will never use Xeljanz, primarily due to efficacy concerns and side effects.

"The percent of rheumatologists who have used Xeljanz in at least one patient has remained around one-third since the first wave of research, at one-month post launch," said BioTrends Research Group Associate Director of Immunology Lynn Price. "However, according to the data, Xeljanz trial rates are anticipated to double in the coming months."

LaunchTrends^®: Xeljanz, Wave 2 is a four-wave syndicated report series designed to track the uptake of Xeljanz at one month, three months, six months and one year following its commercial availability based upon primary research with U.S. rheumatologists. LaunchTrends assess trial and use of new products, obstacles to use, reasons to use, typical patient types, line of therapy, product perceptions, promotional efforts/messages and product satisfaction. In the current wave of research, BioTrends surveyed 74 U.S. rheumatologists in February 2013 and conducted qualitative interviews with a subset of 15 of the respondents in March 2013.

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SOURCE BioTrends Research Group