Increasingly Favorable Eylea Performance Perceptions, Especially Among Retinal Specialists, Strengthens Second-Line Position Behind Avastin in the Wet AMD Market

BURLINGTON, Mass., Sept. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources Group finds that Regeneron's Eylea increasingly owns the second-line niche in the wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment algorithm trailing only first-line patient share leader Avastin (Genentech). Avastin continues to dominate anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) prescribing due to its low cost, advantageous managed care coverage, and frequent inventory stocking. However, more than half of surveyed general ophthalmologists (GOs) and fellowship-trained retinal specialists (RSs) who personally administer anti-VEGF injections reported recent Eylea prescribing increases. These increases are driven by market-leading performance on key brand choice influencer attributes, specifically restoring vision, slowing vision loss, retinal/subretinal fluid reduction, and clinical data support.

Other key findings from the TreatmentTrends report entitled Dry/Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration 2015 (US).

• Drivers of Eylea preference: While Eylea's increasingly positive perceptions appear to be tied to significant rating increases across dosing profile attributes compared with previous years, derived importance analyses suggest that convenient dosing frequency may not be as important in overall brand perceptions as physicians think. Instead Eylea's consistent leader position across multiple efficacy and safety/tolerability attributes, as well as dosing profile attributes, may have a synergistic effect on brand evaluation.
• Lucentis dosing profile performance: Significant increases in Genentech's Lucentis performance ratings on dosing profile attributes compared with previous years, along with a lack of differences in physician-reported dosing frequencies across brands, suggests that physicians are increasingly finding the individualized approach to Lucentis dosing to be convenient and clinically effective, regardless of the once-monthly dosing frequency recommended in the label. Nonetheless, Lucentis continues to lag behind Eylea on convenient dosing frequency perception.
• Adjunctive emerging therapy positioning: Even with the possible cost concerns, the greatest percentage of physicians anticipates that they will prescribe the adjunctive therapies in development, Ophthotech's Fovista and Ohr Pharmaceutical's OHR-102 (squalamine), as first-line therapies. Anticipated early positioning in the treatment algorithm may be related to physicians' desire to augment anti-VEGF therapy efficacy in patients who are at risk for rapid vision loss due to fibrotic scarring or predominantly classic lesion clinical presentation.

Comments from Decision Resources Group Analyst Sarah Soucy, M.S.:

• "Although the DRCR.net Protocol T Study was a comparative-effectiveness diabetic macular edema study, almost two-thirds of physicians familiar with the trial believe that the results have had a positive spillover effect on their Eylea prescribing in wet AMD patients with poor baseline visual acuity. Almost one-fifth of physicians would be most likely to prescribe Eylea to a newly diagnosed patient with advanced visual loss."
• "Most surveyed physicians believe that Genentech's lampalizumab, a Phase III complement inhibitor, has the potential to offer the greatest value to the treatment of their geographic atrophy (GA) patients among the two products in mid-to late-phase development. Whereas RSs clearly prefer intravitreal lampalizumab, GOs are divided between the two emerging therapies as Acucela/Otsuka's emixustat hydrochloride, a once-daily oral visual cycle modulator, could theoretically offer dosing convenience for their patients and less burden on their clinical practice."

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About Decision Resources Group
Decision Resources Group offers best-in-class, high-value data, analytics and insights products and services to the healthcare industry, delivered by more than 900 employees across 14 global locations. DRG provides the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, financial services and payer industries with the tools, insights and advice they need to compete and thrive in an increasingly complex and value-based marketplace. DecisionResourcesGroup.com.

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