Onglyza Garners a Substantial Source of its Type 2 Diabetes Patients from Januvia and Janumet

BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, a substantial portion of patients treated with Bristol Myers-Squibb/AstraZeneca's Onglyza outside of the first-line setting have switched to this drug from Merck's Januvia (9.3 percent) and Janumet (7.9 percent). Additionally, according to Treatment Algorithms in Type 2 Diabetes, surveyed physicians indicate overall prescribing of dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP-IV) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) analogues will increase over the next two years as physicians increasingly consider a drug's effect on weight in their prescribing decisions.

DPP-IV inhibitors have experienced growth in second- and third-line usage over the past two years, and approximately half of physicians surveyed indicate they will continue to increase their prescribing of Januvia and Onglyza, although they anticipate prescribing these agents in similar lines of therapy compared with 2009.

"While about half of physicians we surveyed predict their prescribing of Onglyza will increase over the next two years, and Onglyza has picked up some patient share from Januvia and Janumet, Januvia's more favorable formulary positioning and non-coverage of Onglyza will remain important hurdles for Onglyza's uptake," said Decision Resources Analyst Kate Sullivan.

The report also finds that the two-year forecasts for GLP-1 analogues, Amylin/Eli Lilly's Byetta and Novo Nordisk's Victoza show that, on the whole, surveyed physicians plan to continue prescribing these agents in the same lines of therapy.

"However, while both surveyed primary care physicians and endocrinologists indicate they will increase their prescribing of the GLP-1 analogue Victoza over the next two years, nearly half of surveyed endocrinologists report they will decrease their prescribing of Byetta," added Sullivan. "This is most likely because Bydureon*, the once weekly formulation of Byetta, will launch towards the end of this period and the majority of these physicians indicate that they plan to prescribe it."

*Alkermes/Amylin/Eli Lilly's Bydureon

About Treatment Algorithm Insight Series

Decision Resources combines in-depth primary research with the most extensive claims-based longitudinal patient-level data from IMS LifeLink's Health Plans Claims database to provide exceptional insight into physicians' prescribing trends and the factors that drive therapy product choice, from diagnosis through multiple courses of treatment, for a specific disease.

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SOURCE Decision Resources